2025 Academy Convocation and Celebration of Excellence

Thank you to all who joined us for the 2025 Academy Convocation and Celebration of Excellence on April 10, 2025. Below are photos from this event. Click here to download a PDF of the program.

Lunch at George Washington University in Washington, DC

Keynote Speaker

Iain G. Shuker, World Bank

Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science Competition Award Winners

Black & Veatch	Carollo Engineers	HDR
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power & Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment	University of Houston

Environmental Communications Competition Award Winners

Digital Writing Environments, Location, and Localization (DWELL) Lab/University of Rhode Island

New Jersey American Water and CDM Smith

Dinner at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, VA.

Honored were the following individuals for their achievements in environmental engineering and science:

Edward J. Cleary Award

Cleary Award
Kevin D. White, Ph.D.

Gordon Maskew Fair Award

Fair Award
Michael K. Stenstrom, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE

The Ralph and Joe Bales Graber Science Award

Science Award
William A. Arnold, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE

Stanley E. Kappe Award

Kappe Award
Lisa Woodward, P.E., BCEE

Honorary Member

Honorary Member
Tissa H. Illangasekare, Ph.D., PE, P.Hyd, BCEE, DWRE

International Honorary Member

International Honorary Member
Professor Cheng-Di Dong, Ph.D.

Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science Education Award
sponsored by ABET

E4S Award
Ramanitharan Kandiah, P.E., BCEE, BC.WRE, PH, ENV SP, F.ASCE, F.EWRI

Paul F. Boulos
Excellence in Computational Hydraulics/Hydrology Award

Boulos Award
Mohamed Fathi Said

W. Wesley Eckenfelder Graduate Research Award

Eckenfelder Graduate Research Award
Savanna K. Smith, Ph.D.

W. Brewster Snow Award

Snow Award
Bruno Fulco Mancini

40 Under 40 Recognition Program

The following individuals are recipients of the 40 Under 40 Recognition Program.

Click here to see full profiles of the 40 Under 40 recipients.

Ahmed Abdelmoneim, BVMS, MSc, PhD, DABT Assistant Professor Louisiana State University	Ariel J. Atkinson, Ph.D. Project Manager - Applied Water Quality Research Southern Nevada Water Authority	Adaline M, Buerck, Ph.D. Assistant Professor and Director of the Cecil Day Family Center for International Groundwater Innovation Mercer University
Joe Charbonnet, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Iowa State University	Jiannan (Nick) Chen, Ph.D. A.M. ASCE Assistant Professor University of Central Florida	Alex Ho Shing Chik, Ph.D., P.Eng. Technical Lead and Program Manager Ontario Clean Water Agency
Rebecca Ciez, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering Purdue University	Sherri Cook, Ph.D. Associate Professor University of Colorado Boulder	Timothy D'Agostino, P.E., ENV SP Project Manager P.W. Grosser Consulting
Jeseth Delgado Vela, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Duke University	Sarah Fakhreddine, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Carnegie Mellon University	Bezawit Getachew, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Rice University
Alexander S. Gorzalski, PhD, PE, PO Founder One Water Engineering	Sarah-Jane Haig, Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of Pittsburgh	Andrea Hicks, Ph.D. Associate Professor University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ling Nathanael Jin, Ph.D. Assistant Professor The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Ashley Kent, P.E. Principal Water Engineer Arcadis	Hanyang Li, Ph.D. Assistant Professor San Diego State University
Lu Liu, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Iowa State University	Xitong Liu, Ph.D. Assistant Professor George Washington University	Paniteja Madala, LEED GA Water/Wastewater Engineer AECOM
Cresten Mansfeldt, Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of Colorado Boulder	Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Safety North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University	Will Peterson, PE, ENV SP West Water Strategy and Growth Lead AECOM
Kelsey J. Pieper, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Northeastern University	Brett Poulin, Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of California Davis	Mim Rahimi, Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of Houston
Yuexiao Shen, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Texas Tech University	Yun Shen, Ph.D. Assistant Professor George Washington University	Lauren Stadler, Ph.D. Associate Professor Rice University
Kyle A. Thompson, Ph.D., P.E. Senior Reuse Technologist Carollo Engineers	Michael Thompson, P.E. Senior Water Resource Engineer Delaware River Basin Commission	Arjun K. Venkatesan, Ph.D. Associate Professor New Jersey Institute of Technology
LCDR Michael Wandersee, P.E. Senior Project Engineer US Public Health Service	Yuan Yao, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Systems Yale University	Jessica Yeager, PE, LSP Principal Geosyntec Consultants, Inc.
	Jiachen Zhang, Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of Southern California

New AAEES Board Certifications

The following are individuals who became newly Board Certified or earned additional Board Certifications in 2024.

Click here to see their profiles in the Winter 2025 Environmental Engineer and Scientist .

Arvind Kumar Akela, P.E., BCEE Director of Eng & Env Services Silicon Valley Clean Water	Jorge Miguel Arevalo Morales, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE CDM Smith	Brian Barkdoll, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE Professor Michigan Technological University	Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE Professor and Department Chair University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Aaron William Bivins, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE Assistant Professor Louisiana State University
Kirk Craig, P.E., BCEE Senior Engineer Geosyntec Consultants	Yang Deng, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE Professor Montclair State University	Aliasghar Ghadimkhani, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE Senior Water Resources and Environmental Engineer CDM SMITH	Jeffrey H. Greenfield, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, BCES President-Elect American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists	Lucian L. Hill, III, Esq., PE, MBA, BCEE Environmental Director CAMS
Syeed Md Iskander, PhD, PE, BCEE Assistant Professor North Dakota State University	Trenton Amoz Jackson, P.E., BCEE Environmental Engineer CDM Smith	Vijay Kubsad, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE Senior Environmental Engineer Washington State Department of Ecology	John Michael Kwoka, P.E., BCEE RESTORE Act Program Mgr Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality	Justin C. Mattingly, BCES Environmental Protection Specialist US EPA
Alexandra Lauren Meyers, BCES Human Health Risk Assessor Integral Consulting Inc	Joseph M. Nattress, P.E., BCEE Drinking Water Discipline Leader CDM Smith	Anthony Joseph Niemiec, Jr., P.E., BCEE Associate Hazen and Sawyer	Joseph Eric Odencrantz, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE Principal Tri-S Environmental	Daniel B. Oerther, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, BCES Executive Director of AAEES and Professor at Missouri S&T Missouri University of Science & Technology
Ronald N. Palacios, P.E., BCEE Project Manager Carollo Engineers	Mehul Vitthal Patel, P.E., BCEE Ex Director of Operations Orange County Water District	Gerald Rhoads, P.E., BCEE C&D Group Manager Metropolitan Water District	Diego Rosso, Ph.D., BCEEM Professor University of California - Irvine	Adam Tabbouche, P.E., BCEE Water & Wastewater Technical Leader Weston & Sampson
Matthew Talbert, P.E., BCEE Senior Engineer Geosyntec Consultants	Volodymyr Tarabara, Ph.D., BCEEM Professor Michigan State University	Svetoslava Todorova, Ph.D., BCEEM Professor of Practice Syracuse University	Kirankumar V. Topudurti, P.E., BCEE Senior Vice President Willdan Group, Inc.	Gilbert Trejo, P.Eng., P.E., BCEE Vice President of Operations and Technical Services El Paso Water
Martha Rincon Tremblay, P.E., BCEE Asst Chief Engineer/Asst General Manager Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts	David Tsetse, Ph.D., BCES Chief, Technical and Logistical Services Section Indiana Department of Environmental Management	Sharon L. Walker, Ph.D., BCEEM Dean and Distinguished Professor Drexel University, College of Engineering	Mavis C Wong, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE Water / Wastewater Treatment Engineer Freese and Nichols	Ruoren Yu, PE, BCEE Wastewater Engineer/Technologist Jacobs