Edward J. Cleary Award

The Cleary Award is given to an individual who is an outstanding performer in the management of environmental protection enterprises conducted under either public or private auspices and has demonstrated exemplary professional conduct, personal leadership, originality in devising new environmental protection techniques, and sensitivity and responsiveness to social, economic, and political factors in environmental protection.

For the full list of eligibility criteria and information on how you can submit nominations for a worthy Environmental Engineer or Environmental Scientist, click here.

2023 Edward J. Cleary Award Recipient

Rao Y. Surampalli, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, Hon.D.WRE, F.WEF, Dist.F.IWA, F.AAAS, Dist.M.ASCE, NAC

Dr. Surampalli has had a highly distinguished career for more than 40 years; and is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability. He was with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and retired after working for 30 years. Throughout his career, Dr. Surampalli has used innovative and sustainable environmental technologies for recovery and reuse of resource and energy, remediation of contaminated soils and groundwater, wastewater treatment and emerging contaminants removal, solid and hazardous waste management, provided humanitarian technical assistance and built technical capacities in 25 countries across the six continents, and has played a significant role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. He is dedicated to the development of a more sustainable society for social good and global sustainability.

Dr. Surampalli is also a prolific author with several hundred refereed publications: including 22 patents, 25 refereed books and 171 book chapters, published over 380 refereed journal articles, and is Editor-in-Chief of two refereed journals. He also is a Distinguished Visiting Professor in several universities abroad. A Distinguished Alumnus and Hall of Fame inductee of both the Oklahoma State and Iowa State Universities, he has received over 30 national awards/honors: including election as a WEF Fellow and Distinguished Fellow of IWA, Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Member of the U.S. National Academy of Construction (NAC), and recognized as a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers - the highest honor of ASCE. Several awards from AAEES: including its Kappe Lecture Award, Gordon Maskew Fair Award, Edward Cleary Award, Superior Achievement Award, and the Grand Prize for University Research.

Past Winners