Characklis promoted to Associate Professor

Dr. Gregory W. Characklis

The Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering is pleased to announce the promotion of Gregory W. Characklis to Associate Professor with tenure effective February 1, 2007. Dr. Characklis joined ESE as an Assistant Professor in February of 2001. He received his BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1989 and his MS and PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from Rice University in 1994 and 1999 respectively. After receiving his PhD, he served as the Director of Resource Development and Management at the Azurix Corporation in Houston, TX.

Among his many achievements as Assistant Professor, Dr. Characklis co-developed, with Professor Douglas Crawford-Brown, the EMP Practicum, a two-year program including a curriculum of core courses, a team project, and monthly colloquia with invited speakers. In addition, he created a forum for students to meet with guest speakers to discuss academic and professional issues in an informal off-campus setting, which is now known as “Learning and Libations.” L&L has run continuously every semester for five years and is popular with both students and faculty. Dr. Characklis also serves as the faculty advisor for the department’s student organization (ENVR-SO) and is the current chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Task Committee on the role of Systems Analysis in NSF’s Environmental Observatories. Dr. Characklis was elected recently as secretary to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Standing Committee on Environmental and Water Resources Systems and will serve as its chair in 2008.

Congratulations to Dr. Characklis on this well-deserved achievement and important milestone in his career.