Okun honored with EWRI 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award
| May 24, 2006 | |
Dr. Daniel Okun
Daniel A. Okun, Kenan Professor of Environmental Engineering, Emeritus, has been chosen by the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to receive a 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award. Okun was presented this award during the World Environment & Water Resources Congress 2006 meeting held on May 22, 2006, in Omaha Nebraska. Established in 2001, the Environmental & Water Resources Institute Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to members who are judged to have advanced the profession, exhibited technical competence and significantly contributed to public service, research or practice in the environmental and water resources profession. Okun began his career at UNC in 1952 and served as chair of the Environmental Sciences and Engineering (ESE) department from 1955 to 1973. As chair, the department grew from three to 25 faculty members. Although Dr. Okun retired from teaching in 1982, he remains actively involved in the profession through writing, lecturing and consulting on water management, water supply, pollution control, water reclamation and reuse, and watershed protection issues. UNC created a professorship in environmental engineering in Okun’s name in 1999, and he received an Honorary Doctorate from UNC in 2000. His work has influenced international policy-making for such organizations as the World Bank, the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Okun was the first engineer from North Carolina elected to the National Academy of Engineering and later to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. He chaired the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Research Council from 1991 to 1994. In August 1999, Engineering News-Record, in celebration of 125 years of publishing, honored him as one of the top 125 engineers who “singularly and collectively helped shape this nation and the world.”
For further information please contact Ramona DuBose either by phone at 919-966-7467 or by email at ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
