John Crittenden Awarded the 2015 NWRI Clarke Prize

Professor Crittenden Honored for Research Contributions to Water Treatment Technology and Water Resource Sustainability

The National Water Research Institute (NWRI) announced that BBISS Director, John C. Crittenden, will be the twenty-second recipient of the NWRI Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for excellence in water research. Consisting of a medallion and $50,000 award, the NWRI Clarke Prize is given each year to recognize research accomplishments that solve real-world water problems and to highlight the importance of the continued funding for water research. Crittenden was selected as the 2015 recipient for his outstanding contributions to treating chemical contaminants in water and his leadership in addressing water demand for transportation, energy production, and domestic use in a holistic, sustainable manner. “I consider the Clarke Prize to be one of the greatest honors that one who conducts water research can receive,” said Crittenden.

With a career spanning 37 years, Crittenden has been a pioneer in the research and development of several key water treatment technologies and processes that are in widespread use today.  Crittenden and his colleagues worked with NASA to alleviate the costs of sending fresh water to the International Space Station by helping to design a water recycling system tailored to treat the impaired waters that are unique to space flight. NASA installed the system on the ISS in 2012 where it is still in use.  Also among his achievements is the 2011 textbook, Water Treatment: Principles and Design, on which he served as senior author.  Crittenden's body of work in pollution prevention and green chemistry led the American Institute of Engineers to award him as one of the 100 Eminent Chemical Engineers in Modern Times.

Crittenden is also distinguished among his peers for his vision and dedication to ensuring the sustainability of urban water resources. In 2008, Crittenden was recruited to Georgia Tech to direct the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. BBISS was established to take a comprehensive, trans-disciplinary approach in creating technological, management, and policy strategies to ensure a sustainable future. Crittenden aims to understand water resources in context with other major urban infrastructure systems, such as energy and transportation systems. “His work in sustainability is particularly bold and innovative, and will change the way we will promote water security, enhance economic development, and alleviate concerns of wars over water,” said Joseph B. Hughes, Ph.D, P.E., DEE, of Drexel University. 

The Clarke Prize will be presented to Crittenden on Friday, October 30, 2015, at the Twenty-Second Annual NWRI Clarke Prize Conference, Lecture, and Award Ceremony, to be held in Huntington Beach, California. Established in 1993, the Clarke Prize is one of only a dozen water related prizes awarded worldwide and has been distinguished by the International Congress of Distinguished Awards as one of the most prestigious awards in the world.

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The National Water Research Institute (NWRI) was founded in 1991 by a group of Southern California water agencies in partnership with the Joan Irvine Smith and Athalie R. Clarke Foundation to promote the protection, maintenance, and restoration of water supplies and to protect the freshwater and marine environments through the development of cooperative research work. NWRI’s member agencies include Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Irvine Ranch Water District, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Orange County Sanitation District, Orange County Water District, and West Basin Municipal Water District.

John C. Crittenden, Ph.D., P.E., N.A.E, C.A.E., is the Director of the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems at Georgia Institute of Technology, holds the Hightower Chair, is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Environmental Technologies, and a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems enhances Georgia Tech’s research, education, and service missions, and campus operations through leadership, communications, development, and decision making inspired and defined by the principles of sustainability. Programs and projects initiated or supported by the BBISS lie at the intersections of these themes.

BBISS Appoints Twelve Fellows

The Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems at Georgia tech has appointed 12 BBISS Fellows.  This diverse group of faculty and researchers come from all six of Georgia Tech’s Colleges as well as the Georgia Tech Research Institute.  The purpose of the Fellows program is to serve as a board of advisors to the BBISS; to foster the culture and community of sustainability researchers, educators, and students at Georgia Tech; and to communicate broadly the vision, mission, values, and objectives of the BBISS. Fellows will work with the BBISS for three years, with the potential for renewal. 

The BBISS Fellows are:

•  Baabak Ashuri, School of Building Construction, College of Architecture 
•  Atalay Atasu, Scheller College of Business
• Kevin Caravati, Georgia Tech Research Institute
• Kim Cobb, School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, College of Sciences
• Bistra Dilkina, School of Computational Science & Engineering, College of Computing 
• Ellen Dunham-Jones, College of Architecture
• Tom Fuller, School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, College of Engineering
• Ashok Goel, School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing
• Randy Guensler, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
• Daniel Matisoff, School of Public Policy, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
• Juan Moreno-Cruz, School of Economics, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
• Marc Weissburg, School of Biology, College of Sciences

$1 Million Joint US – China Study on Sustainable Steel Manufacturing

Image by Deutsche Fotothek, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de.

A multidisciplinary research team from Georgia Tech has just been awarded $500,000 over four years to study ways in which steel production in China can be made more sustainable.  The grant is being awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).  It is matched with a research grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) to a group of Chinese investigators from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China’s Northeastern University.  The project, entitled “U.S.-China: Systems-Based Approaches for Sustainable Steel Manufacturing,” is led on the U.S. side by Georgia Tech Professors Bert Bras, John Crittenden, and Marc Weissburg.  The Chinese team is led by Dr. Hongbin Cao, Dr. Xin Xiao, and Dr. Jiuju Cai. This study has the potential to contribute significantly to improvements in the Chinese steel industry, where, given its size, improvements can have far ranging benefits - domestically and internationally.

The multidisciplinary US-China team will focus on developing innovative systems-based solutions for increasing the environmental sustainability of the Chinese steel industry.  China is by far the largest producer of crude steel, producing more than half of the global supply.  Such enormous production levels are driven by both domestic and foreign demand.  Steel production has significant environmental impacts, accounting for 6.7% of the total world CO2 emissions, and considerable use of, and toxic discharge to fresh water sources.  In comparison, due to efficiency measures undertaken in the past 3 decades, U.S. metal production is two thirds less energy intensive compared to that of Chinese industries.  The team will have cutting-edge access to the Chinese steel industry as well as eco-industrial parks, in which China is leading the world.  The team expects that many unique insights will be gained.

Focusing on the steel industry will provide immediate benefit to China’s Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) and industries associated with steel production.  This project can help develop methods and approaches useful in many applications in both the U.S. and China.  The team will capitalize on the unique opportunity for collaboration between two different countries with different cultures, as well as different steel manufacturing technologies.

The Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems is Georgia Tech's umbrella organization to promote comprehensive and innovative systems-based approaches to address the challenges and opportunities inherent in achieving a sustainable and prosperous future.  The BBISS enhances Georgia Tech’s research, education, and service missions, and campus operations through leadership, communications, development, and decision making inspired and defined by the principles of sustainability. Programs and projects initiated or supported by the BBISS lie at the intersections of these themes.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is the national academy for the natural sciences of the People's Republic of China. It is headquartered in Beijing, with branch institutes all over mainland China.

Northeastern University (NEU) is a public university founded in 1923 in the city of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.

From Georgia Tech:

Bert Bras – Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Director, Sustainable Design and Manufacturing Program, Brook Byers Professor.

John Crittenden - Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Director, Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, Hightower Chair, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Sustainable Systems, member of the U.S. and Chinese National Academies of Engineering.

Marc Weissburg – Professor, School of Biology, Co-Director, Center for Biologically Inspired Design.

Hongbin Cao – Professor, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Xin Xiao – Professor, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Jiuju Cai – Professor, State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Eco-Industry, Institute of Thermal and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University.