Grand Challenges and Opportunities in Environmental Engineering for the Twenty-first Century

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Environmental engineers support the well-being of people and the planet in areas where the two intersect. Over the decades the field has improved countless lives through innovative systems for delivering water, treating waste, and preventing and remediating pollution in air, water, and soil. These achievements are a testament to the multidisciplinary, pragmatic, systems-oriented approach that characterizes environmental engineering.

Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges outlines the crucial role for environmental engineers in this period of dramatic growth and change. The report identifies five pressing challenges of the 21st century that environmental engineers are uniquely poised to help advance: sustainably supply food, water, and energy; curb climate change and adapt to its impacts; design a future without pollution and waste; create efficient, healthy, resilient cities; and foster informed decisions and actions.

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Publication information

124 pages · 7.5 x 11 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-47652-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-47653-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/25121

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Domenico Grasso

Domenico Grasso, Chair, is chancellor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn. Previously, he was provost of the University of Delaware, Dean of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and later Vice President for Research at the University of Vermont, Founding Director the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College, and Department Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Grasso has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, a NATO Fellow, and an Invited Technical Expert to the United Nations in Vienna, Austria. He is currently editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Engineering Science, and has served as vice chair of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board, and president of the Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors. Dr. Grasso’ research has focused on the ultimate fate of contaminants in the environment with primary emphasis on colloidal and interfacial processes and environmental chemistry. He has also been active in engineering education reform and views the field of engineering as well-poised to serve as a bridge between science and humanity. Dr. Grasso has a B.Sc. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an M.S.C.E. from Purdue University, and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

Craig H. Benson

Craig H. Benson (NAE) is dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Janet Scott Hamilton and John Downman Hamilton Professor of Civil Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia. His research focus areas include engineered barriers for waste containment systems, engineering for sustainability and life cycle analysis, sustainable infrastructure, and beneficial use of industrial byproducts in infrastructure. He has more than 300 research publications and three U.S. patents. Prior to his position at the University of Virginia, Dr. Benson served at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he chaired the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Geological Engineering, co-directed the Office of Sustainability and served as Director of Sustainability Research and Education for the university. Dr. Benson is member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of ASTM International and the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a Diplomate of Geotechnical Engineering in the Academy of Geo-Professionals. Dr. Benson received a B.S. degree in civil engineering from Lehigh University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering and geoenvironmental engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Amanda Carrico

Amanda Carrico an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist. Her work draws on the fields of psychology (her home discipline), sociology, and economics to examine how individuals make environmentally-relevant decisions. Her research focuses on the adoption of behaviors and innovations in response to environmental stress, and the beliefs and perceptions that underpin decision making. She has examined these questions within the context of household and neighborhood decision making in the United States and smallholding agriculture in South Asia. Dr. Carrico received a B.A. from Transylvania University, a PhD in Social Psychology from Vanderbilt University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment.

Kartik Chandran

Kartik Chandran is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering and the Henry Krumb School of Mines at Columbia University. Dr. Chandran’s research focuses on environmental microbiology and biotechnology, reengineering the global nitrogen cycle, sustainable sanitation, public health microbiology, water and wastewater treatment, bioenergetics (including biofuels), and biorefining. His laboratory employs multidisciplinary strategies to study microbial communities in natural and engineered systems to better understand these communities and their ability to be harnessed for environmental and public health objectives such as waste treatment and anti-microbial therapies. Dr. Chandran was awarded a MacArthur fellowship in 2015. He has a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering from the University of Connecticut.

G. Wayne Clough

G. Wayne Clough (NAE) is secretary emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution, and president emeritus of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Clough served as the 10th President of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1994 to 2008 and as the 12th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 2008 to 2014. He previously held faculty appointments at Duke University, Stanford University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he also served as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Dean of the College of Engineering. He was provost and vice president of the University of Washington just before coming to Georgia Tech. Dr. Clough’s research interests include higher education, civil engineering design and construction, digital learning communities, engineering solutions around climate change, biodiversity conservation, and geotechnical engineering. Dr. Clough earned a B.S.C.E. and M.S.C.E. from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

John C. Crittenden

John C. Crittenden (NAE) is Hightower Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Environmental Technologies in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Brooks Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Crittenden’s research interests include pollution prevention, physiochemical treatment processes, groundwater transport of organic chemicals, and modeling of water treatment processes. Dr. Crittenden's current research focus is working with other academics and institutions on the challenge of sustainable urban infrastructure systems, including sustainable materials, advanced modeling of urban systems, and sustainable engineering pedagogy. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has a B.S.E. degree in chemical engineering and M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Daniel S. Greenbaum

Daniel S. Greenbaum is president and chief executive officer of the Health Effects Institute (HEI). Mr. Greenbaum leads HEI’s efforts to provide public and private decision makers—in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America—with high quality, relevant and credible science about the health effects of air pollution to inform air quality decisions in the developed and developing world. Mr. Greenbaum has over three decades of governmental and non-governmental experience in environmental health. Prior to coming to HEI, he served as commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, where he was responsible for the Commonwealth's response to the Clean Air Act, as well as its efforts on pollution prevention, water pollution and solid and hazardous waste. Mr. Greenbaum has been a member of the U.S. National Academies’ Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology and vice chair of its Committee for Air Quality Management in the United States. He served on the Committee on The Hidden Costs of Energy and on their Committee on Science for EPA’s Future. In 2010, Mr. Greenbaum received the Thomas W. Zosel Outstanding Individual Achievement Award from the U.S. EPA for his contributions to advancing clean air. Mr. Greenbaum holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in City Planning.

Steven P. Hamburg

Steven P. Hamburg is chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) where he oversees and ensures the scientific integrity of the EDF’s positions and programs and facilitates collaborations with researchers from a diversity of institutions and countries. He also helps identify emerging science relevant to EDF’s mission. Dr. Hamburg plays a leading role in EDF’s research efforts, including work on quantifying methane emissions from the natural gas supply chain and the use of emerging sensor technologies in improving our understanding of air pollution and related impacts on human health. He has been actively involved in biogeochemistry and forest ecology research for more than 35 years, and has published more than 100 scientific papers. Prior to joining EDF, Dr. Hamburg spent 25 years on the faculty at the University of Kansas and Brown University. While at the University of Kansas he directed the Environmental Studies Program and in 1990 started one of the first sustainability programs. Dr. Hamburg has been the recipient of several awards, including recognition by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as contributing to its award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He is currently a member of the National Academies’ Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. He earned a B.A. degree from Vassar College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in forest ecology from Yale University.

Thomas C. Harmon

Thomas C. Harmon is a professor and chair of the Environmental Engineering program and a founding faculty member at the University of California, (UC) Merced. Prior to joining the faculty at UC Merced, he served on the faculty of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Harmon’s research focuses on measuring and modeling flow and transport in natural and engineered systems, including soil, groundwater and surface water systems. He is the U.S. principal investigator on a Pan-American research project to install a sensor network in freshwater ecosystems throughout Central and South America to assess impacts and risks from climate change. He has a B.S. degree in civil engineering from John Hopkins University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in environmental engineering from Stanford University.

James M. Hughes

James M. Hughes (NAM) is professor of Medicine and Public Health with joint appointments in the School of Medicine and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and co-director of the Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center. Prior to joining Emory in 2005, Dr. Hughes worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), serving as director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and as a rear admiral and an assistant surgeon general in the U.S. Public Health Service.
Dr. Hughes research interests focus on emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, healthcare-associated infections, vectorborne and zoonotic diseases, foodborne and waterborne diseases, vaccine-preventable diseases, rapid detection of and response to infectious diseases and bioterrorism, and strategies for strengthening public health capacity at the local, national, and global levels. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He previously served as president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). He has served on the Health and Medicine Division/NAM Forum on Microbial Threats since 1996 and as vice-chair of the Forum since 2009. Dr. Hughes received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from Stanford University.

Kimberly L. Jones

Kimberly L. Jones is professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Howard University. She previously worked as an associate and assistant professor in that department from 1996 to 2009. Dr. Jones’ research interests include developing membrane processes for environmental applications, physical-chemical processes for water and wastewater treatment, remediation of emerging contaminants, drinking water quality, and environmental nanotechnology. Dr. Jones currently serves on the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and as chair of the Drinking Water Committee of the Science Advisory Board. She has served on the National Academies Water Science and Technology Board and several committees, and the Board of Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, where she was Secretary of the Board. She received her B.S. from Howard University, her M.S. from the University of Illinois, and her Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.

Linsey C. Marr

Linsey C. Marr is a professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Marr’s research interests include characterizing the emissions, fate, and transport of air pollutants in order to provide the scientific basis for improving air quality and health. She also conducts research on the environmental fate of nanomaterials and airborne transmission of infectious diseases. She received the New Innovator Award from the director of the National Institutes of Health in 2013. Dr. Marr received a B.S. degree in engineering science from Harvard University and a Ph.D. degree in civil and environmental engineering from University of California, Berkeley.

Robert Perciasepe

Robert Perciasepe is president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, which is widely recognized in the United States and internationally as a leading, independent voice for practical policy and action to address the challenges of energy and climate change. Mr. Perciasepe has been an environmental policy leader in and outside government for more than 30 years, most recently as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He is a respected expert on environmental stewardship, natural resource management, and public policy, and has built a reputation for bringing stakeholders together to solve issues. While Mr. Perciasepe served as Deputy Administrator from 2009 to 2014, EPA set stricter auto emissions and mileage standards, increased protections for the nation’s streams and rivers, and developed carbon emissions standards for power plants. Mr. Perciasepe was previously assistant administrator for both the agency’s water and clean air programs, leading efforts to improve the safety of America’s drinking water and lower sulfur levels in gasoline to reduce smog. He is a member of the National Academies’ Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, the National Petroleum Council, and the North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance Steering Committee. Mr. Perciasepe holds a master's degree in planning and public administration from Syracuse University and a B.S. degree in natural resources from Cornell University.

Stephen Polasky

Stephen Polasky (NAS) is the Regents Professor and Fesler-Lampert Professor of Ecological and Environmental Economics at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. His research focuses on issues at the intersection of ecology and economics and includes the impacts of land use and land management on the provision and value of ecosystem services and natural capital, biodiversity conservation, sustainability, environmental regulation, renewable energy, and common property resources. Dr. Polasky is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and he is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. He has a B.A. degree from Williams College and a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Maxine L. Savitz

Maxine L. Savitz (NAE) is a retired general manager, Technology/Partnerships at Honeywell, Inc. formerly Allied Signal. She is also member and current vice president of the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Savitz was employed at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies (1974-1983) and served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Conservation. Dr. Savitz serves on the Board of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and on advisory bodies for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She serves on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology visiting committee for sponsored research activities. In 2009, Dr. Savitz was appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. Past board memberships include the National Science Board, Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, Defense Science Board, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRU), Draper Laboratories, and the Energy Foundation. Dr. Savitz’s awards and honors include: the Orton Memorial Lecturer Award (American Ceramic Society) in 1998; the DOE Outstanding Service Medal in1981; the President’s Meritorious Rank Award in 1980; recognition by the Engineering News Record for Contribution to the Construction Industry in 1979 and 1975; and the MERDC Commander Award for Scientific Excellence in 1967. She is the author of about 20 publications. Dr. Savitz has served on numerous National Research Council committees and participated in multiple Academies activities. She is a member of the Division Committee on Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Norman R. Scott

Norman R. Scott (NAE) is professor emeritus in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and College of Engineering. He retired in 2011 after serving the university for over 40 years, dedicating 14 years as director for research for the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station and vice president for research and advanced studies. His early research on thermo-regulation in animals was crucial in defining the broad set of biological engineering topics that remain important today. His recent research interests include development of sustainable communities with emphasis on renewable energies including biologically derived fuels, managed ecosystems, and industrial ecology. Dr. Scott is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and served as Chair of the National Academies’ Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources from 2009-2015. Dr. Scott earned a B.S. degree in agricultural engineering from Washington State University and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.

R. Rhodes Trussell

R. Rhodes Trussell (NAE) is the Founder and Chairman of Trussell Technologies, Inc. a niche firm focused on process and water quality. Dr. Trussell is an authority on the criteria for water quality and the methods for achieving them. He has worked on the design for numerous water treatment plants, ranging in capacity from less than one gallon per minute to nearly one billion gallons per day. Dr. Trussell has a special interest in emerging water sources, particularly wastewater reuse, seawater desalination and groundwater recovery. Before founding Trussell Technologies, Inc. he spent 33 years with MWH as it grew from a 50-person California firm to a 6,800-person multinational operating in 40 countries. While at MWH, he rose to become Director of Applied Technology and Director of Corporate Development as well as a member of both the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee. Dr. Trussell served for more than ten years on EPA’s Science Advisory Board, on eleven committees for the National Academies as well as Chair of the Water Science and Technology Board. For the International Water Association, Dr. Trussell served on the Scientific and Technical Council, on two Editorial Boards, and on the Program Committee for five World Congresses. Dr. Trussell has his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in environmental engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Julie B. Zimmerman

Julie Zimmerman is an internationally recognized engineer whose work is focused on advancing innovations in sustainable technologies. Dr. Zimmerman is jointly appointed as a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. Her pioneering work established the fundamental framework for her field with her seminal publications on the “Twelve Principles of Green Engineering” in 2003. The manifestation of this framework is taking place in her research group and includes breakthroughs on the integrated biorefinery, designing safer chemicals and materials, novel materials for water purification, and analyses of the water-energy nexus. Prior to coming to Yale University, Dr. Zimmerman was a program manager at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where she established the national sustainable design competition, P3 (People, Prosperity, and Planet) which has engaged design teams from hundreds of universities across the U.S. Professor Zimmerman is the co-author of the textbook, Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals, Sustainability, Design that is used in the engineering programs at leading universities. Dr. Zimmerman earned her B.S. from the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. rom the University of Michigan jointly from the School of Engineering and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. In addition, Dr. Zimmerman is an Associate Editor of the journal, Environmental Science and Technology and is a Member of the Connecticut Academy of Sciences.

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Grand Challenges and Opportunities in Environmental Engineering for the Twenty-first Century

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Grand Challenges and Opportunities in Environmental Engineering for the Twenty-first Century

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Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges

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More like this

Review of the draft United by Nature assessment

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