Edward J. Bouwer/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award

Nomination Form »

* The AEESP Awards Committee has ultimate discretion for which Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation award gets selected.

Refer to the nomination package for the required submission requirements.

Faculty advisors are encouraged to nominate dissertations completed under their supervision but must limit themselves to a single entry.  Nominated dissertations must be from the calendar year prior to when the award is given, i.e., the due date printed on the dissertation cover must be from the prior calendar year prior to the nomination year.

*Eligibility: Dissertations must have been from the previous calendar year, as per the cover page of the dissertation. Dissertations may be submitted up to one year late, but only under very extenuating circumstances. This is at the discretion of the Chair of the Awards Committee, but with approval from the AEESP President.

Edward J. Bouwer (1955-2019) was a dedicated researcher, teacher, and mentor to his graduate students.  Ed was a leading researcher in microbial process engineering and performed groundbreaking work on the bioremediation of chlorinated solvents.  His research group's fundamental work on bioremediation, water and wastewater treatment, and contamination in urban environments led to innovations in engineering practice and informed decisions concerning land use and national environmental policy.  Ed combined pragmatism with compassion to solve environmental problems in Baltimore and across the country and always strived to positively impact human and environmental health.  Ed was on The Johns Hopkins University faculty from 1985 until his passing in 2019, was the Abel Wolman Professor, and served as department chair for nine years.  Ed will be remembered not only for his technical contributions, but also for his level of personal commitment to every undergraduate advisee, Master student and Doctoral candidate - treating everyone he encountered with kindness and respect.

Because mentoring Ph.D. students were especially important to him, Ed's family has kindly offered to help the AEESP Foundation establish the Edward J. Bouwer AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award.  This award will allow AEESP the opportunity to honor the excellent work done by emerging researchers in the environmental engineering and science field and honor Ed's legacy of research and mentorship.  Thanks to the generous donations made by Ed's family, colleagues, and students, we have reached the stage at which we can publicly announce the award so that it can be granted annually.

Click here for a summary of past Student Award winners.

Past Recipients