Jon Hathaway, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, recently earned a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation for his work in sustainable urban water management.
“This award identifies Jon as one of the nation’s most promising young faculty members working in the water resources area,” said Chris Cox, Robert M. Condra Professor and head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “We are all proud of his outstanding achievement and expect that this award will enable him to make important contributions to green infrastructure.”
Hathaway’s project, “Toward Sustainable Urban Water Management through a Twofold Approach: Enhanced Landscape Modeling and Strategic Spatial Placement of Stormwater Control Measures,” aims to develop strategies for more effective modeling and strategic placement of green infrastructure in urban watersheds over a five-year period.
The educational component of the project includes outreach to K–12 students through the Knox County Adopt-a-Watershed program, introduction of green infrastructure concepts to freshmen, and a new graduate-level course on watershed-scale hydrologic modeling.
The project could lead to more effective urban watershed restoration, where stakeholders can more confidently test proposed strategies prior to installation.
Such improvements will allow maximized public and ecological benefit with available resources.
“I am honored to receive the CAREER Award, and very proud of my students who have performed research that culminated in this proposal,” said Hathaway. “It’s exciting for others to see the value in our work.
“It validates that we are building something special here at UT in the study of water and sustainability.”
With the recognition, Hathaway now joins a select but growing group at UT to have won the award.
In the past three months alone, at least five UT faculty members have received the prestigious recognition, given by the NSF to help support the career development of young faculty members and give a boost to their research.
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C O N T A C T :
Élan Young (865-974-8786, elan@tennessee.edu)