News 2005

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Fellows in the News

Fellow James L Barnard, who was elected this year‘s Honoray Board Certified Environmentsl Engineer by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.

High American Academy honour for SAAE Fellow

Fellow James L. Barnard, Ph.D., Pr.Eng. of Black & Veatch Water has been elected as this year's Honorary Board Certified Environmental Engineer by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.

Dr. Barnard was honoured in recognition of his position of eminence in the environmental engineering field and sustained contributions to the advancement of environmental engineering.

Dr. Barnard is internationally recognized for developing the Bardenpho (BARnard DENitrification and PHOsphorus removal) and Phoredox (including AO and A2O) processes, the first and most successful biological nutrient removal (BNR) process configurations on which all others are based. For more than 44 years, his professional contributions have included applied research, project-specific solutions and sharing his extensive understanding of BNR through courses and seminars at universities, institutions and conferences worldwide. Dr. Barnard, who introduced BNR to North America many years ago, has designed more than 100 nutrient removal plants and extensions, from South Africa to Canada.

Dan McCarthy, president and CEO of B&V Water said "Dr. Barnard is a credit not only to Black & Veatch but to the entire water industry. His continued breakthroughs in the biological control and removal of nitrogen and phosphorus, commitment to finding cost-effective ways to eliminate nutrient-related problems and desire to share his understanding of BNR issues with the rest of the world have helped him earn this well-deserved honorary diplomat status from an esteemed organization."

Previous honours accrued by Dr. Barnard include a Gold Medal from the South African Academy of Arts and Sciences, Water Environment Federation Thomas R. Camp Award and International Water Association Koch/Imhoff Award.

The American Academy of Environmental Engineers® is a specialty certification board and professional society for environmental engineers that are dedicated to improving the quality of environmental engineering practice. Headquartered in Annapolis, Md., the Academy certifies environmental engineers of proven quality from around the world in one or more of seven specialties of environmental engineering practice. It also provides leadership in the accreditation of environmental engineering curricula and the dissemination of technical and professional information to the public and the profession.

Fellow Thinus Basson

Fellow Thinus Basson honoured by NSTF

Fellow Dr Thinus Basson of BKS (Pretoria) was recently honoured by the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) in recognition of his outstanding contribution over a lifetime to science, engineering and technology.

Some of the work that qualified him for this award:

Team leader pioneering the development of the probabilistic management of water resources in a systems context, internationally recognized as leading technology.
Senior author of a textbook Probabilistic Management of Water Resources and Hydropower systems, published in Colorado, USA.
Major contribution to the development of a National Water Resources Strategy for South Africa.
Member of the International Advisory Group to the World Bank for development of the Nile River Basin Action Plan.
Commissioned by the World Meteorological Organisation to write a chapter on Estimating Reservoir Capacity and Yield as part of the WMO Guide to Hydrological Practices.
Contracted by the World Bank to prepare a report entitled Key water Resource Issues Facing Africa on behalf of the African Ministerial Council for Water to be submitted as working document to a meeting of the G8 countries.
Specialist advisor to the Government of Pakistan on management of the Indus River, one of the largest rivers in the world.
Specialist assignments to the United Nations Development Programme (Mekong River), the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN (Nile River), the Encyclopedia for Life Support Systems and lectured on invitation at the World Bank, in China and elsewhere.

Induction 2005

Prof Liesbeth Botha of the University of Stellenbosch (left) and Prof Susan Harrison of the University of Cape Town (right) with Dr Bingle Kruger, President of the South African Academy of Engineering at their induction as Fellows of the Academy on 20 July 2005 in Cape Town.

Prestigious SAAE Fellowships for Stellenbosch and UCT professors

Two internationally recognised engineers were inducted as Fellows of the South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE) at a special Dinner meeting in Cape Town on 20 July 2005. They were respectively Professor Liesbeth Botha, Executive Director of Innovation and Commercialisation at Stellenbosch University and Professor Sue Harrison, professor in Chemical Engineering and Director of the Bioprocess Engineering Research Unit at the University of Cape Town (UCT). In the process they became two of only three women in the Fellowship of the Academy which now totals 118. The first woman to be elected a Fellow was Mrs Allyson Lawless, who is a business woman and a consulting engineer. She was formerly Managing Director of Allyson Lawless (Pty) Ltd and is also a former President of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering.

The president of SAAE, Dr Bingle Kruger, stressed that the SAAE is a non-profit, independent institution established to serve the nation. It has the aim of promoting excellence in science and the application of engineering for the benefit of South Africans. Membership of the SAAE is by invitation only after election by peers on the basis of exceptional contributions to engineering. There are now seven Fellows of the SAAE in the ranks of Stellenbosch University and five at the University of Cape Town.