The Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering (VASE) will celebrate Dr. George Pinder’s recent accomplishment of being elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) at the VASE Annual meeting on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 in Davis Auditorium at UVM at 5 pm. The NAE nomination is the highest professional distinction accorded to an engineer. Pinder, a member of VASE, will speak on, “Computer Aided Solutions to Environmental Problems: The Case for Ground Water”.
Pinder, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering with secondary appointments in Mathematics and Statistics and Computer Science, at the University of Vermont College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, is a pioneer in the computer aided simulation of contaminant transport in ground water and its applications to remediation strategies and an internationally renowned expert and world leader in groundwater modeling. He will discuss how contaminant transport models are now used widely to design remediation strategies for groundwater contamination problems.
VASE is modeled after the National Academies and was chartered by the State of Vermont to honor scientists and engineers for their achievements, promote the interests of science and engineering within the state, educate Vermonters about the importance of science and engineering, and help state government address problems in those fields.
Pinder’s accomplishments include election by colleagues to serve as President of the Hydrology Section of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), founding Chair of the Groundwater Council of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and founding editor of Advances in Water Resources and Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations (NMPDE). He has published nine books, and over 123 journal papers in the premier journals of the field. His honors include: the Geological Society of America (GSA), O. E. Meinzer Award, The Eminent Scientists Award Medal, the AGU Horton Award, Fellow of Wessex Institute, University of Vermont Scholar, election to AGU Fellow, and the ASCE Julian Hinds Award.
He has served as Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University and Dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Vermont. He has graduated 32 PhD students, and some of his former PhD students are now Professors, Deans, and Provosts at several major universities.
