image: Professor Emeritus Richard M. Vogel has been named a 2017 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. view more
Credit: Matthew Modoono, Tufts University
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (Aug. 31, 2017) -- Richard M. Vogel, professor emeritus and research professor of civil and environmental engineering at Tufts University's School of Engineering, has been elected a 2017 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), in recognition of his visionary research on water resource systems engineering.
Vogel joins nearly 1,400 living scientists to receive the prestigious Fellow distinction. Annually, the AGU names select members who have advanced research in their selective fields, within earth and space sciences. Only 0.1 percent of AGU's 60,000 members receive this recognition each year.
A member of the Tufts University faculty since 1984, Vogel studies hydrology, water resource engineering, natural hazards and environmental statistics. His work has advanced the practice and science of water resource planning and management, by providing statistical foundations that can be employed to solve a wide range of water resource systems problems related to floods, droughts and environmental quality.
Vogel has also used basic innovations from the fields of hydrology and water resource engineering to predict natural hazards, including earthquakes, landslides, floods, droughts and extreme winds, as well as bird and plant extinctions.
"We are proud that [Professor Vogel] is being recognized for his dedication to finding innovative and practical solutions that address the multitude of issues impacting water infrastructure," said Kurt Pennell, professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tufts' School of Engineering. "His distinguished career has been dedicated to making systems safer and more efficient, earning him the esteem of his peers in academia and professional fields."
Earlier this year, Vogel was named a Maass-White Fellow of the Institute for Water Resources of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Maass-White fellowship is offered annually to a scholar whose works promote innovative, substantive reforms in water resources policy research or analysis.
The former director of Tufts University's interdisciplinary graduate program in Water: Systems, Science and Society, Vogel was named professor emeritus in September of 2016.
Founded in 1919 and independently incorporated in 1972, the AGU aims to promote discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. This year's AGU class of 61 new fellows will be celebrated at the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting on Dec. 13 in New Orleans.
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About Tufts University's School of Engineering
Located on Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus, the School of Engineering offers a rigorous engineering education in a unique environment that blends the intellectual and technological resources of a world-class research university with the strengths of a top-ranked liberal arts college. Close partnerships with Tufts' excellent undergraduate, graduate and professional schools, coupled with a long tradition of collaboration, provide a strong platform for interdisciplinary education and scholarship. The School of Engineering's mission is to educate engineers committed to the innovative and ethical application of science and technology in addressing the most pressing societal needs, to develop and nurture twenty-first century leadership qualities in its students, faculty, and alumni, and to create and disseminate transformational new knowledge and technologies that further the well-being and sustainability of society in such cross-cutting areas as human health, environmental sustainability, alternative energy, and the human-technology interface.