John J. Cassidy, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, NAE, Hon.D.WRE, of Walnut Creek, California, and Mukuteswara Gopalakrishnan Hon.D.WRE, of New Delhi, India and the Secretary General of International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) were recently elected the nineteenth and twentieth Honorary Diplomates of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. The Honorary Diplomate status is AAWRE's highest honor given to an individual. Since the founding of AAWRE in October 2004, twenty individuals have received the Honorary Diplomate, Water Resources Engineers (Hon.D.WRE) status from the Academy.
Honorary Diplomate status is only granted to outstanding individuals who meet one or more of the following criteria: has attained a position of eminence in the water resources engineering profession, has made a singular noteworthy achievement or sustained noteworthy contributions to the advancement of the water resources engineering profession, or has rendered outstanding service over a sustained period of time in the field of water resources and to the work of the Academy.
Dr. Cassidy and Mr. Gopalakrishnan will be awarded with an honorary medallion, a certificate, and pin, on May 17, 2010, during AAWRE's annual Diplomate Induction Ceremony at the 2010 EWRI World Environmental & Water Resources Congress in Providence, RI.
John J. Cassidy,
Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, NAE, Hon.D.WRE
John J. (Jack) Cassidy was born in Gebo, Wyoming in June 1930, the son of Elizabeth and Valentine Cassidy. His father was an electrical engineer employed as Chief Electrician at the Owl Creek Coal Company (a large coal mining company in Wyoming). After the tragic death of his father in a plane crash in 1935, he and his mother moved to Roberts, Montana. In Roberts, Jack attended elementary and high school, graduating as salutatorian (not in the upper 20%) in a class of 5 in 1947. He spent most of his developing years working on his grand father's and other cattle ranches in the area.
Jack enrolled in Civil Engineering at Montana State College (MSC) in the fall of 1948 and received a B.S.C.E. in 1952. He met Alice Willman at MSC and they were married in 1953. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1953 and served in the Far East during the Korean War. In 1955, Jack joined the Montana State Water Conservation Board in Helena as a Design Engineer and participated in the design of small dams, pumping plants, and irrigation canals. His two sons, Val Patrick and Jon Alan were born in Helena.
Jack enrolled in graduate school at Montana State University in the fall of 1958 and received an M.S.C.E. in 1960. During this period he was an instructor in Engineering Mechanics and Fluid Mechanics. He spent the summer of 1960 as an NSF Fellow in Fluid Mechanics at Colorado State University and enrolled in graduate school at The University of Iowa at Iowa City in the fall of 1960. At Iowa he was an instructor in Mechanics and Hydraulics and a Research Assistant at the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research. He completed requirements for the Ph.D. in Hydraulic Engineering in 1963 under the supervision of Dr. Hunter Rouse. Jack's daughter Debra was born in Iowa City.
In the fall of 1963 Jack took a position as Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Missouri at Columbia, Missouri. He participated in teaching and research in Hydraulic Engineering and was promoted to Professor in 1969 and to Department Chairman in 1971. Jack left the University of Missouri in 1974 and joined the Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco, California as Assistant Chief Hydraulic Engineer. He was successively promoted to Chief Hydrologic Engineer in 1975, to Chief Hydraulic engineer in 1979, and to Manager of Hydraulics Hydrology in 1985. In this capacity he participated in and/or supervised development of hydraulic and hydrologic design for dams and water supply projects and for thermal power plants in Bechtel projects worldwide. As Manager of Hydraulics Hydrology he was responsible for approximately 100 engineers in five regional offices of Bechtel. In 1993, Jack was promoted to Manager of Geotechnical and Hydraulic Engineering and was responsible for Geologists, Geotechnical Engineers, and Hydraulic and Hydrologic Engineers in all Bechtel regional offices. He retired from Bechtel in 1995 and began a career as an independent consultant in Hydraulic and Hydrologic Engineering. Alice, his wife of 52 years, passed away in 2005.
Jack was named a Bechtel Fellow in 1986 and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1994. In 1994 he was also elected an Honorary Member (now designated a Distinguished Member) of ASCE. In 1988 he was named to present the ASCE Hunter Rouse Lecture and in 1996 he received the ASCE Hydraulic Structures Medal. He received the Ray K. Linsley Award from the American Institute of Hydrology in 2001 and was given the EWRI Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2004. Jack was active in various committees of ASCE's Hydraulics Division for 16 years, and was also active in the International Commission on Large Dams where he served as Chairman of the Hydraulics for Dams Committee for 9 years. He served two terms a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Society on Dams. He makes his home at a retirement village in Walnut Creek, California.
Dr. Cassidy reflected with the following upon receiving the news on his honorary status in AAWRE:
I was totally amazed and surprised at receiving notification that I was to be awarded the Honorary Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer (from AAWRE). ASCE had already honored me in more ways than I deserve. I joined the student chapter of ASCE at Montana State College (now Montana State University) in the fall of 1948 and have been a member ever since. There are so many people that I owe thanks to for directing me to what has become a long and rewarding career in Water Resources Engineering. A career automatically becomes long if you live long enough, but, as John F. Kennedy once pointed out to me, "Anyone should be able to have a successful career in Water Resources Engineering, since nobody ever has the right amount of water. They are almost always in a flood or a drought."
There were several wonderful professors both at Montana State and The University of Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, who guided and stimulated me along the way (Hunter Rouse and Eldon R. Dodge among others). Since that time I have been so fortunate to have been associated with so many outstanding engineering colleagues; Rex A. Elder, John F. Kennedy, Henry T. Falvey, and Eric B. Kollgaard to name only a very few. I know also that I owe a debt of gratitude to the efforts of Jeff Bradley of West Consultants and to S.K. Nanda of the Corps of Engineers for their respect and presentation of my name in nomination for this honor.
Mukuteswara Gopalakrishnan,
Hon.D.WRE
Mr. Mukuteswara Gopalakrishnan, Hon.D.WRE is the Secretary General of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) since 1 January 2004. He had served earlier in various senior and responsible high positions in Government of India. He retired on 31 January 2003 as a Member of the India's apex technical organisation, the Central Water Commission (CWC) which was of the status of an Ex-Officio Additional Secretary to Govt. of India (GoI). Mr. Gopalakrishnan served as the Coordinator of a Government of India's multi-disciplinary high level Task Force on Interlinking of Rivers in 2003 to advise them on this project in all its facets and submit action plans. He was primarily responsible to draft them, process in the Task Force and submit them to GoI for its consideration two Action Plans on Interlinking of Rivers.
Mr. Gopalakrishnan had held the position of the President of the Indian Water Resources Society during 2005-09 (two successive two year terms); he is currently the President of the New Delhi Associate Centre of World Water Council (since 2005). Besides being an active office bearer of ICID as its Secretary General, his association with several other Professional Societies and UN Water systems are rich. He is an active Member of International Water Resources Association, ICOLD to mention a few. He served as a Governor of the World Water Council during January 2004 till March 2006. He is a Fellow of the Indian Institution of Engineers since 1980, was the Co-Chairman of its special Committee on Interlinking of Indian Rivers (2004-09). He is a Life Member of several Professional Bodies in India - like the Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS), the Indian Geotechnical Engineering Society (IGES), Indian Society of Earthquake Engineering (ISET) , Indian Society for Tunnelling Technology (ISTT), Indian Association of Hydrologists (IAH) etc. He serves several other Expert Committees: Tehri Hydro Corporation and also in several other upcoming hydro projects in Himalayas being developed in public as well as private sectors in India.
Engr. Gopalakrishnan's professional contributions were significant in his career in Central water Commission in India. He was responsible for designs of over 100 Water Resources Development Projects in the decades when Government investment in the development of Irrigation and Power Sector was sizeable and CWC performed the role of Design Consultants also. His designs covered quite a few World Class Projects. These, inter-alia, include the 262 m. high Tehri Dam, 315 m., Indo-Nepal's Pancheshwar Dam in conception. He was responsible for Nepal's Karnali Project Design review in 1990s from Indian Government. He spearheaded the investigation and Project Report formulation for Sankosh project in Bhutan (1995) (4000MW). He is a member in the Committee on Seismicity and Chairman of the INCOLD Committee on this subject.
Mr. Gopalakrishnan had been a member of Indian team of the Indus Commission on Projects and had associated himself with bilateral discussions with Pakistan in the periods between 1996 to 2002. He also was involved in India's bilateral discussions with Nepal, Bhutan and Bagladesh on water resources sharing and water projects with common interests.
Engr. M. Gopalakrishnan has a fair appreciation of global issues and problems related to water sector. He had visited over 45 countries covering all the continents for participating in International Seminars and invited lectures etc. For six years, he served in Africa in River Basin Development Authority (Nigeria 1977-1984).
Mr. Gopalakrishnan is responsible to render support to International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage and coordinate over 31 workbodies' activities, liaison with other leading International Water Association. He is the Secretary of International Water-related Association Liaison Committee (IWALC) - an assembly of nearly 10 International Water Associations. Mr. Gopalakrishnan had produced about 100 papers on topics of Water Resources Engineering covering different aspects and perspectives and delivered numerous invited talks, chaired several technical sessions in international meets and conferences relating to water.
Engr. M. Gopalakrishnan (born 28.1.1943) holds Master of Engineering (Honours) in Water Resources Development from University of Roorkee (now, IIT-R). His remarkable academic performance yielded him both Khosla Gold Medal and University Gold Medal for the top position in both P.G.Dip (Hons) and M.E levels with record breaking scores. He has over four decades of rich experience in the field of Water Resources Development and Management in India and abroad.
Mr. Gopalakrishnan responded with the following upon news of his recognition as an Honorary Diplomate:
I consider it my privilege to commend the founding members and team that stood behind the creation of the laudable initiative AAWRE. Your efforts to widen it, increase its visibility, and to ensure a reach to engineers globally deserves encouragement and praise.
I am humbled by my recognition as an Honorary Diplomate of the AAWRE. It is indeed a great privilege and honor for me. Thank you very much.
AAWRE's mission is to improve the practice, elevate standards, and advance the profession of water resources engineering by certifying engineers with specialized knowledge in water resources, recognizing the ethical practice of water resources engineering at the expert level, encouraging continued professional development for engineers, and supporting positions on water resources issues important to the public health.
The American Academy of Water Resources Engineers was founded by members of the ASCE's Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) and is an Academy of the Civil Engineering Certification, Inc. (CEC).