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Founding of the New Discipline

Founding of the New Discipline. by C. Joseph Touhill, Ph.D., P.E., DEE, F.AIChE, F.ASCE Nicholas L. Clesceri, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE Herbert M. Clark, Ph.D.

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Founding of the New Discipline

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  1. Founding of the New Discipline by C. Joseph Touhill, Ph.D., P.E., DEE, F.AIChE, F.ASCE Nicholas L. Clesceri, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE Herbert M. Clark, Ph.D. Presented at the Colloquium to Celebrate Fifty Years of Environmental Engineering, March 29, 2005, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

  2. Dedication • This paper is dedicated to Professor Edward James Kilcawley whose visionary leadership and dogged determination created the first Environmental Engineering degree program in the United States.

  3. Summary • August 1954 – Professor Edward J. Kilcawley proposes concept for new discipline - Environmental Engineering - at RPI • September 1954 – Dean of the Faculty approves recommendations and officially charges RPI Committee on Environmental Engineering • March 1955 –Committee submits positive recommendation report to RPI administration • June 1956 – New York State Education Department approves curriculum • September 1958 – Seven undergraduate students and five New York State Department of Health engineers become first students in new Environmental Engineering program • June 1961 – Three Master of Science degrees in Environmental Engineering awarded by RPI: first ever in the new discipline

  4. Key People • Edward J. Kilcawley – Dynamic force behind first Environmental Engineering educational curriculum at RPI • Robert P. Burden and John A. Logan – Co-authors of seminal paper that inspired Kilcawley’s vision • Committee on Environmental Engineering – Members of the group that evaluated and validated the new discipline plan • Deans P. E. Hemke and V. L. Parsegian – Guided the concept through the RPI administrative process • Meredith Thompson and Al Rihm – Provided a sound base of graduate students from the New York State Department of Health

  5. RPI Committee on Environmental Engineering • Prof. Edward J. Kilcawley, Chairman, Dept. of Civil Engineering • Dr. S. A. Anderson, General Studies • Dr. Herbert M. Clark, Dept. of Chemistry • Dr. John B. Cloke, Head of the Dept. of Chemistry • Dr. Robert H. Luce, Head of the Dept. of Biology • Mr. Sol Pincus, Consultant • Prof. Arno G. Schubert, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering • Dr. William W. Shuster, Dept. of Chemical Engineering

  6. Key Dates • August 18, 1954 – Kilcawley sends letter to Dean Hemke laying out concept for the new discipline of Environmental Engineering • September 3, 1954 – Dean Hemke gives Kilcawley permission to proceed to select a committee, develop a new curriculum, and study educational feasibility of the new discipline • November 12-15, 1954 – Dean Parsegian solicits comments from influential sanitary engineering professionals – Mark Hollis, Assistant Surgeon General, USPHS and Arthur Gorman, Sanitary Engineer, USAEC • December 30, 1954 – Dean Parsegian conveys to Kilcawley favorable comments by Executive Committee of the RPI Academic Advisory Council

  7. Key Dates(continued) • January 1955, - Kilcawley has pivotal meeting in New York City with Sol Pincus and Dr. Robert P. Burden of the Rockefeller Foundation. Together they craft a formal vision for the new discipline. • March 29, 1955 – First Report of the Committee on Environmental Engineering • June 7, 1956 – Letter to Kilcawley from the New York State Board of Regents approving the new curriculum • June 14, 1956 – Second Report of the Committee on Environmental Engineering marking the start of the program

  8. Committee RecommendationsFirst Report – March 29, 1955 • “The abolition of the present option in Sanitary Engineering and the establishment of a new curriculum. • “The adoption of the name Environmental Engineering for the new curriculum. • “The adoption of the curriculum proposed in this report. • “The establishment of the degree Bachelor of Environmental Engineering. • “The formulation of a program of graduate study leading to the master’s degree. • “That every effort be made to procure financial support for this program. • “That Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute pioneer in meeting the challenge presented by the evolution in the practice of Sanitary Engineering.”

  9. Definition of the Concept At their January 1955 meeting, Kilcawley, Pincus and Burden agree upon the following definition: “Environmental Engineering is that portion of the science of environmental control in which engineering is used to conserve and develop world’s resources for the general well-being of man as measured by such indices as the absence of disease, comfort, convenience and productivity.”

  10. Environmental Engineering Graduation Statistics (1961-1964) • Bachelors • 1963: one • 1964: one • Masters • 1961: three • 1962: fifteen • 1963: two • 1964: ten • Doctors • 1964: two

  11. Environmental Engineering Graduation Statistics (1961-2005) • Bachelor of Science - 553 • Master of Engineering - 210 • Master of Science – 142 • Doctor of Engineering – 4 • Doctor of Philosophy – 46 Total ~ 955

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