Society Announces Soil and Water Award Winner

Saied Mostaghimi, Virginia Tech professor and head of the biological systems engineering department, has been named the winner of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) 2008 Hancor Soil and Water Engineering Award, according to an Aug. 22 press release.

Sponsored by Hancor, the award recognizes Mostaghimi's research programs in developing strategies and tools for assessing the impact of agriculture and urban activities on water quality and developing and validating computer simulation models for use by agencies involved in water resources and land-use planning. The methodology he developed for data collection at the watershed scale, the citation states, has been widely adopted by researchers and practitioners in the United States and throughout the world.

"Professor Mostaghimi is widely known for his research, outreach, and educational programs in hydrology and in particular soil erosion and non-point source pollution assessment and control," said Tori Durliat, Hancor director of marketing. "It is truly a pleasure and an honor to acknowledge Professor Mostaghimi for his exacting work in this field and for his lifelong commitment to examining and improving water quality."

Mostaghimi is a 27-year member of ASABE and elected a Fellow of the Society in 2006. Hancor, one of the world's largest suppliers of stormwater management systems, has sponsored the ASABE award since 1966.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers is an international educational and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food, and biological systems. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in St. Joseph, Mich., the society has some 9,000 members from more than 100 countries.