WERF Award to Fund Imaginative Research
The Water Environment Research Foundation, through the Paul L. Busch Award, is offering $100,000 to encourage researchers working in wastewater, water reuse, biosolids, stormwater, watersheds, and other areas to use their imagination, take risks, explore new directions, and ultimately realize the possibilities inherent in their valuable work.
The annual Paul L. Busch award is one of the largest in the water quality industry, WERF stated in its March 11 press release. Now in its ninth year, the award has supported researchers imbued with the visionary spirit of its namesake, a leader in the water quality community who challenged engineers and scientists to devise new technologies and solutions for addressing ongoing water quality issues.
“The Paul L. Busch Award allows researchers to respond quickly to opportunities to do research in new areas,” says 2003 award recipient David Sedlak of the University of California, Berkeley. “By the very nature of it being an award and not a more traditional grant,” he explains, “it has given us a lot more flexibility to explore the possibilities and to pursue new lines of research that arise in our ongoing work.”
The WERF Endowment for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research grants the award to an individual or team. Utilities, universities, environmental firms, and others conducting water quality research or engineering work are encouraged to apply. Applicants may self-nominate or be nominated by a third party.
Interested individuals or teams must submit their application to WERF by June 1. All submissions should be sent to the Water Environment Research Foundation, Paul L. Busch Award, 635 Slaters Lane, Suite 300, Alexandria, Va., 22314. More information on the award, as well as the application process, is online at www.werf.org/PaulLBusch.