Marc Edwards, of Blacksburg, professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, was named the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors at its quarterly meeting Monday, Aug. 23.

The Charles P. Lunsford Professorship was established in 1976 by Charles P. Lunsford II of C.L. Lunsford Sons & Izard Inc., of Roanoke, Va., to recognize and reward an outstanding faculty member in the College of Engineering’s Charles Edward Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Edwards is cited as being "among the best academic researchers nationally and internationally who addresses current and emerging issues in potable water treatment . . . (and is) among the world’s leading experts in the causes and control of copper and lead erosion," according to Charles O’Melia of the National Academy of Engineering. A second Academy member, James Edward, describes Edwards as a "star in the academic area of environmental engineering, one of the best academics in drinking water research in the United States."

Among his many honors, Edwards has received the H.P. Eddy Award from the Water Pollution Control Federation; a National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellow CAREER AWARD; and the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Edwards has earned approximately $2.7 million in external funding, authored 70 peer-reviewed publications, and is serving as the president of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors.

He received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college’s 5,600 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a "hands-on, minds-on" approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 2,000 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities, and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg, and other campus centers in northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 170 academic degree programs.

Share this story