The 2010 University of Oklahoma WaTER Symposium was held on October 15 at the National Weather Center.

The symposium included discussions with a distinguished panel of speakers as well as the announcement of the second University of Oklahoma Water Prize winner. The University of Oklahoma Water Prize Recipient will give the Plenary Lecture at the next Oklahoma WaTER Conference to be held October 24-25, 2011.

Jurors for 2010 Symposium

Presentations given are available by clicking on the "Presentation" link next to each juror.

• Robert Adamski - V.P. for Municipal Infrastructure Programs, Gannett Fleming Presentation
• Diana Betancourt - Regional Manager for Central America, Water for People Presentation
• Jean McCluskey - former Global WASH Cluster Manager for UNICEF Presentation
• James Mihelcic - Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida Presentation
• Feleke Zewge - Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia Presentation

Speaker bios and links to some of their presentations are located below.

Robert E. Adamski

Robert Adamski is Vice President of Municipal Infrastructure Programs at Gannett Fleming E&A, Locust Valley, NY. He is responsible for providing consulting assistance to municipal water and wastewater system owners in the areas of facility operations and maintenance and utility management. He also represents the firm in highly visible national and regional programs. In 2010, Mr. Adamski was inducted into the New York Water Environment Association's Hall of Fame for active service, leadership and outstanding contributions. He is also the 2009 recipient of the Robert W. Hite Outstanding Leadership Award from Water for People. Mr. Adamski has a BS in Civil Engineering from City College of New York and is a licensed Professional Engineer. radamski@GFNET.com

Diana Maritza Betancourt

Diana Betancourt is the Central America Regional Manager for Water for People. She has vast experience in the public sector, especially in the areas of Water and Sanitation and Environmental Management Plans and Policies. Mrs. Betancourt has been working in the water supply and sanitation sector of Honduras since 1988 and with Water for People since 1998. She is co-founder of Beinsa Consultores, a consulting company that specializes in providing sanitation and environmental solutions to the public and private sector. She has developed international consulting services in El Salvador, Guatemala and Ecuador. Mrs. Betancourt received her undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Honduras UNAH and a Master of Science in Environmental Sanitation from the State University of Ghent-Belgium. She has taken specialized courses on Water Resources Management and Environmental Impact Assessment Studies, as well as on Wastewater Depuration Systems and Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001) in Venezuela, Costa Rica, México, Puerto Rico, Guatemala and El Salvador. dbetancourt@waterforpeople.org

Jean McCluskey

Jean McCluskey is a Public Health Engineer working in the Emergency WASH Sector for the last 15 years. Most recently she has worked for UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) in setting up and developing the Global WASH Cluster, a new humanitarian coordination mechanism, working to improve the timeliness, predictability and effectiveness of the WASH sector’s response in emergencies and was in Haiti as Cluster Coordinator for the sector earlier in 2010. Jean has also worked with other organizations including Medecins Sans Frontieres and Oxfam, key emergency WASH NGOs, working in more than 20 countries in different phases of emergency response and review, with time particularly spent in Africa. She has a particular interest in needs assessment and monitoring and is currently working with UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) to review their WASH indicator and monitoring systems. jeanmccluskey@hotmail.com

James R. Mihelcic, Ph.D.

James Mihelcic is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and State of Florida 21st Century World Class Scholar at the University of South Florida. He founded the Peace Corps Master’s International Program in Civil & Environmental Engineering (http:// cee.eng.usf.edu/peacecorps). His research interests are: sustainability, providing water and sanitation in the developing world and studying the impact of global stressors (e.g., population, land use, urbanization, climate) on water resources, water supply, and provision of sanitation. He has traveled extensively in the developing world, including trips in the past 6 months to Honduras, Bolivia, and Madagascar. Dr. Mihelcic is a past president of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) and is a member of the EPA Science Advisory Board for Environmental Engineering. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Green Professionals and a Board Certified Member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers (AAEE). He is lead author for 3 textbooks: Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering (John Wiley & Sons, 1999); Field Guide in Environmental Engineering for Development Workers: Water, Sanitation, Indoor Air (ASCE Press, 2009); and, Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals, Sustainability, Design (John Wiley & Sons, 2010). jm41@eng.usf.edu

Feleke Zewge Beshah, Ph.D.

Feleke Zewge Beshah, Ph.D. is the National Fluorosis Mitigation Project Coordinator for the Ministry of Water Resources in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is also an Associate Professor of Environmental Chemistry/Engineering in the Department of Chemistry at Addis Ababa University. Dr. Zewge received his BS in Chemistry from Addis Ababa University and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from Gunma University in Japan. He also spent one year as a Visiting Scientist at Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Applied Science, Department of Chemical Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. His primary research interests include fluoride removal from drinking water and photoelectrocatalytic purification of water and he is the author of many peer-reviewed journal publications and several book chapters. zewge@chem.aau.edu.et