April 16, 2018
Rob Sowby, a water resources engineer at Hansen, Allen & Luce (HAL), recently completed a Ph.D. degree in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Utah.
Dr. Sowby and his advisor, Dr. Steve Burian, developed new techniques to analyze public water systems’ energy use and identify opportunities for more sustainable planning, design, and operation. Some of their work is already published, including an energy intensity survey of more than 100 U.S. water systems. He has shared this and other work at numerous local and national conferences.
He recently won the doctoral category in the AWRA Utah Section’s J. Paul Riley Student Paper Competition with his entry “Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Drinking Water Conservation in 10 Major U.S. Cities” and subsequent presentation during the student conference on March 28 at the BYU Salt Lake Center. Earlier, his poster “Public Water Supply: How Much Energy Does It Take?” won the graduate research category at the Intermountain Sustainability Summit, held March 1 at Weber State University.
We congratulate Dr. Sowby on these accomplishments and appreciate his contributions to the research community and the water industry.