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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, February 2, 2009 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

photo of Marc Edwards

Marc Edwards

"Lead in Drinking Water and Public Health: A Scientist's Descent into the Activist Netherworld"

ABSTRACT -- In January 2004, Washington D.C. residents learned that hazardous levels of lead had been present in their drinking water supply for several years. The revelation prompted public outrage and a media frenzy, but subsequent "scientific" studies failed to find any harm. How could this be? Marc Edwards' exhaustive 4 year investigation into the genesis and aftermath of the D.C. "Lead Crisis" reveals how the authorities twisted science to obfuscate the truth. This compelling experience illustrates the importance of always holding paramount the public welfare, and how the practice of "compassionate engineering" can make a difference.

Edwards testified to Congress on the lead problem in Washington D.C. in March 2004, and his work on lead has been featured in Time Magazine, Prism, National Public Radio, Environmental Science and Technology, Good Housekeeping, Materials Performance, and many other publications.

SPEAKER -- Marc Edwards received his bachelor's degree in Bio-Physics from SUNY Buffalo in 1986. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington, in 1988 and 1991, respectively. In 2004, Time Magazine dubbed Dr. Edwards "The Plumbing Professor" and listed him amongst the 4 most important "Innovators" in water from around the world. The White House awarded him a Presidential Faculty Fellowship in 1996. In 1994, 1995, and 2005, Edwards received the Outstanding Paper Award in the Journal of American Waterworks Association and he received the H.P. Eddy Medal. His M.S. Thesis and PhD Dissertation won national awards from the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors and the Water Environment Federation (formerly the Water Pollution Control Federation). He was awarded the Walter Huber Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (2003), State of Virginia Outstanding Professor (2006), and a MacArthur Fellowship (2007).


Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov