Cristiane Surbeck, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Mississippi, has been elected as vice president of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute.
The Environmental and Water Resources Institute is the American Society of Civil Engineers’ technical source for environmental and water-related issues. EWRI is one of nine ASCE technical institutes and has the second-largest membership, with more than 20,000 members.
Surbeck hopes to see the institute continue to focus on addressing members’ needs and be able to respond to their requests for the profession. She also wants the institute to become a source of information for members of the organization, the general public and to other professions.
“I think it’s when you’re able to communicate with a lot of different people (that) you can really improve society,” Surbeck said. “Our professions don’t happen in a vacuum, all alone; they impact a whole lot of other people.”
Surbeck replaces Steve Starrett, of Kansas State University, Oct. 1 as a member of the governing board.
As vice president, Surbeck will help set the strategic direction for the profession and institute by providing technical, educational and professional resources for EWRI members.
“This year will be a learning year on how the organization really works,” she said. “I get to be involved in a lot of the decisions, meet more of the members of the organization and really just serve the people.”
After one year, the vice president becomes the president-elect, then president and past president.
“You’re committed for four years, and next year someone else will be elected vice president,” she said.
Surbeck earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Maryland and her master’s and doctoral degrees in environmental engineering from the University of California at Irvine.
She has been a member of the UM faculty since 2007 and also serves as graduate program coordinator for environmental engineering and adviser to the university’s chapters of Engineers Without Borders and Chi Epsilon, the national civil engineering honor society.
Surbeck said her favorite part of teaching is giving her students a sense of what the working world is like for engineers.
“I really try to do things in the classroom that will help them once they become full-time engineers,” she said.
Surbeck was the recipient of the School of Engineering Faculty Teaching Award for Outstanding Performance in 2010, the Junior Faculty Research Award in 2014 and the Faculty Service Award in 2015.
For more information about the Environmental and Water Resources Institute, visit the website.
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