Colorado State University Appoints Water Center Director

Colorado State University has appointed Robert C. Ward as the first permanent director of the Water Center.

Judson M. Harper, Vice President for Research and Information Technology, announced Ward’s appointment as director of the interdisciplinary center that encompasses the many water programs at Colorado State. Ward will start his duties on Aug. 20.

As director of the Water Center, Ward will work with faculty from 22 departments across the university who are involved with teaching, research, and outreach in a variety of water areas. The Water Center, created in 1995, allows the university’s water experts to work together to provide broad educational opportunities, problem solving research, and outreach directed toward local, state and national water issues.

Ward has been a faculty member at Colorado State for 28 years in the department of chemical and bioresource engineering. He has served the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute for seven years. The institute, which will become part of the Water Center, has provided research solutions to important state water problems for nearly 35 years.

Ward, whose research has focused on water quality monitoring, has published extensively and organized numerous conferences and seminars. Recently, he has headed an effort within the College of Engineering to develop an environmental engineering degree program.

To assure coordination of the university’s many water efforts, Ward will work with the Water Center board of directors, a group made up of the deans of the Colleges of Natural Resources, Engineering, and Agricultural Sciences and the directors of the Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension.