The Dean's Award for Outstanding Engineering Achievement is given this year to Dr. Calvin C. Chien (M.S. CIE '70, Ph.D. CIE '74). Each year the School of Engineering gives this, its highest honor, to a person who has made exceptional contributions to the practice of engineering. During his career, Dr. Chien has manifested an uncommon degree of scientific achievement, professional commitment, and community involvement. He has been a galvanizing force in worldwide cooperation in environmental awareness and technology advancement. The School is proud to recognize him with this award.
Dr. Chien is an environmental fellow with the DuPont Company working in the Corporate Remediation Group. In this capacity, he has been responsible for the technical support for the environmental protection and remediation of company operations throughout the Asia-Pacific Region. In addition, he leads the company's Containment Transport Modeling Technology Team to facilitate the development, evaluation, and transfer of cutting-edge technologies to remediation sites around the nation and the globe. He is also responsible for overseeing environmental aspects of acquisitions and divestitures for DuPont, facilitating protection of the environment as part of the company's corporate citizenship. As a recognized leader in the field, Dr. Chien has also been leading the Chemical Manufacturers Association's Groundwater Modeling Group for the past seven years. He was also appointed by the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in 1994 to serve on the Agency's Science Advisory Board and has just been reappointed for his second term, the only DuPonter who has been appointed to this highly honored position.
Dr. Chien's contribution to the state of containment technology worldwide has been far-reaching. He has been recognized by the research community for his expertise on containment strategies, hydrogeology, groundwater modeling and remediation. His effort on containment technology started in 1993 when he initiated and led a major investigation to asses the state of containment technologies by involving some leading experts from universities, which resulted in an important report, Barrier Containment Technologies for Environmental Remediation Applications, edited by Ralph R. Rumer and Michael E. Ryan and published by John Wiley & Sons in 1995. DuPont donated all the proceeds to a national environmental cause. Based on the findings from the book, Dr. Chien started research teams at five universities to improve these technologies. As the next step of his five-year plan, Dr. Chien conceived and co-chaired with the USEPA and the Department of Energy (DOE) a 1995 International Containment Technology Workshop. More than one hundred experts from nine countries were invited. Out of his workshop came the first comprehensive book to systematically define containment technology with extensive, well-organized information. The book, Assessment of Barrier Containment Technologies, was edited by Ralph R. Rumer and James K. Mitchell and published in 1996. Upon this solid foundation, Dr. Chien organized the first International Containment Technology Conference with USEPA and DOE. The highly successful effort was held in early 1997 and was attended by more than five hundred people from twenty-five countries. Working with some of the best minds in remediation technology today, he has helped advance a coherent strategy for meeting the world's containment needs.
Prior to his work as environmental fellow, Dr. Chien worked as senior consultant, and later as principal consultant with DuPont Engineering from 1986-1992. He also had worked for Conoco, DuPont's energy subsidiary, as a staff engineer and principal hydrologic engineer working in the North Sea and the South China Sea. From 1974-1981, Dr. Chien worked for the Westinghouse Mining Division and the consulting companies Dames & Moore and Nussbaumer & Clarke. Prior to that, he worked as a hydrological engineer for the Chinese Army Corps of Engineers in Taiwan.
Dr. Chien holds a US patent on optimum wellfield design for in situ uranium solutions mining operations. He won a Westinghouse Invention Award, and has received DuPont's Major Contribution Award for his work in remediation. He has worked on a number of national technical review committees on groundwater modeling and remediation, and was the only invited American industry speaker at the UN-sponsored workshop, "Groundwater Contamination in China and Surrounding Countries," held in Beijing, China in 1995.
Through Dr. Chien's vision in the academic research community, containment technology has become more well known and acceptable as an environmentally sound remediation strategy. A steadfast champion of SEAS, Dr. Chien has fostered DuPont's participation in research conducted at the New York State Center for Hazardous Waste Management, headquartered at UB.
Dr. Chien has presented his research at numerous national and international venues, and has lectured and developed courses at Conoco and DuPont. He is a licensed professional civil engineer, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the National Groudwater Association. He received his B.S.E. in hydraulic engineering from the National Taiwan Cheng-Kung University in 1966.
In addition to his professional achievements, Dr. Chien is a gifted mentor. Through volunteer work in his local community and abroad, he has made it possible for many young people to reach their potential, and at DuPont, he encourages junior members of his technology team to set and reach their project and career goals. As an enthusiastic and successful mentor to consultants in his field and those in the environmental regulatory community, he has had an an extraordinary impact.
Dr. Chien is distinguished by an exceptional sense of responsibility for those who are less fortunate than he. Through his work with the Chinese-American Community Center (C-ACC) in Wilmington, Delaware, he has helped many immigrants make the transition to American life. He was a board member of the Delaware Chinese School, and has volunteered in C-ACC functions and programs. He was president of the Oversea Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association - Mid-Atlantic Chapter, and initiated a tutor/mentor program for inner city students in 1996. He also started and headed the C-ACC soup kitchen program, and regularly prepares and serves free lunches at a downtown dinning hall. He was a United Way solicitor for the C-ACC, and has worked on Asian-American exchange programs to broaden understanding between cultures.
Dr. Chien is married with two children. His wife Amy, also a UB graduate (Ph.D. Physics 1974) is working with the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company. Janet is in medical school at the University of Chicago and Angela attends Harvard.
Setting the highest standards of integrity, commitment and stewardship for the scientific and industrial communities, Dr. Chien is a model alumnus, a person SEAS is proud to recognize with this year's Dean's Award.