Founding of the New Discipline

1
Founding of the New Discipline

• by
• C. Joseph Touhill, Ph.D., P.E., DEE, F.AIChE,
  F.ASCE
• Nicholas L. Clesceri, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE
• Herbert M. Clark, Ph.D.
• Presented at the Colloquium to Celebrate Fifty
  Years of Environmental Engineering, March 29,
  2005, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy,
  NY

2
Dedication

• This paper is dedicated to Professor Edward James
  Kilcawley whose visionary leadership and dogged
  determination created the first Environmental
  Engineering degree program in the United States.

3
Summary

• August 1954 Professor Edward J. Kilcawley
  proposes concept for new discipline -
  Environmental Engineering - at RPI
• September 1954 Dean of the Faculty approves
  recommendations and officially charges RPI
  Committee on Environmental Engineering
• March 1955 Committee submits positive
  recommendation report to RPI administration
• June 1956 New York State Education Department
  approves curriculum
• September 1958 Seven undergraduate students and
  five New York State Department of Health
  engineers become first students in new
  Environmental Engineering program
• June 1961 Three Master of Science degrees in
  Environmental Engineering awarded by RPI first
  ever in the new discipline

4
Key People

• Edward J. Kilcawley Dynamic force behind first
  Environmental Engineering educational curriculum
  at RPI
• Robert P. Burden and John A. Logan Co-authors
  of seminal paper that inspired Kilcawleys vision
• Committee on Environmental Engineering Members
  of the group that evaluated and validated the new
  discipline plan
• Deans P. E. Hemke and V. L. Parsegian Guided
  the concept through the RPI administrative
  process
• Meredith Thompson and Al Rihm Provided a sound
  base of graduate students from the New York State
  Department of Health

5
RPI Committee on Environmental Engineering

• Prof. Edward J. Kilcawley, Chairman, Dept. of
  Civil Engineering
• Dr. S. A. Anderson, General Studies
• Dr. Herbert M. Clark, Dept. of Chemistry
• Dr. John B. Cloke, Head of the Dept. of Chemistry
• Dr. Robert H. Luce, Head of the Dept. of Biology
• Mr. Sol Pincus, Consultant
• Prof. Arno G. Schubert, Dept. of Mechanical
  Engineering
• Dr. William W. Shuster, Dept. of Chemical
  Engineering

6
Key Dates

• August 18, 1954 Kilcawley sends letter to Dean
  Hemke laying out concept for the new discipline
  of Environmental Engineering
• September 3, 1954 Dean Hemke gives Kilcawley
  permission to proceed to select a committee,
  develop a new curriculum, and study educational
  feasibility of the new discipline
• November 12-15, 1954 Dean Parsegian solicits
  comments from influential sanitary engineering
  professionals Mark Hollis, Assistant Surgeon
  General, USPHS and Arthur Gorman, Sanitary
  Engineer, USAEC
• December 30, 1954 Dean Parsegian conveys to
  Kilcawley favorable comments by Executive
  Committee of the RPI Academic Advisory Council

7
Key Dates(continued)

• January 1955, - Kilcawley has pivotal meeting in
  New York City with Sol Pincus and Dr. Robert P.
  Burden of the Rockefeller Foundation. Together
  they craft a formal vision for the new
  discipline.
• March 29, 1955 First Report of the Committee on
  Environmental Engineering
• June 7, 1956 Letter to Kilcawley from the New
  York State Board of Regents approving the new
  curriculum
• June 14, 1956 Second Report of the Committee on
  Environmental Engineering marking the start of
  the program

8
Committee RecommendationsFirst Report March
29, 1955

• The abolition of the present option in Sanitary
  Engineering and the establishment of a new
  curriculum.
• The adoption of the name Environmental
  Engineering for the new curriculum.
• The adoption of the curriculum proposed in this
  report.
• The establishment of the degree Bachelor of
  Environmental Engineering.
• The formulation of a program of graduate study
  leading to the masters degree.
• That every effort be made to procure financial
  support for this program.
• That Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute pioneer in
  meeting the challenge presented by the evolution
  in the practice of Sanitary Engineering.

9
Definition of the Concept

• At their January 1955 meeting, Kilcawley, Pincus
  and Burden agree upon the following definition
• Environmental Engineering is that portion of the
  science of environmental control in which
  engineering is used to conserve and develop
  worlds resources for the general well-being of
  man as measured by such indices as the absence of
  disease, comfort, convenience and productivity.

10
Environmental Engineering Graduation Statistics
(1961-1964)

• Bachelors
• 1963 one
• 1964 one
• Masters
• 1961 three
• 1962 fifteen
• 1963 two
• 1964 ten
• Doctors
• 1964 two

11
Environmental Engineering Graduation Statistics
(1961-2005)

• Bachelor of Science - 553
• Master of Engineering - 210
• Master of Science 142
• Doctor of Engineering 4
• Doctor of Philosophy 46
• Total 955