History of the AEESP Foundation (2003-2016)

by James Mihelcic & Amy Childress (June 21, 2024)

This history of the AEESP Foundation was compiled from written and oral histories and committee minutes provided to James Mihelcic by: Lynn Katz, Joanne Fetzner, Marc Edwards, Pedro Alvarez, William Ball, Glen Daigger, Bruce Rittmann, Phil Singer, Jennifer Becker, and Maya Trotz.

The Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Foundation, Inc. became an official non-profit organization on April 18, 2006, and the IRS letter conferring this status was dated August 3, 2007.  Many of you know that the mission of the AEESP Foundation is to improve the state of knowledge in environmental engineering and science through the support and encouragement of excellent education, outreach, and scientific research.  What you might not know is how it started.

THE EARLY MOTIVATION (2003-2004)

The idea of the AEESP Foundation was first discussed officially at a Board of Directors Meeting in October, 2004.  During a discussion of donations to the organization at the meeting, it was brought to the attention of the Board that gifts were not tax exempt.  Up until 2003, award sponsors had paid the award winners directly.  However, after the passing of Fred Pohland in 2003, the Pohland family and some of Fred's colleagues were interested in creating an endowed award. (Eventually, this award, the Pohland Medal, was bestowed each year upon an individual who made sustained and outstanding efforts to bridge environmental engineering research, education, and practice).  In January 2004, Pedro Alvarez (Vice President of AEESP at the time) was contacted by Herb Ward (Richard Conway was coordinating the overall activity) who shared that AAEES, AEESP, and WEF had been mentioned as possible organizations to receive the funds and administer the award; however, the selected organization had to be recognized by the IRS as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization.

Pedro corresponded with Marc Edwards (President of AEESP at the time).  Marc contacted the AEESP Business Officer, Joanne Fetzner, to inquire if AEESP was a 501(c)(3) organization to allow for charitable giving.  Joanne informed Marc that AEESP was not a 501(c)(3) organization and was, in fact, a 501(c)(6) organization.  This meant AEESP was defined as a trade (professional) association.  The primary distinction between the two organization types was that the objectives of 501(c)(6) organizations were to benefit the members and those of 501(c)(3) organizations were to benefit others.  Joanne recommended to Pedro and Marc that AEESP explore the establishment of an affiliated organization (the first name proposed was "Foundation of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors"), which would be a 501(c)(3) and could receive donations on a tax-deductible basis.

Around this time, Marc Edwards also asked existing award sponsors if they could start paying the award money directly to AEESP so that the Association could write checks to the award winners.  The intent was to enable award winners to receive their checks in a timelier fashion and to also demonstrate more clearly that the awards were sponsored by AEESP.  When the award sponsors then asked to have AEESP's Federal ID number so they could receive tax deductions for their donations, the Board realized that gifts to AEESP were not tax deductible.

FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT (2004-2007)

At the October 2004 Board Meeting (held during WEFTEC in New Orleans), the Board asked Joanne Fetzner how to make these contributions tax deductible for the donors.  Marc Edwards also suggested that making contributions tax-deductible would be beneficial if AEESP created awards named after people in the field to which members and others could contribute and take personal deductions on their income taxes.  Joanne provided the Board with two solutions: 1) change the classification of AEESP to a 501(c)(3) organization, which would require a new application to the IRS and would result in some restrictions such as a limitation on lobbying activities, or 2) create a whole new separate organization and apply for 501(c)(3) status for this organization.

Joanne informed the Board that establishing a new 501(c)(3) organization would be complicated (and there was no guarantee the new organization would be approved) because the two organizations were "related" in the view of federal laws and because only one of them would be tax exempt for contributions.  Thus, the organization would have to be perfectly clear that no funds would travel from the Foundation to AEESP so that there would be no possible financial benefit to AEESP from creation of this organization.  The Board at that meeting decided that further investigation into establishing a new organization was warranted and Marc asked Joanne to investigate the establishment of a new 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.

The next AEESP Board Meeting was held in Spring 2005.  At that meeting, Catherine Peters (Past-President of AEESP at the time) made the following motion, "AEESP will create and apply to create a 501(c)(3) foundation to improve the state of knowledge in environmental engineering among educators, practicing engineers, scientists and the general public and to acknowledge and encourage excellence in environmental engineering education, research and service."  The motion was seconded by Lynn Katz and then passed unanimously by the Board.  The Board members present were Pedro Alvarez, William Ball, Marc Edwards, Menachem Elimelech, Kimberly Jones, Lynn Katz, James Mihelcic, Paige Novak, Catherine Peters, Joan Rose, and Philip Singer.  Joanne Fetzner was also present.

The Board also decided at that meeting to form an ad-hoc committee to discuss details of the new organization.  Volunteers for the 501(c)(3) ad-hoc committee were Lynn Katz (chair), Paige Novak, James Mihelcic, and Philip Singer.  Joanne Fetzner was asked to assist the ad-hoc committee draft articles of incorporation and bylaws.  The Board allocated up to $3,000 to support development of the 501(c)(3) application and up to $500 for attorney fees.  During this time, Joanne was a key figure in the process.  She advised the board and drafted and submitted all the application materials.  She commented it was also the most difficult application she had ever filed because of the need to demonstrate separation between the Association and Foundation (which she was able to do).

A draft copy of the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws for the new organization was submitted by Joanne to the AEESP Board for consideration as part of the July 27-28, 2005 Board Meeting Agenda.  The meeting was held at Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY) after the AEESP Education and Research Conference that took place that week.  At the meeting on July 26, AEESP also hosted the first AEESP Legacy Reunion and Appreciation Dinner (the legacy dinner recognized members who had received their Ph.D. by 1975).  At that dinner, the inaugural Frederick George Pohland Medal was co-presented by Pedro Alvarez (AEESP President) and Tim Shea (AAEES President) to Rhoads Trussell and Ray Loehr for their outstanding contributions to bridging environmental engineering research, education, and practice.  The night ended with Marc Edwards (Past-President of AEESP at the time) and Tim Shea presenting an AEESP/AAEE Founders Award to Harvey F. Ludwig*.

In Clarkson's Center for Advanced Materials Processing (Room 372) on July 26, 2005 the Board members in attendance were Pedro Alvarez, William Ball, Amy Childress, Marc Edwards, Menachem Elimelech, David Freedman, Kimberly Jones, Lynn Katz, James Mihelcic, Paige Novak, Joan Rose, Philip Singer, and Charlie Werth.  At the meeting, Joanne Fetzner highlighted key points in the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws for the proposed new organization.  She expressed concern that the Association would not be able to use the word Foundation at that moment in time.  So the organization was tentatively referred to as the AEESP Alliance for the purposes of the minutes.  At least three officers were required for incorporation, and the Board decided to elect a Chair (Lynn Katz), Treasurer (William Ball), and Secretary (Charlie Werth) for the new organization.  The Board also agreed to keep "Alliance" in the name if it was determined at a later date they could not name the organization "AEESP Foundation".

After a number of changes were suggested to the documents, the Board agreed to apply for an advance ruling on 501(c)(3) status.  The advance ruling also required filing forms for what might be several years, after which a definitive ruling can be applied for, depending on the financial stability of the organization.  The Board also agreed that the incorporators would include everyone presently on the AEESP Board of Directors as well as Marc Edwards and Catherine Peters (the two most recent past presidents).

That evening, there was a dinner at Maxfield's restaurant in Potsdam, New York.  The AEESP members at dinner that night were Pedro Alvarez, William Ball, Amy Childress, Marc Edwards, Menachem Elimelech, David Freedman, Kimberly Jones, Lynn Katz, James Mihelcic, Paige Novak, Joan Rose, Philip Singer, and Charlie Werth.  Joanne Fetzner was also present.  During the meal, an unknown board member placed a $20 bill down on the table.  Each of the remaining dinner attendees added a $20 bill to the growing pile.  That moment may be interpreted as the beginning of the newly formed AEESP Foundation.

Final changes to the bylaws and articles of incorporation were completed in fall, 2005.  The Articles of Incorporation were filed (under file number 64861948) in Springfield, IL on April 18, 2006.  At that time, The Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Foundation, Inc. became an official nonprofit organization.  In addition, Joanne Fetzner successfully applied online for the Federal ID number.  On August 16, 2007, Lynn Katz (AEESP Foundation Chair at the time) received the following e-mail message from Joanne Fetzner:

"Just now on the way home from the dentist, I fantasized as I don't do so often anymore, that a letter from the IRS would be in today's mail.  And then I would call you, even though you are on vacation, because I knew you would want to know.  Lo and behold, it was there.  We got the 501(c)(3) tax exemption approval, no questions asked!  I'm telling only you this minute, in case you want to tell everyone else yourself.  I am so excited, relieved, and so proud - it was a tough job and although I have done it for other organizations before, I was worried that this one was maybe over my head (but don't tell anyone that!).  Now it's me who can't wipe the smile off my face!"

The date of the IRS letter conferring this status was August 3, 2007.  Joanne played a critical role in the establishment of the Foundation.  In fact, AEESP honored her with the Distinguished Service Award in 2015, specifically stating that it was "for Outstanding Service in Support of AEESP Management and Formation of the AEESP Foundation."

*The AEESP legacies were also recognized at the AEESP Education and Research Conference held at the University of South Florida in 2011 that also recognized AEESP female pioneering faculty members who were present (see photos of all these groups in the Appendix).

FOUNDATION IS ANNOUNCED 2007

On February 6, 2007 the AEESP membership was notified by letter on the status of the new Foundation.  That letter was signed by Phil Singer (AEESP President at the time) and Lynn Katz (AEESP Foundation Chair at the time).  The letter began with the following text:

"When the AEESP Foundation was created four years ago, one of its goals was to develop an endowment program to sustain the various awards made by AEESP.  The Foundation is pleased to report that CH2M Hill has agreed to endow the CH2M Hill/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award.  The Award will be made annually for the outstanding doctoral dissertation that contributes to the advancement of environmental science and engineering.  Full funding of the endowment is anticipated within the next three years.  AEESP and the AEESP Foundation are grateful to CH2M Hill for their continued support of AEESP.

The AEESP Foundation Board is working with other organizations and individuals to endow the other awards that AEESP has historically given, and in establishing new awards recognizing contributions to environmental engineering education and research.  Anyone interested in the establishment of an endowment should contact...: Phil Singer, Peter Adriaens, Jeanne VanBriesen, Bill Cooper, Dick Luthy or Pat Brezonik."

Though there is some mention of the Foundation in AEESP Newsletters leading up to its official creation, the September 2007 AEESP Newsletter is the first with significant mention of the Foundation in the President's Column (Phil Singer) and a second article devoted to the Foundation submitted by the Foundation Board.  The initial Board members were Lynn Katz (Chair), Bill Ball (Treasurer), and Charlie Werth (Secretary).  Peter Adriaens (Spring 2007), Phil Singer (Summer 2007), and Angela Bielefeldt (Summer 2007) were the next three Board members.

FIRST TWO AWARDS ENDOWED IN 2007

The first two awards endowed by the AEESP Foundation were the Virginia Tech Student Travel Award and the CH2M Hill/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award.

The Virginia Tech Student Travel Award was created to be awarded biennially to a Virginia Tech undergraduate or graduate student to support their travel to attend the AEESP Education and Research Conference.  Recipients are chosen based on a combination of need and merit, as decided by the faculty of Virginia Tech's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  The award plaque, which contains the names of the award winners, hangs at Virginia Tech.  It was presented for the first time by AEESP President Phil Singer to Bill Knocke at the 2007 AEESP Education and Research Conference held at Virginia Tech.  The plaque reads:

"In memory of the civil and environmental engineering students and faculty who lost their lives to senseless violence in 2007, the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Foundation has endowed funds to support the travel of one Virginia Tech student who is either in the final stages of undergraduate education or early stages of graduate education to attend the AEESP Education and Research Conference.  This award is intended to help remind the Virginia Tech faculty and students that they are part of a larger family who shared their sense of loss in 2007 and wished to foster a continuing strong relationship of Virginia Tech faculty and students with AEESP."

The fundraising for this award originally consisted of small donations of $20-50.  After some time, the fundraising slowed and in March 2009, James Mihelcic committed the remaining funds required to establish the award endowment using his John Wiley environmental engineering textbook royalty payments.

The CH2M Hill/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award recognizes an outstanding doctoral dissertation that contributes to the advancement of environmental science and engineering.  This award was endowed around the same time the AEESP Foundation was being created.

AEESP had established their first doctoral dissertation award in 1974 with sponsorship from the consulting firm Engineering-Science, Inc.  When Engineering-Science merged with Parsons Corporation in 1995, sponsorship of the award was continued by the Parsons Corporation for another ten years, and the award was called the Parsons Engineering Science Doctoral Dissertation Award.  A second doctoral dissertation award was created in 1988, after Glen Daigger approached AEESP while he was working at CH2M Hill.  Glen believed the connection between CH2M Hill and AEESP was very important.  The AEESP Board was supportive of this offer and in 1988, the CH2M Hill/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award was added to create two independent dissertation awards, supported by annual funding from each organization.

In 2006, Parsons ceased the financial sponsorship of their dissertation award.  The AEESP Board scrambled to identify an alternate sponsor; soon after, CH2M Hill (again through the leadership of Glen Daigger) agreed to sponsor a second doctoral dissertation award each year.  Thus, two doctoral dissertation awards were given out through sponsorship by CH2M Hill during the period of 2006-2011.  Finally, once the Foundation was created, Phil Singer approached Glen Daigger and asked if CH2M Hill would be interested in endowing one dissertation award.  Glen was able to get CH2M Hill to support the endowment, which was achieved over an approximately three-year period.

THE ENDOWED AWARDS THAT FOLLOWED

Phil Singer also believed that Professors Perry McCarty and Charles O'Melia were good candidates for named and endowed awards.  Phil spoke personally with each of them regarding this idea.  At that time, the Foundation Board was developing and adopting a policy stating that the AEESP Foundation would not commit to an endowed award until two-thirds of the funding for the award was in place, and a plan was developed to raise the final one-third of the funding within the next 12 months.  At that time (after the first two-thirds of the funding was in place), the Foundation would go public with fundraising efforts and announce the award, and would solicit donors to raise the remaining funds so that awardees would be fully endowed within a year of it being announced.

Accordingly, Phil Singer contacted James Edzwald, Menachem Elimelech, and Marc Weisner to develop a campaign for the O'Melia Award; around this time he contacted Bruce Rittmann and Ed Bouwer to lead a campaign for the McCarty's Award.  A steering committee for raising funds for the McCarty Award was subsequently formed in 2009 and consisted of Bruce Rittmann (chair), Junko Munakata Marr, Gene Parkin, Craig Criddle, and Margaret Lang.  Around that time, Bill Ball (who had served on both the Association and Foundation Boards) expressed to the Foundation that he wished to lead an effort to establish an award in name of Professor Paul Roberts who passed away on February 12, 2006.  Bill worked with Paul's former students and that Award also became a reality.  In the January, 2012 AEESP Newsletter it was announced by the AEESP Foundation that the Charles R. O'Melia and Paul V. Roberts Awards had been fully endowed.

The Charles R. O'Melia Distinguished Educator Award recognizes the significant contributions of Professor O'Melia to environmental engineering education and is awarded to an environmental engineering or science professor who has a record of excellent teaching in the classroom and through graduate student advising; significant research achievements that have contributed to environmental engineering knowledge; and an outstanding record of influence through mentoring of former students and colleagues.  The steering committee of James Edzwald, Menachem Elimelech, and Marc Weisner developed the campaign that led to the distinguished educator award that is now in Charlie's name.  Charlie had passed away on December 16, 2010.  The steering committee and others contacted alumni from Johns Hopkins and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (where Charlie had taught) and other friends and colleagues to get it going.  Individual donations for this award ranged from approximately $20 to $2,500.

The Paul V. Roberts/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award recognizes a rigorous and innovative doctoral thesis that advances the science and practice of water quality engineering for either engineered or natural systems.  Special consideration is given to physical-chemical process research and/or research that especially supports underserved communities, environmental awareness, or sustainable solutions.  Again, individual donations for this award ranged from $20 to several thousand dollars.

The Perry L. McCarty/AEESP Founders' Award recognizes the significant contributions of Professor McCarty to environmental engineering education, research, and practice and will be given to an environmental engineering or science faculty member.  As mentioned previously, the steering committee for raising funds for this award was formed in 2009 and consisted of Bruce Rittmann (chair), Junko Munakata Marr, Gene Parkin, Craig Criddle, and Margaret Lang.  After reviewing the other named AEESP awards and pondering Perry's contribution to the field, the committee decided that the existing Founders Award was an ideal fit.  It was proposed to the AEESP Foundation Board to name the Founder's award after Perry and this was subsequently approved.  The committee first completed a "silent" round of fund-raising from Perry's former students and other individuals with a close association.  That netted sufficient funds so that an open announcement occurred in or around 2012.  Again, donations for this award ranged from $25 to $2,500.  After a few rounds of "beating the bushes," the steering committee reported the award reached its endowment goal on March 11, 2014.

The AEESP Board discussed and approved the Steven K. Dentel AEESP Award for Global Outreach at their July 2013 Board Meeting.  That award recognizes outstanding contributions and leadership by a faculty member through involvement in environmental engineering and science outreach activities to the global community.  Jennifer Becker (AEESP President at the time) discussed this award with David Dzombak (Foundation Board chair at the time).  The Foundation Board had discussed creating a new award or modifying an existing award.  Things then moved quickly from November, 2013 until the award description was approved by the AEESP Board in early January, 2014.  President Jennifer Becker presented the award to Steve Dentel in Spring 2014.  The Award was kept confidential in order to surprise Steve with the award at the AEESP conference.  Sadly, Steve passed away on February 18, 2015.  During the period of his illness, Steve continued serving as Secretary for both AEESP and the AEESP Foundation.

Steve Dentel makes remarks after receiving the inaugural Steven K. Dentel AEESP Award for Global Outreach. (looking on, from left to right, current AEESP President Jennifer Becker and Past Presidents Mark Wiesner and Joel Burken) (photo courtesy Doug Baker).

AEESP Board Members and Business Officer present for photo at July 27, 2005 Board meeting where the Foundation’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws were submitted by Joanne Fetzner to the AEESP Board for consideration as part of the July 27, 2005 Board Meeting Agenda (back row, Amy Childress, Joanne Fetzner, Menachem Elimelech, Charlie Werth, Kimberly Jones, David Freedman, Lynn Katz, William Ball; front row: James Mihelcic, Pedro Alvarez, Philip Singer; not shown but rotated off the Board and present at meeting: Marc Edwards, Paige Novak, Joan Rose).

AEESP Legacies present at the Legacy and Reunion Dinner (Clarkson University, July 26, 2005) along with the year they received their degree Back row, left to right: Timothy Shea (1968), Patrick Brezonik (1968), Charles O'Melia (1963), Robert Baillod (1968), Ray Letterman (1972), Nicolas Clesceri (1963), Ronald Neufeld (1973), Phil Byer (1975), Jerald Schnoor (1975), Middle row, left to right: Perry McCarty (1959), Richard Dick (1965), Jim O'Shaughnessy (1973), Michael Semmens (1973), Paul Roberts (1966), Rhodes Trussell (1972), Louis Thibodeaux (1968), Richard Luthy (1975), Aarne Vesilind (1968), Raymond Loehr (1961). Front row, left to right: C. Herb Ward (1960), Alan Molof (1960), Earnest Gloyna (1953), Linvil Rich (1951), George Tchobanoglous (1969), Robert Baumann (1954), Harvey Ludwig (1942), John Novak (1969), Francis DiGiano (1969), Joseph Delfino (1968), Philip Singer (1969).

AEESP Legacies present at the 2011 Education & Research Conference (University of South Florida, Tampa), from left to right: Fran DiGiano, Richard Conway, Phil Singer, James Heaney, Lilia Abron, Tom Theis, Ronald Neufeld, Herb Ward, Wayne Echelberger, Bruce Hanes, Patrick Brezonik, James Symons, Paul Bishop, Ken Williamson, Walt Weber, and Richard Luthy.  John Novak was not present for the photograph.

AEESP Pioneers present at the 2011 Education & Research Conference (University of South Florida, Tampa), from left to right: Lutgarde Raskin, Terese Olson, Lilia Abron, Avery Demond, Robin Autenrieth, Debra Reinhart, Britt Holmen, Sarina Ergas, Margaret Lang, Susan Powers, Susan Masten, Keri Hornbuckle, Linda Figueroa, Nancy Love, and Catherine Peters. Sonia Manuel-Dupont and Barbara Minsker were not present for the photograph.

THE EARLY YEARS: AEESP FOUNDATION BOARD MEMBERS (AS OF MAY 2016)