Professor Thanos Papanicolaou has received many distinctions – most recently he was named the 2018 recipient of the Hans Albert Einstein Award. Professor Papanicolaou spoke to “Greece in America” about his award-winning research and the potential of the Greek scientific diaspora to contribute to Greece’s future success stories.  

You are the 2018 recipient of the Hans Albert Einstein Award from the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE). Could you tell us a few words about the award and its significance? 

The award is given in honor of Hans Einstein the son of physicist Albert Einstein.  Hans was an authority in the area of Hydraulics and professor at Berkeley. Hans worked with sediments (clay, rock and sand) that get mobilized in riverways and coastal areas. He introduced the concept of probability for sediment movement prediction which is important because it affects the life expectancy of dams and locks in major waterways including harbors and artificial lakes. The award is usually given annually to researchers around the globe by the ASCE to honor researchers who have developed new theories and technologies for sediment movement prediction.  It is very competitive as it is given to the top 1% of established researchers in that area.  Because it carries the name of Einstein it is widely recognized.

ASCE has given the Einstein award annually since 1989 for “significant contribution to the engineering profession in the area of erosion control, sedimentation, and/or waterway development,” and considers researchers and projects from around the world. 
 

You are Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee and Director, Tennessee Water Resources Research Center. Could you describe the focus of your research and its possible implications? 

Yes indeed.  I hold an endowed chair professorship focused on sediment transport and in the broader area of hydraulics/Hydrology.  My focus is in predicting how much sediment and carbon end up from landscapes into the rivers and ocean margins.  I have developed the theory of connectivity and catchment to connect origin of material with final location where the material resides.

For the last 15 years, a portion of my team’s research has examined watershed processes in intensively managed landscapes focusing on the interplay between key driving factors of erosion, including climate, topography, soil biogeochemistry, and land management.  We look how climate and anthropogenic activities have affected land productivity, as well as how human actions have affected water, food, and energy supplies over the years.  Recently, as co-director of the IML-CZO, a National Science Foundation Critical Zone Observatory in Intensively Managed Landscapes, I have been able to study the upland-stream corridor connectivity and event based dynamics.  I am also directing an Initiative for Food Water and Energy (IFWE) as an Organized Research Unit on campus and the water resources research center for the state of Tennessee. This work will lead to better models for studying the sustainability of our natural capital in light of significant increases in human capital and natural disasters.  This work is funded by USDA, USGS, NSF, and the Leopold Center of Sustainable Agricultural.  

Over the last five years, we have applied this knowledge to study carbon dynamics in agricultural soils in order to differentiate and quantify sources and sinks of carbon, through our involvement with the USDA, NASA and most recently the Department of Energy.  These studies examine the mobilization of soil organic matter and soil aggregates due to erosion, as well as vertical fluxes of NEE.
 

 

 

Over my tenure, I have published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in over 40 different journals, as well as over 400 reports and conference proceedings.  I am also currently serving as the Chief Editor for the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, ASCE, as well as an Associate Editor for Water Resources Research and International Journal of Sediment Research.  

I am an active member of several professional societies including both AGU and EGU, the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Water Resources Association, Soil and Water Conservation Society, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, and the American Society of Engineering Educators.  I am a fellow of ASCE.

Finally, I have been deeply honored to receive from ASCE both the Walter Huber and Hunter Rouse awards.  I have also been inducted to the Iowa Academy of Science.  But my greatest achievements are my students who have gone on to receive faculty positions, as well as work in governmental agencies and consulting firms, both here and overseas. 

You started your studies and your career in Greece before moving to the US.  How did your Greek upbringing influence your career choices? 

My parents Nikos and Maria did the most job that a parent can do. As educators they translated their experiences back at home.   They taught me to think critically and independently. Working in the farms of my grandfather and grandmother build my character.Great story. Lots of experiences and respect for nature plus my inclination for structures led me to civil engineering. My first choice.
 

In your view, how could Greece utilize the potential of Greek scientists and the Greek scientific diaspora?

The utilization is non-existent, which is a curse that we carry as a nation.  I think the country should develop a database with innovations, where input from the Greek scientific diaspora is provided. We should be invited to teach (at no cost), we should help the Greek universities to establish international collaborations and become the revenue for the country so they can be self-sustained. We should help with the design of the future for agriculture, rebuilding and refurbishing of old structures, natural resources, and bring more TESLA success stories to the mother land. We got to do it, so that our country survives the challenges of the 21st century.

Thanos Papanicolaou bio 
Thanos Papanicolaou graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece with a BS in Civil Engineering in 1990. After making the long journey to the US from the “Midwest” of Greece, Papanicolaou obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Virginia Tech examining the incipient motion of sediment particles. After Virginia Tech, he received his first faculty appointment with the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Washington State University where he was able to expand to topics covering landscape processes. In 2003, he moved to the University of Iowa and then to the University of Tennessee – Knoxville in 2014. Currently, he holds the Henry Goodrich Endowed Chair of Excellence in Civil & Environmental Engineering. He is also the director of the Hydraulics & Sedimentation Lab, which he developed upon his arrival to UTK.