Two professors in the University of Delaware's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have been appointed to named professorships.
Robert A. Dalrymple is now the Edward C. Davis Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Ib A. Svendsen is Distinguished Professor of Ocean Engineering.
"Prof. Dalrymple is highly regarded for his research on wave mechanics and mathematical tools for coastal engineering and as a leader in the field of coastal and ocean engineering, and Prof. Svendsen has won international recognition in the area of surf zone hydrodynamics and for his highly regarded research in coastal engineering," Provost Mel Schiavelli said.
Dalrymple's professorship honors the late Edward C. Davis (1884-1959), who was graduated from Delaware College (forerunner to the University) in 1905 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He became one of nation's leading hydraulic engineers and was a generous benefactor to the University.
Recipient of the 1996 Moffatt Nichol Harbor and Coastal Engineering Award of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE), Dalrymple received the Editor's Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for the Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans in 1993.
He is the coauthor of Water Wave Mechanics for Engineers and Scientists and Responding to Changes
in Sea Level: Engineering Implications, editor of Physical Modelling in Coastal Engineering and
Coastal Hydrodynamics and has authored or
coauthored some 75 journal articles and book chapters.
Ib A. Svendsen
Svendsen, who also holds an appointment as professor in the College of Marine Studies, joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as professor and chairperson in 1987, serving in the latter position until this year. In 1994, he was a visiting professor at Delft University of Technology.
Previously, he was affiliated with the Institute of Hydrodynamics and Hydraulic Engineering at Technical University in Lyngby, Denmark, from 1971-87 and was a visiting associate professor at UD in 1982-83. From 1964-71, he was assistant professor in the Coastal Engineering Laboratory at Technical University in Copenhagen, and he was a research engineer in the Coastal Engineering Laboratory of what is now the Danish Hydraulic Institute.
Svendsen's research interests include the mechanics of nearshore processes, in particular, wave breaking, wave-induced currents, sediment transport and coastal stability.
In 1991, he was elected a member of the Danish Research Academy's International Faculty, and in 1992, he was elected a foreign member of the Danish Center for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics.
Svendsen is coauthor of the books, Problems in Port and Coastal Engineering and Hydrodynamics of Coastal Regions, and has authored or coauthored more than 75 review papers and articles in scholarly journals.