Dean Colvin Announces Rice CEE Professor as First Speaker for Distinguished Lecture Series

The first guest speaker for the Fall 2026 Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series will be Pedro J.J. Alvarez, the George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University. The lecture, hosted by LSU College of Engineering Dean Vicki Colvin and LSU Civil and Environmental Chair George Voyiadjis, will take place on Friday, Sept. 25, at noon in room 1100 in Patrick F. Taylor Hall.

Alvarez is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, founding director of the National Science Foundation-sponsored NEWT Center, also known as the Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment, and director of the Rice WaTER Institute.

Alvarez also serves on the board of directors of the Houston Endowment Inc., which is a private foundation to improve quality of life for the residents of greater Houston. His research interests include environmental implications and applications of nanotechnology, bioremediation, fate and transport of toxic chemicals, water footprint of biofuels, water treatment and reuse, and antibiotic resistance control.

He has received numerous awards including the 2026 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Civil Engineering from the Franklin Institute for his pioneering work in environmental microbiology, establishing the field of environmental nanotechnology, and improving water treatment technologies. He also won the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES) Grand Prize for Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science. He is also the 2012 Clarke Prize laureate for outstanding research in water science and technology.

Past honors include a Collegiate Excellence in Teaching Award; President of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP); the Perry McCarty AEESP Founders’ Award for Outstanding Contributions to Environmental Engineering Education and Practice; the AEESP Frontiers in Research Award; the WEF McKee Medal for Groundwater Protection; the SERDP Cleanup Project of the Year Award; the Outstanding Achievement Award in Environmental Chemistry from the Chinese Chemical Society; the Brown and Caldwell Lifetime Achievement Award for Site Remediation; the ASCE Simon Freese Award; and various best paper awards with his students.

Alvarez received his BS in civil engineering from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and his MS and Ph.D. degrees in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan.