Jose Salas Awarded Anorcha de Habich
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This summer in South America, the National University of Engineering of Lima, Peru, awarded Dr. Jose D. Salas, Colorado State Professor of civil engineering, with their "Antorcha de Habich", the "Torch of Habich." This award symbolizes the legacy of University founder Ing. E. Habich, and the creation of an institution that has excelled in teaching, applied research and technological development in various branches of engineering and architecture.
The award ceremony, which took place in Lima, also commended other National University of Engineers graduates, including former Ministers of Peru and Presidents of the university, as well as members of the scientific and academic community whose professional, academic, cultural and social contributions to the university and country warranted recognition. Nearly 500 people attended the event, among them members of the government, and a former President of Peru.
Dr. Jose Salas obtained his undergraduate degree in civil engineering from the National University of Engineering of Lima, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Colorado State University. In addition to his outstanding research and teaching programs at Colorado State, Dr. Salas has worked in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh, the Peruvian government, and the Interamerican Institute for Water and Land Development in Venezuela. He has conducted classes and seminars, and presented invited lecturers in Egypt, India, Thailand, Japan, Korea, the Caribbean, several European and most North and South American countries. Dr. Salas has been Principal Investigator on an array of research projects awarded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, to name a few. He has worked as a consultant for many national and international organizations such as USAID, UNESCO, FAO, the World Bank, NATO, IICA and HydroQuebec.
Since joining the CSU faculty in 1976, Dr. Jose Salas has been major professor of 41 M.S. and 33 Ph. D. students with research focusing on the area of hydrology and water resources, specifically in subjects related to risk and uncertainty in water and environmental systems. Dr. Salas has authored a textbook, "Applied Modeling of Hydrologic Time Series," published over 250 papers and refereed a plethora of journals. He has been recognized for his research and graduate education by Department of Civil Engineering in 1984 and 2004, as well as by the College of Engineering in 1998 when he was awarded with the George T. Abell Research Award. Dr. Salas was also the recipient of the 1996 Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering Award presented by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the CSU/AGU Hydrology Days Award in 2003, and since 2002 has held the Borland Professorship in Hydrology.