Clean water champion receives lifetime achievement award from global environment federation

Environmental engineering alumnus Sam Shelby Jr. (BE’73) has received a lifetime achievement award from the Water Environment Federation.

Sam Shelby Jr.

Shelby, principal of Environ Corporation’s Nashville, Tenn., office, was presented the Industrial Water Quality Lifetime Achievement Award in October during the WEF’s annual conference in Chicago.

The lifetime achievement award is given to an individual who has made substantial and measurable engineering, scientific and operations contributions to the management or treatment of industrial wastes related to the improvement of water quality.

Shelby has more than 35 years of experience conducting bench- and pilot-scale industrial wastewater treatability investigations. He has provided operational assistance at – and developed engineering design plans for – numerous industrial wastewater treatment plants.

Shelby also has extensive geographic experience. He has served as the manager or technical director for projects throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia.

He is the author of more than 30 technical articles about water and wastewater treatment. Shelby received a master’s degree in sanitary engineering from the University of California-Berkeley.

Shelby founded The Advent Group, Inc. in 1985 and served as its principal until 2005 when he joined Environ.

WEF, in Alexandria, Va., is an international not-for-profit technical and educational water quality organization of 36,000 individual members and 75 affiliated member associations.