Enrique Vivoni, a senior sustainability scientist and professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, has been named a recipient of the 2014 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize. Awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the prize recognizes notable achievements in research related to civil engineering, and is generally given to members under the age of 40.

The selection committee cited Vivoni for his “contributions to the understanding of ecohydrologic processes in semi-arid areas,” taking particular note of his focus on the impacts of climate change. Over the past year, he has demonstrated the role of terrestrial plants on topographic, radiation and hydrological properties in aspect-delimited ecosystems; developed participatory modeling workshops in Mexico that address infrastructure and climate change impacts on water supply in rural settings; and identified the role of urban irrigation on soil moisture dynamics and its management implications in Phoenix.