Finalists have been selected for the position of founding executive director of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska. Each candidate will participate in interviews and a public presentation.
The candidates for the position are: Roberto Lenton, chair of the World Bank’s inspection panel; Nicolaas (Nick) van de Giesen, chair in water resources management in the Faculty of Civil Engineering, chair of the Department of Water Management and chair of the Research Initiative in the Environment, all at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands; Marty Matlock, professor of ecological engineering at the University of Arkansas and area director for ecosystems services in the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability in the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture; and Michael (Mike) Young, executive director of the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
The public presentations are open to faculty, staff and students. The presentations will also be offered via live web stream and archived at http://waterforfood.nebraska.edu. Additional background information on each candidate is listed below.
Lenton’s public presentation was May 19 and is available on the Water For Food website. Other public presentations are: van de Giesen, 3 p.m., May 25, Van Brunt Visitors Center; Matlock, 10 a.m., June 2, Nebraska Union; and Young, 3 p.m., June 13, Nebraska Union.
The executive director will play a pivotal role in establishing the Water for Food Institute as a global leader in the international water and food communities by developing national and international partnerships with the public and private sectors and pursuing collaborative opportunities. This is a unique opportunity to develop a premier institute that has global impact. The director will provide leadership, strategic direction and oversight for the institute’s three primary missions of research, education and outreach, and policy analysis.
For more information, email unlresearch@unl.edu.
The candidates and dates and locations for their university visits and presentations are:
Roberto Lenton: interviewed May 19-20 — Lenton is chairperson of the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, an independent entity that reports to the World Bank executive board. He has been a panel member since 2007. In 2009, he was elected chair; his term runs through January 2012. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in hydrology and water resources systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Buenos Aires. Lenton’s experience includes serving as director of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Division for the United Nations Development Programme; director general of the International Water Management Institute; chair of the Global Water Partnership technical committee; several roles with Columbia University’s Earth Institute; and program officer in the Rural Poverty and Resources Program for the Ford Foundation.
Nicolaas (Nick) van de Giesen: interview is May 25-26; presentation, 3 p.m., May 25, Van Brunt Visitors Center — van de Giesen is chair in water resources management in the Faculty of Civil Engineering, chair of the Department of Water Management and chair of the Research Initiative in the Environment, at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, where he is a professor in civil engineering and geosciences. He is a member of a Dutch national government commission examining innovations in water. He earned a doctorate in soil and water engineering from Cornell University, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in land and water management from the Agricultural University of Wageningen, Netherlands. Earlier, he was senior scientist with the Center for Development Research at Bonn University, Germany, where he also was project leader for the Global Change in the Hydrological Cycle, a multidisciplinary project in West Africa.
Marty Matlock's interview is June 2-3; presentation, 10 a.m., June 2, Nebraska Union — Matlock is professor of ecological engineering at the University of Arkansas and area director for ecosystems services in the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability in the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. He also chairs the Cherokee Nation Environmental Protection Commission, is an invited delegate to the United Nations CEO Mandate on Water, and serves on the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s Sustainable Animal Agriculture and Sustainable Crop Production committees. He holds a doctorate in biosystems engineering, a master’s degree in plant physiology and a bachelor’s degree in soil chemistry, all from Oklahoma State University. Earlier, Matlock was an agricultural engineering faculty member at Texas A&M University where he directed the Water Quality Research Laboratory and was a senior research fellow in the Bush School of Government.
Michael (Mike) Young: interview is June 10-13; presentation, 3 p.m., June 13, Nebraska Union — Young is executive director of the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide, Australia, where he holds a research chair in Water Economics and Management in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He earned his master’s degree in agricultural sciences and bachelor’s degrees in economics and in agricultural sciences from the University of Adelaide. He worked in several roles for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national science agency, including chief research scientist and director of the Policy and Economic Research Unit. He is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and serves on the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He serves on the International Advisory Board for Alberta Ingenuity Water Research Centre and as a consultant for Environment Canada.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/w0e