The Ralph and Joe Bales Graber Science Award

The Ralph and Joe Bales Graber Science Award (previously known as the AAEES Science Award) honors two individuals who contributed to the formation of what is now known as the environmental engineering and science profession.

Ralph Graber (1917-2012) held a BS in Sanitary Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and a MS in Sanitary Engineering from Harvard University. His employers included the United States Public Health Service, local health departments in the United States, the Institute of Inter-American Affairs in Mexico, and the University of Texas System. Ralph was employed as an Executive Director of the Academy from 1982 to 1984.

Joe Bales Graber (1921-2020) held a baccalaureate degree from Louisiana State University and a Master’s in Public Health from Yale University. Her employers included the United States Public Health Service, and her efforts contributed to the establishment of the National Institute on Ageing within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

The Ralph and Joe Bales Graber Science Award is given to an individual who is an outstanding performer in the management and implementation of environmental science programs and projects conducted under either public or private auspices and has demonstrated exemplary professional conduct, has distinguished qualities of personal leadership, originality in devising new management techniques for dealing with environmental issues, and sensitivity and responsiveness to the impact of social and political influences on the conduct of environmental programs.

Click here for the full criteria and nomination forms.

2025 Ralph and Joe Bales Graber Science Award Recipient

William A. Arnold, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE

Professor Arnold is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and the Joseph T. and Rose S. Ling Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He received his S.B. in Chemical Engineering from MIT, M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Yale and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University. He has been a Visiting Scientist at The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. In 2023-24, he served as a Distinguished Teaching Professor at Princeton University.

His research focuses on the fate of organic chemicals in natural and engineered aquatic systems. He seeks to understand how industrial solvents, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals behave in natural and engineered systems. This information is used to predict the environmental impact of pollutants and to develop improved treatment and remediation technologies. He has studied the reactions of contaminants at metal and mineral surfaces, photochemical and oxidative transformations, formation and destruction of disinfection by products, spatial and temporal trends of contaminants in water and sediment, and aided in development of treatment technologies. He also co-authored a widely used Water Chemistry textbook.

He won both the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Frontiers in Research Award and Outstanding Publication Award, and in 2024 he was named an AEESP Fellow. He is a Board-Certified Environmental Engineer (BCEE) and licensed Professional Engineer (MN). He was named a 2023 Distinguished Engineer of the Year by the Minnesota Federation of Engineering, Science, and Technology Societies.