Renowned experts join AWWA Water Science editorial board

The American Water Works Association has tapped two highly-renowned experts in the water sector to lead the editorial board of its new scholarly journal, AWWA Water Science.

Peer-reviewed research will be published continuously online beginning in November by AWWA’s publishing partner, John Wiley & Sons Inc., and like Journal - American Water Works Association and Opflow, free access is a benefit of membership to AWWA.

Deputy Editors William Becker, Ph.D., PE, and James Malley, Ph.D., bring extensive academic and professional expertise to the editorial positions, including nearly 70 years of combined water industry experience and more than 500 published articles, reports and presentations. Both are long-time Association volunteers and recipients of significant AWWA awards.

Becker and Malley will work closely with Kenneth Mercer, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of AWWA Water Science and Journal AWWA, to publish and review original, peer-reviewed research on the science, engineering and social aspects of water. (Photo credit: William Becker and James Malley)

The role of deputy editor includes promoting the journal as an international forum for knowledge exchange and innovation, soliciting and evaluating journal submissions, supporting the peer-review process, and helping ensure the significance, originality, and validity of published content.

Becker, a lifetime AWWA member and recipient of the AWWA Fuller Award, is a vice president and the corporate drinking water practice leader at Hazen and Sawyer. He also is an adjunct professor in the earth and environmental engineering department at Columbia University and an affiliate of the Columbia Water Center, New York. 

He has taught drinking water treatment and reuse classes at Columbia for 15 years following 10 years at Johns Hopkins University. Over his career, he has consulted with some of the world’s largest utilities on water quality and treatment process issues and conducted several Water Research Foundation projects.

“Academic and other researchers can make a big impact on the water industry by publishing in this journal,” Becker said. “It provides a valuable source of solid information regarding the latest innovations that can be incorporated by utilities and consultants in solving water-related challenges.”  

Malley, a past AWWA board member and recipient of AWWA’s 1987 Abel Wolman Doctoral Fellowship, is professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, where he directs the Clean Sustainable Industry Internship Program. He recently received the George Fuller Award from the New England Water Works Association Section of AWWA and will be recognized at ACE19.

He also served as co-principal investigator of De-RISK, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Innovation in Small Drinking Water Systems. His experience in environmental engineering spans more than 100 projects in nine countries, including a wide range of advanced water treatment applications.  

“The drinking water community, including all our dedicated AWWA members, can gain immediate benefits from a peer-reviewed source of applied water research,” Malley said. 

AWWA Water Science is accepting submissions for content. By publishing in AWWA Water Science, researchers will reach and influence the full spectrum of leaders and decision-makers in the water industry.