AWWA announces three new AWWA Water Science deputy editors

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) on June 1, 2022, named Vanessa Speight, Ph.D., PE; Manuel P. “Manny” Teodoro, Ph.D.; and Lauren Weinrich, Ph.D.; as the new deputy editors for its research journal, AWWA Water Science (AWS).

Speight, AWS’s first deputy editor from outside the United States, is a professor of integrated water systems at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. She offers special expertise in modeling applications and data analytics for water quality, public health risk and innovation in urban drinking water systems. She has worked with more than 70 utilities across the U.K and North America.

“I’m excited by the broad mandate of AWWA Water Science to cover all aspects of delivering safe water — from treatment technologies to rate studies, to infrastructure management and beyond,” Speight said. “This endeavor is truly interdisciplinary, which fills an important gap in published research about water.”

Teodoro is an associate professor at the LaFollette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his research focus is U.S. environmental policy and implementation (with empirical analyses of environmental justice), as well as management, policy and finance for utilities. He has developed methods to analyze utility rate equity and affordability and collaborates on these issues with governments and water leaders across the U.S. He was also recently interviewed on the AWWA video series, Good Day, AWWA.

“Issues like public trust, workforce and affordability have taken center stage in the water community,” Teodoro said. “Although AWWA Water Science is fairly new, it has already featured excellent research on water finance, management and policy. I’m excited to help make AWWA Water Science the premier venue for rigorous, data-driven social science research on water.”

Weinrich is a principal scientist at American Water, where she manages a team of scientists in research laboratories in Illinois and New Jersey. Her current research focuses on source water protection and monitoring, and methods to address emerging contaminants. She has designed experiments and executed research projects for drinking water, seawater desalination, and beneficial reuse.

Weinrich is similarly thrilled with this new role. “As a longtime water researcher, this is an incredible opportunity to engage with partners across the water community. AWWA Water Science is a direct pipeline keeping the water community informed about new research. It’s a key tool for identifying and solving drinking water and wastewater issues, now and in the future,” she said.

Speight, Teodoro and Weinrich each were associate editors before being invited to serve as deputy editors. They succeed the previous deputy editors, William Becker and James Malley.

The three renowned water experts solicit and evaluate journal submissions, support the peer-review process, and ensure the significance, originality and validity of published content. They also promote AWS as an international forum for knowledge exchange and innovation.

AWS is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes original, peer-reviewed research on the science, engineering and social aspects of water.

Access to AWS and AWWA’s other award-winning publications, Journal AWWA and Opflow, is a free benefit of AWWA membership.

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Established in 1881, the American Water Works Association is the largest nonprofit, scientific and educational association dedicated to managing and treating water, the world’s most important resource. With approximately 50,000 members, AWWA provides solutions to improve public health, protect the environment, strengthen the economy and enhance our quality of life.