ASCE has honored Christiane Q. Surbeck, Ph.D., P.E., ENV SP, F.EWRI, M.ASCE, with the 2023 Margaret S. Petersen Award for excellence in leadership and service to EWRI, for outstanding mentorship, and for enrichment of environmental engineering with insights of professional practice and sustainability.
Surbeck is a professional engineer, professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Mississippi. She has been an excellent mentor and role model for women in engineering. She has empowered women to pursue and stay in engineering, and encouraged them to participate in EWRI committees and grow in leadership roles.
She was a member of the EWRI Governing Board from 2015 to 2019, and she was the EWRI president (2018-19), during which time she framed a decision-making process with the spirit of collaboration and a vision to improve the Institute and the membership. Surbeck was the first Envision-credentialed infrastructure sustainability professional in State of Mississippi. She has authored a textbook on site assessment and remediation. She has brought her experience as a professional engineer to the classroom and led service-learning experiences in Mississippi and internationally.
The Margaret S. Petersen Award recognizes a female member of ASCE or EWRI who has demonstrated exemplary service to the water resources and environmental science and engineering community.
