As thousands of freshmen adjust to new schedules, new tasks and new living spaces, one newly arrived

A professor in the University's civil and environmental engineering department, Robert Traver, recently received the United States Army Corps of Engineering's Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for his research on Hurricane Katrina. 

The medal is the third-highest honor that the U.S. Department of the Army can bestow on a civilian. 

Traver served as a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers External Review Panel, one of two investigative organizations set up by the Army Corps of Engineers following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. 

His significant involvement with ERP included conducting an extensive, ongoing and objective review of the work of the other of two investigative organizations, the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Interagency Performance Evaluation Taskforce. 

His involvement specifically included visiting New Orleans and assessing the stricken areas.  

IPET's responsibilities lay in investigating the failure of the New Orleans Hurricane Protection System. 

"IPET's contributions created a whole new science in approaching the problems associated with the Katrina disaster," Traver said. "The IPET team essentially built a new model system for estimating the strength of hurricanes coming out of the Gulf."

Traver explained how the surge –– water that is pushed to the shore by the storm's forceful winds –– of a hurricane [it] is perhaps the most dangerous aspect of that storm. IPET's model addresses this aspect, a primary reason for the levee failures and consequential devastation of New Orleans. 

"The model measures the whole Gulf of Mexico for wind speeds, and from the path of the hurricane can predict how big the storm surge will be and how fast the storm is approaching," Traver said. 

Traver, along with numerous other experts in the ERP, released a comprehensive report in 2007 entitled "The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why." The report addressed some of IPET's findings and propositions for protection from future natural disasters. 

"It has been an honor and privilege to have the opportunity to work and try to prevent Katrina from happening again," Traver said. "When you see the devastation –– blocks and blocks of homes and their foundations just gone, and you think of all the thousands of people who've died –– it brings the goal of science so much more into focus. As an engineer, whose whole profession is public safety, to simply have the opportunity to work on a project like the ERP panel is a great honor."

Apart from his committed service with ERP, Traver practices his expertise in the stormwater management field in many ways. He was asked to appear on Fox News this past weekend to offer his expertise, and he was recently named Director of the Villanova Center for the Advancement of Sustainability in Engineering. 

Additionally, Traver actively serves as the director of the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership, a research-driven collaborative on the Villanova campus that advances stormwater management techniques. 

Traver founded VUSP in 2002 to test new opportunities in the engineering field. 

"The field of storm water management sciences was in the past focused on big storms –– hurricanes namely," Traver said. "With the new Clean Water Act requirements, it was clear that the field was not meeting the job, indications that something should change in the field. I started VUSP to get ahead in the field."

Traver didn't want to waste any value time and aimed to be as efficient as possible. 

"It gave us the opportunity of using Villanova as a test-bed for new technologies and for research, which both undergraduates and graduate students participate. Its chief claim to fame is green infrastructure technology. For example, we've installed rain barrels outside of Fedigan, and there is porous asphalt on the Fedigan sidewalk. There is also the green roof on the CEER building."