AWARDS: 2005 ROYCE J. TIPTON AWARD

Albert J. “Bert” Clemmens has spent almost his entire 30-year professional career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). After, receiving his undergraduate degree, he started working for the USDA Soil Conservation Service designing earth dams and floodways and providing conservation assistance to farmers. After little more than a year, he transferred to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) where he has conducted research on water conservation associated with irrigated agriculture at the U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory. After completing his masters degree in 1979, he worked as a principle with Appalachian Coal Surveys, where he mostly did electric logging of boreholes and slope stability studies. In 1980, he returned to USDA-ARS to continue water conservation research. He is a registered professional engineer in Arizona.

During his career with ARS, Dr. Clemmens was given increasing professional responsibility. After completing his PhD in 1990, he became Research Leader of the Irrigation and Water Quality Management Unit and was named Director of the U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory in 1998. He has also held management positions within professional societies. With ASCE, he chaired several national committees, including the On-Farm Irrigation Committee, Design Operation and Maintenance of Irrigation Systems Committee, and several task committees. He was the Irrigation and Drainage representative on the Executive Committee of the Water Resources Engineering Division during its transition to the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (founding member) and was the first chairman of the Irrigation and Drainage Council. He now serves on the Board of Directors of the newly formed American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (founding member). In 1999, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (USCID), where he served until 2004. He has also been active in several USCID and American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) Committees, including as president of the Arizona Section of ASAE (1991–1992). Within Arizona, he is a member of the Governor’s Committee on Agricultural Best Management Practices.

Dr. Clemmens’ research has focused on providing a sounder scientific basis for water conservation in irrigated agriculture through research, technology transfer, and consultancies. This includes practices at the field level, at the district level, and at the farm-district interface. He is best known for his research on improving surface irrigation through simulation modeling and design, software for design and calibration of flumes and weirs for flow measurement, methods to improve the operation of irrigation water delivery systems to provide better service to users through such things as canal automation, and the application of statistics to describe irrigation uniformity at field and district scales. His experience includes multidisciplinary evaluations of irrigation project performance, district water balances, development and application of water conservation practices and policies, and criteria for water user organizations. Much of his research has focused on the use of computer technology for design and operation of irrigation systems. He has authored more than 250 professional publications.Previous award winners:1975 Charles R. Maierhofer1976 Jerald E. Christiansen1977 Arthur F. Pillsbury1978 Elmer G. Gain1979 John L. Merriam1980 Clyde E. Houston1981 Joseph F. Friedkin1982 Marvin E. Jensen1983 Ray J. Winger, Jr.1984 Herman Bouwer1985 Finley Burnap Laverty1986 Jan Van Schilfgaarde1987 William Oregon Pruitt1988 Syed S. Kirmani1989 Ernest T. Smerdon1990 Jack J. Coe1991 Lyman S. Willardson1992 A. Ivan Johnson1993 Kenneth K. Tanji1994 Conrad G. Keyes, Jr.1995 Phillip Z. Kirpich1996 E. Gordon Kruse1997 George H. Hargreaves1998 Terry A. Howell1999 John A. Replogle2000 Theodore S. Streikoff2001 Walter J. Ochs2002 Charles M. Burt2003 Richard G. Allen2004 William F. Ritter