2011 Royce J. Tipton Award

The Royce J. Tipton Award was presented to Thomas L. Spofford, P.E., M.ASCE, at the EWRI/ASCE World Environment & Water Resources Congress, May 22–26, 2011, in Palm Springs, California. The award was presented for his contributions in the areas of teaching, research, planning, design, construction, and management. Mr. Spofford is a retired National Water Management Engineer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). He is a life member of the U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage as well as the Irrigation Association, where he received the IA Person of the Year award in 2001. He has been a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers since the early 1980s and was named Engineer of the Year in 1984 by the Inland Empire Chapter of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers for his work on the “Washington Irrigation Guide.” In 2005, he received the EWRI Task Committee Award of Excellence as a member of the Task Committee on Standardization of Reference Evapotranspiration. He took the national lead within NRCS to bring industry and government together to develop a standardized method for design and evaluation of center pivot irrigation systems. During his career, he has published, coauthored, and edited numerous papers and technical manuals. These manuals are used to design irrigation systems across the nation as well as internationally. He has also contributed to a number of national design standards of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, including Standard S376 on the design, installation, and performance of underground thermoplastic irrigation pipe, for which he received a national award. Tom mentored many engineers through his roles at NRCS, where he served as Washington State Irrigation Engineer, a Regional Water Management Engineer (Portland, Oregon), and National Water Management Engineer (Washington, DC).

Previous award winners are as follows:

1975 Charles R. Maierhofer

1976 Jerald E. Christiansen

1977 Arthur F. Phillsbury

1978 Elmer G. Gain

1979 John L. Merriam

1980 Clyde E. Houston

1981 Joseph F. Friedkin

1982 Marvin E. Jensen

1983 Ray J. Winger Jr.

1984 Herman Bouwer

1985 Finley Burnap Laverty

1986 Jan Van Schilfgaarde

1987 William Oregon Pruitt

1988 Syed S. Kirmani

1989 Ernest T. Smerdon

1990 Jack J. Coe

1991 Lyman S. Willardson

1992 A. Ivan Johnson

1993 Kenneth K. Tanji

1994 Conrad G. Keyes Jr.

1995 Phillip Z. Kirpich

1996 E. Gordon Kruse

1997 George H. Hargreaves

1998 Terry A. Howell

1999 John A. Replogle

2000 Theodore S. Streikoff

2001 Walter J. Ochs

2002 Charles M. Burt

2003 Richard G. Allen

2004 William F. Ritter

2005 Albert J. Clemmens

2006 Jack Keller

2007 Wynn Walker

2008 William Johnston

2009 Marshall English

2010 Wesley W. Wallender