Posted: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9:48 am

The Messenger 03.10.09



Dr. Kimberly Gray, a noted engineer and environmental planner, will speak in the Watkins Auditorium of the Boling University Center on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Martin at 7:30 p.m. March 17.

In addition to being on the Honors Programs Academic Speakers program, Gray will also appear as a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer.

A native of Chicago, Gray received a bachelor of arts degree in biology from Northwestern University, a master of science degree in civil engineering from the University of Miami (Fla.) and a doctorate in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

After serving as a research engineer at the Lyonnaise des Eaux in Paris, France, Gray returned to the United States in 1989 and served as first an assistant and then associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. In 1995, she moved to Northwestern University and is currently professor of civil and environmental engineering, as well as director of the Environmental Services Program and coordinator of Environmental Engineering and Science and associate director of the Institute of Environmental Catalysis at Northwestern.

Gray is active in research and in community affairs. She is the author of several monographs, book chapters, more than 50 journal articles and is a member of the Institute of Policy Research at Northwestern. She served on the board of directors of the Chicago Redevelopment Initiative from 2002-06 and has been the director of the Institute of Sustainable Practices, a joint program operated by Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory, since 2007. 

She has received numerous awards and honors, including recognition as an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow by the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University, as well as the McCormick Excellence Award in Research, Teaching and Citizenship from Northwestern University in 2007.

Honors Programs director is Dr. Dan McDonough.