De Paepe-Willems Award

The De Paepe-Willems Award honors two former Presidents of PIANC. Robert De Paepe was President of PIANC for 17 years, from 1982 to 1999. And Professor Gustave Willems was President of PIANC for 26 years, from 1956 to 1982. The first Willems Award was made in 1985 during the 100th Anniversary of the association. In 2002, the award was changed to the De Paepe-Willems Award following the merge of the Foundation Robert De Paepe into the Willems Award. The award is given for the most outstanding technical paper prepared on an aspect of waterborne transport, including policy, management, design, economics, integration with other transport modes, technology, safety, public involvement, and the environment. The competition is open to anyone 40 years of age or younger.

Abstracts and technical submissions are due in the spring and summer of each year for PIANC USA with award of the U.S. De Paepe-Willems Award in the fall of each year. Announcement of the International Winner occurs in the spring of the following year at the Annual General Assembly. PIANC USA selects one paper from the U.S. submissions to be sent to the international competition.

The U.S. Winner receives a $5,000 check, an expense-paid trip to the PIANC USA Annual Meeting, and an individual five-year free membership in PIANC from PIANC USA. By discretion of the PIANC USA Judging Committee, second and third place awards may be granted in check amounts of $1000 and $500, respectively. The International Winner receives a monetary award of $5,000 euros, an expense-paid trip to the Annual General Assembly, and a five-year free membership in PIANC.

The US will not be offering an award in 2010. Interested parties should submit directly to PIANC International.

Recipients

• 2009 U.S. Winner: John Henriksen (Texas A&M), "Investigation of Turbulence Characteristics for Model Cutter Suction Dredging Operation" (pdf, 513KB)
• 2009 U.S. Runner-ups: Derek Wilson (USACE ERDC), "Pipeline Dredge Analytical and Sceduling Program" & Edward Brauer (USACE), "The Limitations of Using Specific Gage Analysis to Analyze the Effect of Navigation Structures on Flood Heights in the Middle Mississippi River"
• 2008 U.S. Winner: Andrew Thomas, Moffatt & Nichol Engineers. "Subsurface 3D Modeling: An Application to Waterfront Project Planning and Site Evaluation". (pdf, 4.32MB)
• 2007 International Winner: Arie Alfred Roubos, the Netherlands, "Dealing with Uncertainties in the Design of Bottom Protection near Quay Walls" (pdf, 443KB)
• 2007 U.S. Winner: Ken Connell (USACE Coastal and Hydraulics Lab), "Modeling Navigation Channel Infilling and Migration at Tidal Inlets: Sensitivity to Waves and Tidal Prism".
• 2006 International Winner: Matthias Bleck (Germany),"Wave Attenuation by Artificial Reefs" (pdf, 1.91MB)
• 2006 U.S. Winner: Tracy Fidell (Moffatt & Nichol), "Developing an Integrated Model to Quantify Port Emissions" (pdf, 157KB)
• 2005 International Winner: Javier L. Lara (Spain),"A Numerical Wave Flume to Study the Functionality and Stability of Coastal Structures" (pdf, 11.56MB)
• 2005 U.S. Winner: Shana Heisey (USACE Institute for Water Resources), "Determining Economic Efficiency in Harbors: HarborSym, An Application" (pdf, 1.05MB)

revised 30 Apr 2010