LOGAN — David Tarboton, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Utah State University, will lead the Utah Water Research Laboratory beginning July 1.
Tarboton was selected May 20 following a nationwide search to replace outgoing director Mac McKee, who will retire in June after nearly 20 years of service to the university.
The Utah Water Research Laboratory is one of the country’s leading institutions for water resources engineering and environmental quality research. It employs approximately 200 faculty, staff and students and is one of the oldest and largest university-based water research facilities in the U.S. The lab comprises 113,000 square feet of research and office space and is home to two world-class hydraulics modeling facilities and an environmental quality lab.
Tarboton joined USU in 1990 and has worked as a visiting professor and scholar at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and at the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research in Christchurch, New Zealand. He holds a master’s and doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and undergraduate degrees from University of Natal and University of South Africa.
Tarboton, a veteran water resources engineer and a renowned hydrologist, has authored more than 80 research manuscripts, received over a dozen accolades for research and is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.