Jim Best will open the conference technical program with his lecture entitled Measuring Sedimentological Flows in the Laboratory and Field: Examples, Progress, Problems and Some Future Needs.Jim Best currently holds a position in the Schools of Geology, Geography and Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Best holds the Threet Professorship of Sedimentary Geology, a Professorship in Geography and is an affiliate member of the Vent Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory.
Jim completed his BSc at the University of Leeds, UK, before working in the hydrocarbons industry in the North Sea, and then moving to the University of London to obtain his PhD in research that concerned flow, sediment transport and bed morphology at open-channel confluences. Best then moved to a lectureship in Geology at the University of Hull, UK, where he developed research interests on bedform dynamics and the dynamics of high-concentration flows in volcanic terrains, with fieldwork being conducted on recent volcaniclastic flows in Southern Chile. In 1988, he returned to the University of Leeds, where he held successive positions of Lecturer in Geology, Reader in Experimental Sedimentology and a personal research chair in Process Sedimentology. Best moved to his current position at UIUC in 2006.
At Leeds, Best led development of the Sorby Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, and pioneered research into the interactions between turbulent flow, sediment transport and bedform development. During this time, he also began to undertake work on braided rivers in collaboration with Professor Phil Ashworth, developing both scaled physical models of aggrading braided rivers and studying the morphodynamics of the Jamuna River, Bangladesh, as part of the Bangladesh Flood Action Plan. Interests in confluence dynamics were further developed in laboratory work and field surveys in a collaborative project with Professor André Roy, Montreal, examining the dynamics of a small, discordant-bed confluence, using electro-magnetic current metering and developments of Helley-Smith bedload sampling. Interests in braided river dynamics have continued with laboratory modelling examining the links between avulsion and aggradation within gravely braided rivers, and fieldwork on both the South Island of New Zealand, the sand-bed South Saskatchewan River, Canada, and the Paraná River, Argentina. This ongoing work in Argentina is examining junction flow dynamics, braid bar and bifurcation flow, and dune dynamics using a mixture of acoustic Doppler profiling, multi-beam echo sounding and direct sediment sampling.
Best has acted as Principal Editor of Sedimentology 1998-2002 (including spearheading the influential Millennium Issue), was a Bureau Member of the International Association of Sedimentologists 1998-2002, Chairman of the British Sedimentological Research Group 1990, is currently a member of the Editorial Board of the Revista de la Asociación Argentina de Sedimentología, and has been a member of the Peer Review Colleges of the UK Natural Environment Research and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Councils. He was awarded the British Geomorphological Research Group ‘Gordon Warwick’ award for ‘outstanding contribution to geomorphological research and scholarship with particular reference to fluvial geomorphology’ in 1994, and has held three research fellowships awarded by the Royal Society of London, Nuffield Foundation and Leverhulme Trust. He was Pro-Dean for Research, in the Faculty of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds and has served as advisor to the EU and World Bank on projects in Bangladesh. Best has published in a wide range of journals including Nature, Geology, Journal of Geophysical Research, Sedimentology, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Water Resources Research, the Journal of Hydraulic Research, Journal of Sedimentary Research and the International Journal of Multiphase Flow. Best has also been co-convenor and co-editor of international conferences and books on Braided Rivers (1993 and 2006) and Coherent Flow Structures in Open Channels (1996).
Prof. Gerhard Jirka, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE will give the 2006 Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award Lecture, titled Environmental Fluid Mechanics: Interacting with a Fragile Earth, during the technical program.
Dr. Jirka is the 2006 recipient of the Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award for pioneering research on the fluid mechanics of waste heat disposal, advancement of engineering tools for mixing analysis of effluent discharges, seminal contributions to the design of wastewater outfalls, and relentless efforts in the teaching of environmental fluid mechanics and hydraulics. Dr. Jirka’s CORMIX modeling system is widely recognized and used for initial analyses of wastewater discharges in nat ural water bodies. He has made fundamental contributions to the science and practice of wastewater dispersion in waterways and stratified flow. In addition, Dr. Jirka’s research has contributed to knowledge about gas transfer at the water surface.
