Paul V. Roberts, engineer and environmentalist, dies at 67
Paul V. Roberts
BY MARK SHWARTZ
Paul V. Roberts, a professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering who devoted his career to the protection of natural resources, died Feb. 12 of leukemia at his home in Cupertino. He was 67.
A memorial service to honor and celebrate his life was held Feb. 22 at Memorial Church.
"Paul combined a great concern for the natural environment with a love of knowledge, a passion for teaching and a great devotion to his students," said Perry L. McCarty, the Silas H. Palmer Professor of Civil Engineering, Emeritus. "Professionally, he was dedicated to seeking better understanding of natural processes of environmental importance through interdisciplinary research."
A pioneer in wastewater reclamation, Roberts was the first person to hold the C. L. Peck, Class of 1906, Professorship of Engineering.
"Paul was one of the very best and admired environmental engineers of my generation," said Professor Richard Luthy, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Silas H. Palmer Professor of Civil Engineering. "He was drawn to environmental engineering both philosophically and intellectually, for he had discovered in himself a deep affection for the natural environment. He was a role model for me and many others for his approach to environmental research and his commitment to democratic ideals and peace."
Career changesBorn Nov. 27, 1938, Roberts earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at Princeton University in 1960 and, six years later, a doctorate at Cornell University, where he met Inge Rüsch. They married in 1965.
After graduating from Cornell, Roberts spent nearly a year teaching at two Chilean universities, then took an engineering job with the Chevron Research Co. in Richmond, Calif. From 1968 to 1971, he was a research engineer at the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park. However, his interest in nature and increasing concern about industrial pollution led him to change his career goals and devote his life to solving environmental problems. To that end, he enrolled in the Stanford School of Engineering's Honors Cooperative Program, earning a master's degree in 1971.
For the next five years, Roberts worked in the engineering department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Water Supply and Water Pollution Control. In 1973, he was promoted to department head and also became a lecturer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
In 1976, he accepted an offer from Stanford as research professor of environmental engineering. He was appointed full professor in 1986 and to the Peck Professorship in 1989. Roberts served as associate chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 1985 to 1990. He became emeritus in 2000.
Pioneering researchIn his initial work at Stanford, Roberts directed a field study to evaluate the potential for reclaiming wastewater from the city of Palo Alto by using advanced treatment processes followed by injection and storage in the aquifer below the San Francisco Bay wetlands. This pioneering research focused on potentially hazardous chemicals in the water and their movement and fate in the environment. "This was the beginning of Stanford's many significant contributions in this area," McCarty said.
In 1980, as groundwater contamination was becoming a nationwide concern, Roberts organized an international team of hydrologists, chemists, microbiologists and engineers to carry out the Borden field experiment in Canada, widely recognized as the most definitive study of the processes affecting the movement and fate of hazardous chemicals in groundwater.
Roberts' colleagues remember him as an extraordinary educator who deserves much credit for helping Stanford's Environmental Engineering and Science Graduate Program obtain its top ranking. "The esprit de corps that developed in the Environmental Engineering and Science Program with Paul's warmth and generosity helped in creating an exceptional teaching and research atmosphere for us all," McCarty recalled. "Those were splendid years, ones that not only we but also generations of students will remember with fondness for the rest of our lives."
The author of more than 200 publications, Roberts was a member of the Swiss Academy of Sciences and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1997. Among his honors were the 1989 Scientific and Technical Achievement Award from the Environmental Protection Agency and the 2003 Founders Award from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors.
Roberts is survived by his wife, Inge Roberts; three children, Nina, Christopher and Sebastian; and nine grandchildren. The family asks those wishing to express their condolences with a gift to make a contribution to the Peninsula Open Space Trust, 3000 Sand Hill Road, Bldg. 1, Suite 155, Menlo Park, CA 94025.