IIHR Currents 2021

IIHR Currents IIHR—HYDROSCIENCE AND ENGINEERING | 2021 – 22

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102 Years of Stories from IIHR

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PHOTO OPPOSITE PAGE: Villarini and wife Amie enjoy reliving happy times of the past — including the night they met — at Joe’s Place.

From the Director It Happened at Joe’s

CONTE NTS Inside Cover

From the Director

2

Lab Notes

8

Parallels with the Past

14

Once Upon a Lab

36

We Are IIHR

37

Advisory Board

38

From the Archives

40

No Two Days the Same

41

A Force for Good

42

Mission, Vision, Value/Parting Shot

Follow IIHR, the Iowa Flood Center, and the Iowa Geological Survey on social media.

Director of Development and Communications Carmen Langel Editor/Writer Jacqueline Hartling Stolze Design Benson & Hepker Design Photographer Aneta Goska On the Cover In honor of IIHR’s rescheduled centennial celebration coming up in August 2022, we are happy to present this “storybook,” featuring tales told by a few of the institute’s alumni, faculty, staff, and students. b • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

In the movies, couples often fall in love at first sight, but it happens in real life, too. I can attest to that because it happened to me.

When I was a grad student at IIHR, I loved going downtown with my friends and fellow students after our weekly seminars on Friday afternoon. Don’t get me wrong — I relished the academic rigor of studying and doing research at IIHR, but I also appreciated the opportunity to relax and have fun. Joe’s Place, an Iowa City institution, was one of our favorite hangouts.

Old wooden booths, free popcorn, raising a glass with my friends, and Frank Sinatra on the jukebox — Joe’s Place was my Friday night happy place.

It was on one of those outings to Joe’s when I first saw my wife-to-be Amie in the crowd. I had to meet her! I turned on my Italian charm and ventured over to talk to her. For me, it was definitely love at first sight.

Amie was born and raised in Iowa City. She’s a Hawkeye fan through and through, and so am I. We could not be any more black and gold. On our anniversary, we often go back to Joe’s to celebrate.

The friends I met at IIHR also became an enduring part of my life. The connections developed working side by side at a place like IIHR are the friendships that stay with you forever.

As someone who has experienced IIHR as a student, faculty member, and now as director, I think I have a special perspective. One of the things that strikes me is that many of the faculty and staff who were here when I was a student are still here today (see story page 5).

That highlights the dedication and longevity of our staff. Their know-how and expertise help make IIHR the place it is.

But the other thing I’ve noticed is that these folks treat me much the same today as they did when I was a grad student here. The level of respect is not given only to those who are in a position of authority; rather, it’s given across the board. Everyone is treated the way you would want to be treated. I think that speaks volumes for our people and for the remarkable culture of IIHR.

After graduation, my wife Amie and I left IIHR for Princeton University in New Jersey.

When I had completed my postdoc there, I was fortunate enough to be offered a faculty position at the University of Iowa. Usually such a decision involves long, serious conversations with a spouse or significant other. Should we go? Should we take the offer or find something better? But when I told Amie about the chance to return to Iowa City, all she said was, “When can we go?”

I’m sharing these musings because this issue of IIHR Currents is all about stories. We have gathered as many as we can fit in these pages, as told by alumni, faculty, and staff, spanning the decades of living memory. In a way, we are celebrating our centennial again since we had to postpone our plans for 2020 because of the pandemic.

Speaking of the centennial, we have rescheduled the celebration for August 10-12, 2022, and we hope you’ll be able to join us in Iowa City for the festivities! Events will kick off on Wednesday, August 10, with an informal alumni gathering at a local brew pub. Thursday and Friday, August 11-12, will feature tours of IIHR research facilities and a poster session

highlighting student research. Thursday evening, we will gather at Hancher Auditorium for IIHR’s birthday party, an after-dinner event featuring champagne and fireworks!

You may remember that we had planned an ourdoor celebration with Hancher Auditorium, The Big Splash! I’m very sorry to say that this event has been canceled because of a number of concerns related to the pandemic, rescheduling performers, and more.

That said, we are looking forward to reuniting with our IIHR family! We have so much to celebrate. I hope to see you in August, and please enjoy this collection of IIHR stories.

Best wishes,

Gabriele Villarini Director, IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering Robert and Virginia Wheeler Faculty Fellow in Engineering Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

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Overheard “Hydrology is to hydraulics what astrology is to astronomy.”

FORMER IIHR DIRECTOR JOHN FISHER KENNEDY DEMONSTRATING HIS LEGENDARY DRY HUMOR, AS QUOTED BY HIS COLLEAGUE RAFAEL BRAS, GEORGIA TECH

“You’re not a hydraulic engineer until you lose your first pair of shoes.”

ANDY CARTER, NOAA OFFICE OF WATER PREDICTION, SPEAKING AT AN IOWA FLOOD CENTER MEETING

“That, my friends, is more habitat!”

LARRY WEBER, COMMENTING AFTER A TREE FELL INTO HIS POND DURING A VIDEO INTERVIEW ON HIS PROPERTY

“At -10° F, aging stops.”

WITOLD KRAJEWSKI, COMMENTING ON UNEXPECTED BENEFITS OF SUBZERO WINTER WEATHER IN IOWA

“If we don’t measure, how can we manage?”

A MINNESOTA FARMER, TALKING ABOUT THE NEED TO QUANTIFY NITRATE AND PHOSPHORUS IN FARM FIELD RUNOFF

“Without a doubt, Iowa is getting wetter.”

ANTONIO ARENAS, SPEAKING AT AN IOWA FLOOD CENTER MEETING

“If you enjoy what you’re doing, you don’t work a day in your life.”

IIHR DIRECTOR GABRIELE VILLARINI

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IIHR Centennial, Take Two We’re happy to announce that IIHR’s Centennial Celebration has been rescheduled for August 2022. We hope you’ll join us for the festivities!

Events get underway on Wednesday evening, August 10, with an alumni gathering at a brew pub in Iowa City. Thursday and Friday, August 11-12, will feature tours of IIHR facilities and a poster session highlighting student research.

Thursday evening we’ll gather at Hancher Auditorium for IIHR’s birthday party, an afterdinner event with champagne and fireworks!

In December, the University of Iowa’s Hancher Auditorium and IIHR announced The Big Splash! has been canceled due to the pandemic and other circumstances beyond our control.

We sincerely regret any inconvenience or disappointment this may cause.

We are looking forward to seeing you in August.

Watch for updates and stay safe!

Lab Notes

Welcome, President Wilson!

IIHR was proud to host new University of Iowa President Barbara J. Wilson in July during her first full week on the job!

After meeting with the media to answer questions, she spoke with IIHR Director Gabriele Villarini and Iowa Flood Center co-founders Witold Krajewski and Larry Weber to learn more about the institute. Welcome to Iowa, President Wilson!

Photo by Justin Torner, Staff Photographer, University of Iowa I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 3

Krajewski Elected to the National Academy of Engineering “The environment at the University of Iowa nurtures independent thought and creative ideas. This is a special place.”

WITOLD F. KRAJEWSKI

University of Iowa Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Iowa Flood Center Director Witold F. Krajewski has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest honors conferred in the field of engineering. This honor recognizes Krajewski’s innovative research and leadership in flood prediction and mitigation, which have transformed Iowa into a more floodresilient state that serves as a model for others nationwide.

“Election to NAE is a well-deserved recognition of Witold’s groundbreaking flood research and dedicated outreach to communities across Iowa,” said Harriet Nembhard, dean of the University of Iowa College of Engineering.

Krajewski has served as director of the IFC since its establishment by the Iowa Legislature in 2009. The center pioneered the development of the Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS), a Google Maps–based online tool that communicates real-time information about stream levels, flood alerts and forecasts, and hydrologic conditions for the entire state. To date, it has been accessed by over 3.5 million users. Under Krajewski’s leadership, IFC’s technical expertise has helped bring more than $100 million of external funding to Iowa to address flooding and water resource concerns at the watershed scale.

“The environment at the University of Iowa nurtures independent thought and creative ideas. This is a special place,” said Krajewski. “Membership into NAE is an honor and a responsibility.”

Krajewski holds the Rose and Joseph Summers Chair in Water Resources Engineering and is a faculty research engineer at IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering. He is one of the world’s most respected experts in rainfall monitoring and forecasting using radar and satellite remote-sensing. His research has resulted in more than 250 journal publications and has enriched the education of the dozens of UI graduate students with whom he has worked and collaborated.

Communicating accurate, scientific information about floods to all Iowans is one of Krajewski’s priorities, with the goal of protecting lives and enhancing Iowa’s economic vitality and quality of life.

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Lab Notes Here for the Long Haul From the earliest days of the hydraulics lab, staff have played an essential role in the work of IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering. Here, staff are full-fledged team members, many with decades of experience and specialized knowledge. Their work allows researchers to concentrate on their science. And at IIHR, staff earn respect and appreciation for their contributions.

We asked a few of the IIHR employees with the longest tenure here to tell us why they’ve stayed so long.

Teresa Gaffey has worked at IIHR for 27 years. As director of finance and business operations, she makes sure that IIHR’s grants and contracts are managed properly. When she was a young parent, Gaffey says she especially valued the flexibility in her schedule that allowed her to take care of her family.

Laura Myers, administrative services specialist, is marking her 20th year at IIHR in 2022. She stayed because of “the sense of family IIHR has, as well as knowing that ultimately the work we do here is for the benefit of humanity.”

All four agree that IIHR is a wonderful place to work.

“Absolutely!” Gaffey says. “I do not underestimate how lucky I was to be asked to be a part of this team and I work very hard to keep us moving in the right direction.”

“I actually enjoy my job. It’s helped me grow as a person.”

RESEARCH COMPUTING MANAGER BRIAN MILLER (BELOW, RIGHT WITH GABRIELE VILLARINI, DIRECTOR, IIHR—HYDROSCIENCE AND ENGINEERING)

“My supervisors cared not only about me professionally,” she says, “but also personally.”

Gaffey says she also appreciates the opportunity to support IIHR’s researchers in their work. “It means a lot to me to know I can be helpful as they try to understand and improve the world around us.”

Before he retired in 2020, Mark Wilson had worked at IIHR for 32 years. When he left, he was the director of research computing. “IIHR is a great place to work,” he says. “We are involved in solving many deeply important societal problems and generating appropriate, respectful options for the future. It is very satisfying to tell people of the work that goes on at IIHR and how impactful it is.”

He’s especially proud of the role IIHR played in initiating high-performance computing at the University of Iowa.

“That is the kind of creative, innovative action that comes from a culture like that within IIHR,” Wilson says.

Research Computing Manager Brian Miller has worked at IIHR for 22 years as full-time staff, plus another three years as a student employee. Why has he stayed so long?

“I actually enjoy my job,” Miller says. At IIHR, he says, he’s been given the freedom to make decisions. “It’s helped me grow as a person,” he says.

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Fall Colors at Ledges State Park A gray day sets off the stillvibrant foliage of late fall at one of Iowa’s most popular state parks.

Learn more about Ledges in the latest issue of The IGS Geode https://issuu.com/uiowaengineering/docs/igs_geode_2021

Photo by IIHR photographer Aneta Goska

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Parallels with the Past As IIHR begins its second century, some areas of research reverberate with echoes of the past, even while continuing to break new ground.

BY MA RG OT DI C K A N D JA CQU E L I N E H A RT L I N G S TO L Z E

Over the last century, the University Iowa has grown and changed. Through it all, IIHR— Hydroscience and Engineering has stood firm through floods, the Great Depression, war, and, most recently, a derecho and a pandemic.

IIHR’s landmark building, the C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Laboratory, rises proudly alongside — and sometimes in — the Iowa River at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Burlington Street.

In its 102-year history, the building has grown by four stories and now houses many more researchers, staff, and students.

IIHR today includes the Iowa Flood Center and the Iowa Geological Survey. Research has ebbed and flowed over the last century, touching on rivers, wind, environmental changes, plumbing, and more. While some early areas of study are no longer active here, such as ice studies or firefighting nozzles, others have appeared to take their place, such as water-quality studies, subsurface processes, and artificial intelligence applications.

Each of IIHR’s directors has taken the institute in a different direction, following emerging research needs and trends while adding his own passions and interests to the mix.

In this section, we chronicle a few of the major research enterprises at IIHR that have continued over the years.

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Mississippi River Modeling THEN Shortly after IIHR first opened its doors in 1920, researchers here helped to pioneer laboratory modeling as a way to answer basic questions about the movement of water. By the late 1920s, river models with a constant flow of water wound their way through large rooms at IIHR. To work on the models, students and researchers knelt on platforms above the water to make adjustments or take measurements. Their work, led by founding IIHR Director Floyd Nagler, helped demonstrate the value of reduced-scale modeling.

It also contributed to the lock and dam system on the Mississippi River, which beginning in the 1930s made the river’s nine-foot navigational channel possible. It is still in use today.

These interactive maps are available on the Iowa Flood Center’s Iowa Flood Information System TOP: Early river research at the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research included flumes and photography (1934).

TOP CENTER: IIHR’s 1934 erodible bed model of the upper Mississippi River at Alton, Ill.

NOW Despite our ever-advancing technology, river modeling looks much the same as it did almost 100 years ago. Physical modeling is still an important part of IIHR’s research, but now computational modeling is also common.

Recently, IIHR researchers developed flood inundation maps for communities along the Mississippi River. Data collected at some Mississippi River pools were compiled and combined with numerical models and GIS to determine how floodwaters would behave in different communities in the area at varying flood stages.

https://ifis.iowafloodcenter.org/ifis CENTER: IIHR and the Iowa Flood Center have recently developed online flood inundation maps for communities along the Mississippi River, available on the Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS) to help people be better informed and prepared for flooding.

BOTTOM CENTER: The Iowa Flood Center conducts bathymetric surveys of the river to develop its flood inundation maps.

BOTTOM: The Mississippi River at dusk.

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Flood Research THEN IIHR’s research into flooding began with the first director, Floyd Nagler.

In 1932, Nagler wrote a letter to the University of Iowa architect stating his concerns about potential flooding of the arts campus along the Iowa River.

He warned that recent bridge construction had changed the landscape enough to make it impossible to predict how badly floodwaters could damage the proposed Art Building site.

In the same letter, Nagler also warned that, “A flood of this magnitude would be a great catastrophe, and would probably wreck almost every bridge crossing the streets, besides doing an untold amount of damage to the cities located on the river.”

The 1930s-era Art Building housed the studio of Grant Wood when he taught at the university. The building flooded in 2008 and has remained closed ever since.

Nearly 60 years later, another IIHR director encouraged local city planners to reconsider a building project, this time a subdivision called Idyllwild on the north side of Iowa City. In 1990, then-IIHR Director John F. Kennedy explained in an interview with the Iowa City Press-Citizen that Idyllwild’s proposed location was approved based on flood maps from 1977, well after the maps should have been retired.

“My promise to you is that it will rain, and it will rain hard, and we will have floods.” Kennedy said.

Kennedy’s prediction also came to fruition, as Idyllwild flooded in 1993 and again in 2008.

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NOW Flood research at IIHR has advanced significantly since then.

With a century of research and data behind it, the C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Lab is now home to the Iowa Flood Center (IFC). The Iowa Legislature created the IFC in 2009 in response to the floods that had swept through Iowa the year before. IFC cofounders Larry Weber and Witold Krajewski recognized the need for more comprehensive flood mitigation efforts in Iowa.

Flood inundation maps, the Iowa Flood Information System, and stream-stage sensors are all part of the IFC catalogue of public services. Since its establishment, the center has offered easily accessible flood information to Iowans hoping to learn more about the state’s many waterways, and how current and future flood events may affect them.

TOP: Flooding in the 1920s sweeps through campus.

TOP CENTER: In 2008, floodwaters swallowed the University of Iowa Arts Campus, as predicted by founding IIHR Director Floyd Nagler.

TOP CENTER: Iowa Flood Center flood inundation maps provide instant access to detailed flood information for emergency managers, decision-makers, and homeowners.

BOTTOM: Floodwaters even threatened the C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Lab in 2008.

The lab, built on bedrock to withstand the onslaught, came through the disaster largely unscathed.

Ship Hydrodynamics THEN Lou Landweber came to IIHR in 1954 from the U.S. Navy’s David Taylor Model Basin in Washington, D.C., where he served as head of the hydrodynamics division. When he arrived at IIHR, ship hydrodynamics as a field of research took off and continues full steam ahead today. His influence on IIHR was transformative. Landweber, who never considered himself an engineer, developed a strong theoretical and experimental research program in this area.

Under his guidance, IIHR became a national leader in research related to naval architecture and ship hydrodynamics.

Always kind, calm, friendly, and unassuming, Landweber happily made time to help anyone who asked for his guidance, from coworkers to graduate students to fellow researchers.

Landweber’s compassion was surpassed only by his intellectual prowess. He could solve a complex problem while apparently gazing out the window. Landweber was also among the first to explore the potential of computational fluid dynamics. These early efforts in the 1960s would provide a foundation for later work at IIHR. Landweber would lay out the problem— usually classical equation-solving problems—and Matilde Macagno would program it. Together, they would solve the problem, using her computer expertise and his analytical knowledge.

NOW Under the leadership of Professor of Mechanical Engineering and IIHR Research Engineer Fred Stern, numerical simulations play a key role in IIHR’s ship hydrodynamics research, which remains an area of strength for the institute.

Stern takes a three-pronged approach—experimental modeling in IIHR’s towing tank and wave basin; computational modeling (CFD); and uncertainty analysis.

Over his prolific career, Stern has won grants totaling more than $41M, mostly from the Office of Naval Research. This funding has helped support the development and instrumentation of IIHR’s towing tank and wave basin facilities.

IIHR is also branching out into other marine hydrodynamics applications. For example, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and IIHR researcher Casey Harwood studies the use of small amphibious vehicles and vessels in the violent, chaotic environment created by waves crashing on the beach.

TOP: The father of ship hydrodynamics at IIHR and friend to all, Lou Landweber.

TOP CENTER: Fred Stern has helped lead a CFD revolution in ship hydrodynamics at IIHR. CENTER AND BOTTOM: Graduate student Andrew Arnold pilots the amphibious vehicle t the Coralville Reservoir while Casey Harwood observes.

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Fish Passage THEN In 1936, the Iowa Conservation Commission asked IIHR to research the efficacy of different types of fishways, or fish passageways. IIHR took on the project, building a variety of model ramps and ladders to help migrating fish make their way up and over a dam. By 1939, IIHR identified a model that seemed ideal for a wide variety of fish. Not only were fish making it over the dam, they seemed to vastly prefer it to older models.

The new type of fish passageway allowed fish to swim straight up and over the dam without worrying about “climbing” the ladder that was previously their only option.

The older version required fish to jump to the next level of the ladder where they could pause before jumping again.

To test their designs, researchers placed large nets at the top of the dam and recorded the number and type of fish that climbed the new fish ladder every hour. They noticed that even fish who were only an inch smaller than the passage was wide were able to swim up the dam without issue.

The improved passageways were implemented along the Des Moines River and evaluated throughout the 1940s.

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NOW Forty years later, IIHR began working on a new fish passage project in the Pacific Northwest, diverting salmon around dams on the Columbia River. As adult salmon made their way up the river from the ocean, they encountered eight dams that hindered their progress.

Not only did the adult salmon find it difficult to move upriver, their offspring then faced tremendous danger moving downstream. An estimated 10% of juvenile salmon were lost at each dam without a diverted path, leaving their already dwindling numbers in peril. IIHR’s fish passageways allow salmon to circumvent the dam, keeping them out of the dangerous turbines.

TOP, TOP CENTER, AND CENTER: IIHR fish ladder studies for the Iowa Conservation Commission in the 1930s studied methods to help migrating fish bypass abandoned lowhead dams on Iowa rivers and streams.

BOTTOM CENTER: IIHR’s modern fish passage research included model studies of the Priest Rapids hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, with the goal of improving the design of fish passage structures.

BOTTOM: IIHR Director of Engineering Services Troy Lyons visits a hydroelectric dam in the Pacific Northwest.

Dropshafts and Combined Sewer Overflows THEN In the early 1980s, IIHR was asked to propose a solution to the problems faced by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD). Milwaukee had outgrown its storm-sewer systems, which carried a mix of stormwater runoff and sewer water. Large rainstorms caused Milwaukee’s sewers to overflow and spew foul-smelling, polluted water into basements, streets, rivers, and lakes.

The IIHR team developed a new twist in dropshaft design: a simple descending tangential ramp that was easier to construct and smaller than other vortex-flow inlets.

It was a design triumph that was relatively inexpensive, yet worked as intended. It functioned so well that other large cities soon adopted it. IIHR had, with a single dropshaft project, become an expert on underground combined sewer overflow storage structures.

NOW IIHR continues to simulate (both physically and numerically) large sewer and stormwater conveyance systems for cities worldwide. Computational modeling is useful for this type of project, solving complex flow problems and providing solutions that can save time and money.

For example, IIHR was hired to review the design for several Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District intakes or dropshafts, and later to construct physical models of the dropshafts.

IIHR constructed a 1:16 scale model of the large Forest Park Intake Facility. Researchers used the model to optimize the design and confirm that the vortex dropshaft intake would perform as expected.

IIHR was selected for the project based on staff expertise that emerged decades earlier under the leadership of Director Kennedy.

TOP: IIHR researcher Subhash Jain (on ladder) studies a dropshaft model.

BOTTOM CENTER: IIHR’s Troy Lyons with a dropshaft model for a municipal sewer system.

TOP CENTER: IIHR’s dropshaft design improved combined sanitary and storm sewers in cities around the world.

CENTER: Then-IIHR Director John Fisher Kennedy (center) had confidence that his team could improve dropshaft designs for sewer systems, and he was right!

BOTTOM: IIHR continues to be a global leader in modeling and research for wastewater and stormwater conveyance systems.

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Once Upon a Lab 102 Years of Stories from IIHR

BY JA C QU E L I N E H A RT L I N G S TO L Z E

As children, most of us begged and pleaded with our parents to tell us just one more story, especially at bedtime. That love of stories — both the telling and the listening — has been part of the human experience since our ancestors gathered around a fire to share tales during long winter nights.

As IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering prepares to celebrate its centennial in 2022, we decided to use this issue of IIHR Currents to gather as many stories as we could about the lab, its people, and its history. We talked to alumni, faculty, staff, and students, and by listening to their stories, we honor and respect them as individuals and also preserve our collective history.

These are the stories you’ll find in this issue of IIHR Currents — enjoy! And if you have an IIHR story to share, please send it to us at iihr@uiowa.edu. We’ll document it in the IIHR Archives and perhaps share it in a future publication.

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Craig Just

Mr. Fix-It Goes to College You won’t hear Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and IIHR Research Engineer Craig Just brag about his PhD in environmental engineering.

Craig Just and his wife, Tracy, enjoy a warm fall day on their boat.

Like most Iowa farm kids, he learned to be selfsufficient early on. “We’d build a fort or maybe a hay bale castle,” Just says. “We had a go-kart, and the chain would come off. So we’d have to fix it.”

Just knew from a young age that he was drawn to mechanical things — motors, electricity, and gadgets.

His dad ran a trucking business, and the two of them spent weekends together in the shop, repairing whatever needed fixing. Just loved lending a hand.

That early experience gave him a taste of what it takes to be a “fixer.”

Just admires people like his dad — the people who can fix anything, solve any problem. They keep the world running.

“My dad is a thousand times smarter than I am,” Just says. “He can do everything. I just went to school a lot longer than he did.”

Just still isn’t sure he’s supposed to be a PhDtrained research engineer. There’s a part of him that longs to be the guy with grease under his fingernails, the guy who keeps things running — sometimes with baling wire and duct tape.

At the end of the day, Just explains, those folks go home knowing they did their jobs and did them well.

“I’ve always known I like to make things and fix things,” he says. “I like those practical outcomes.”

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BEAUTIFUL MUSIC

Just graduated from high school in Eagle Grove, Iowa, where he was an All-State tenor and played drums for a college bar cover band known as “Champagne for Breakfast.” Later on, he sang in a church praise band.

Just also asked out his wife, Tracy, via a note passed in band class. He was only 15, and she was 18 — an older woman.

“Yeah, pretty bold,” Just laughs. For a few excruciating hours, he heard nothing but silence. When the reply finally came, the first words were, “I’m sorry.”

Rejection? No, she was just apologizing for the slow reply. The pair became high school sweethearts and eventually married in 1990 and raised two children, Parker and Michaela.

THE ACCIDENTAL PROFESSOR

Meanwhile, Just earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry at the University of Northern Iowa. He came to the University of Iowa (UI) in 1993 to serve as the lab director for the Environmental Engineering and Science graduate program at the UI College of Engineering.

Pursuing a college degree wasn’t something his family necessarily expected him to do. “I think just out of sheer arrogance, I went to college. I was certainly motivated but not that well informed about higher education. Somehow, I made it through that first year.”

Just says he got interested in environmental engineering by attending the weekly Friday seminars to learn more about what his graduate students were doing in the lab. “I thought I could do a better job if I knew what the heck it was they were trying to achieve,” he says.

What he heard piqued his interest, especially the application of chemistry to clean up hazardous contaminants in the environment.

“That was really appealing to me,” Just says. So, in 1996, he began work on a PhD while continuing to serve as full-time lab director. His advisor, Jerry Schnoor, supported him through the five-and-a-halfyear quest for a PhD. “I’m very grateful that the group was nurturing in that way and would allow me to kind of peck away at it,” Just says.

After graduation, he served as an IIHR research scientist/engineer until he was appointed to a tenuretrack faculty position in 2012.

But Just was teaching long before he was officially part of the faculty. “I consider myself an accidental professor,” he says. As lab director, he created a course called Design with the Developing World.

“Students wanted to have more of an international perspective,” he explains. It was a popular course that 1 6 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

attracted 50 or 60 students from across campus every time it was taught.

“I loved that course,” Just says. He put it on his resume later on, when he wanted to join the faculty.

Just prides himself on his teaching and works hard to carry on the traditions of Schnoor and others in the department. “I take my teaching really seriously,” he says. “I always want to be a good teacher, and man, it’s hard to do while keeping up with research and mentoring.”

THE SWEET SIDE

Just’s research varies widely, encompassing everything from mitigating the impacts of farm drainage practices to flood resilience. He’s in the midst of a multimillion-dollar project to support improved wastewater treatment in Iowa communities: the Iowa Wastewater and Waste-to-Energy Research Program (IWWERP).

Although the project works with communities of all sizes, Just’s particular passion is helping the small towns that might not have the financial resources to meet state and federal wastewater treatment requirements. “They’re not going to get left behind, that’s for sure. Not in my program!”

It all fits perfectly with his Mr. Fix-It philosophy.

“There are lots of moving parts,” he explains.

“There’s water flowing. There are bacteria and solids moving. There are pumps.” He loves being the guy who knows how to keep all the parts working together.

Just’s wastewater treatment methods harken back to what drew him to environmental engineering in the first place: using green technology to clean up environmental contaminants. “The idea that we can use bacteria to treat our waste just kind of blows my mind,” he says. “As humans, we can harness Mother Nature, put it in a tank, and have it do our bidding.

“I think that is the sweetest side of what we can do as humans.” Where once people died of water-borne illnesses such as typhoid, dysentery, and cholera, modern wastewater treatment has made those illnesses almost a thing of the past.

“Hey, we can do this,” Just explains. “That’s really fascinating to me.”

CAN-DO ATTITUDE

Just enjoys traveling around the state to meet with the operators of small-town wastewater treatment plants. “These towns — they have a bunch of my dads out there, right? You don’t have to be a PhD to run a wastewater plant in Iowa. But you do need to have a PhD in duct tape and baling wire just

TOP LEFT: Craig Just (foreground) with his father and brother.

TOP RIGHT: Craig Just explains a conservation drainage strategy at the Johnson County Poor Farm.

BOTTOM: (R TO L) Go Hawks! Craig Just with wife Tracy, son Parker, and daughter Michaela.

to keep those things going because we just don’t invest like we should.

“These operators are really geniuses at keeping these things going, as far as I’m concerned,” Just says. Yet it’s sometimes still not enough to meet the requirements. His idea is to partner with that cando spirit.

“They want to get it to work, but they just don’t have all the resources they need to make it happen.”

He’s happy to partner with small-town wastewater treatment operators and to provide some tech support and a couple nifty ideas here and there.

It all fits with his concept of what it means to be an environmental engineer. “We’re the most collaborative form of engineering,” Just says.

Environmental engineers in general are good at quite a few things. They’re aware of the power of duct tape and baling wire, supported by human determination and ingenuity.

If he had to choose another career, Just says, he would be a wastewater treatment plant operator. “I long to be on the operation side,” he admits. “It’s so satisfying to really get to know a facility, to optimize it.” And when something unexpected happens, such as a flood, to be that person who can bootstrap things together and keep it working — that’s the payoff.

“I just really love that kind of troubleshooting,” Just says.

I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 1 7

Michael Thorn

The Adventures of an Englishman at the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research Michael Thorn came to IIHR in 1966 and discovered a lifelong passion and fascination for civil engineering hydraulics.

In 1966, when IIHR graduate student Michael Thorn and his friends wanted a beer, they had to find their way to downtown Iowa City and Joe’s Place — a smoky, atmospheric bar that’s been a favorite with UI students since 1934.

“If you wanted to buy anything other than beer, you had to go down to the state liquor store, where you were made to feel sinful.”

It was 1966, and college campuses across the country were poised for revolutionary changes in student life and behavior that would include coed dormitories and radical protests. But that was still in the future when Thorn arrived at the University of Iowa from his home in England. At Cambridge University, where he had earned his undergraduate degree, it was quite normal for students to have a beer in the courtyard or go to a sherry party — but not at the University of Iowa.

“We think we’re similar because we speak the same sort of language, but actually the culture is very different,” Thorn says.

1 8 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

Thorn came to the University of Iowa as a Rotary Foundation Fellow on a one-year study-abroad scholarship. He was interested in graduate study in hydraulic engineering — a course of study that wasn’t available in the U.K. at that time. Thorn also knew exactly where he wanted to go — the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, as IIHR was known in those days.

At Cambridge, Thorn had been inspired by watching the world-famous fluid mechanics films created by former IIHR Director Hunter Rouse.

The only flaw in this plan was leaving behind his fiancée, Heather, for an entire year. However, she had her own postgraduate studies to keep her busy, and together they decided that he would spend a year abroad. Still, it was hard to be apart for so long, with no cell phones or FaceTime to help them stay connected.

They communicated exclusively by letter for an entire year. “Telephone communication was extraordinarily expensive, so we didn’t ever speak on the phone. We had a year, and the box of letters is still somewhere up in the loft.”

Thorn arrived in Iowa in the autumn and was surprised and delighted by the fall colors, which were new to him. Winter was a different kind of surprise.

“Quite a shock, really,” Thorn says. “It was a lot of snow.” He had brought a warm winter coat from home, but he had to buy himself a fur hat with earflaps to survive the cold.

Fortunately, the reception at IIHR was warm enough to make up for the weather outside, especially from faculty member Joe Howe. “He was a delightful chap. He was extremely welcoming.” Howe, a member of the Iowa City Rotary Club, helped Thorn find his way.

Thorn had no trouble making American friends.

Thanks to Howe, he settled into his new environment quite quickly. “I was made so welcome by everybody I met in Iowa City.”

In those days, the shop was on the first floor of the lab, with all the equipment, flumes, and activity that entailed. The new IBM 1800 mainframe computer — programmed with punch cards — resided one floor up. The computer, like Thorn, arrived in 1966.

This was cutting-edge computing, and it signaled a transformational new approach to engineering. For Thorn, it was a big step forward from the computer he had worked with at Cambridge — a huge, slow machine based on electronic valves and iron memory cores and programmed with punched paper tape.

Michael Thorn (back row, third from left) with classmates in Professor Åke Alin’s (center) course on dams and reservoirs.

I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 1 9

The chief minder of IIHR’s computer was faculty member Jack Glover, who became Thorn’s MS project advisor. The project demonstrated the ability to connect a pitot tube in a flume running on the ground floor of the lab to the computer upstairs. He wrote a program that could sense the pitot reading, calibrate it, and print out the result for a velocity traverse of the flume — an early development of online data collection.

Glover offered him the opportunity to stay on at IIHR for a PhD, but Thorn was anxious to get home to his fiancée in London. Also, his Rotary Fellowship required him to return to his home country.

But he made the most of his time at IIHR, taking the maximum allowed credits each semester. One class Thorn particularly remembers is Royce Beckett’s Numerical Calculations course. Students had to complete each assignment successfully in no more than five attempted computer runs. “Coding was very carefully scrutinized for errors before each run!”

Thorn recalls.

Thorn was at IIHR for the last year that Hunter Rouse taught his famous and demanding Fluid Mechanics course. Thorn credits Rouse with giving him a thorough understanding of the subject.

“He wanted you to understand the fundamental principles,” he says. “He wasn’t bothered about you learning equations. What he wanted you to do is to get what I call a feel for the subject. And that’s been a real help and strength for me over the years I’ve worked in this field.”

Rouse taught from his classic textbook, Elementary Mechanics of Fluids (not elementary at all, Thorn says), and expected that his students would have read the assigned chapter in advance.

After discussing the chapter’s concepts, Rouse would pull out a deck of cards and shuffle them. Each card bore a student’s name. He’d turn over the first card and ask a question of the lucky student. If the first student couldn’t answer correctly, Rouse turned over another card and asked the next student — and on, and on, as long as necessary.

“You never knew when your next turn would come, especially as he reshuffled the pack at its end,” Thorn recalls. “It wonderfully concentrated mind and attention!” Later in his career, when Thorn was invited to become a Royal Academy Visiting Professor at Plymouth University, he created his own deck of Rouse-style cards for teaching. Thorn says it was just one of many valuable concepts he learned from Hunter Rouse.

After earning a master’s degree, Thorn returned home to England, where he took a position at the Hydraulics Research Station at Wallingford in 2 0 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

Oxfordshire. He had been in the position for only six months when he was asked to go to Iran and sort out a malfunctioning dam spillway. The spillway was still under construction, but a model study had shown it did not work correctly.

Thorn’s wedding was only four weeks away, but the problem was urgent, so he flew off to Tehran.

“The thinking was, we’ve got this young graduate guy with his Iowa degree — we’ll send him.” It was difficult because construction continued even as Thorn was attempting to sort out the problem.

“You couldn’t change the layout and design of the dam,” Thorn says. Remembering what he had learned in Åke Alin’s course on dams and reservoirs at Iowa, Thorn was able to solve the problem successfully.

Years later, he learned that the spillway had performed perfectly during a flood.

“That was all thanks to what I’d learned at Iowa,” Thorn says. “Both the feeling for what water does and also the practicalities of Åke’s course.”

Thorn remembers that Alin smoked a pipe that reeked to high heaven. One day during an exam, Thorn says, Alin suddenly ran out of the room, trailing smoke in his wake. “He had this habit of putting his pipe in his pocket when he wasn’t smoking it. He rushed out of the room with his pocket on fire! His pipe was in the pocket, and he forgot about it.

“He was one of those great characters you’d never forget.”

Thorn’s career focused on the general field of sediment transport in estuaries, including sediment movement, dredging, and navigation in estuaries and ports. His work carried him around the world, including a stint in Hanoi in North Vietnam to restore the navigation channel to the port of Haiphong. In 1982, the Vietnam War was part of the not-so-distant past. But Thorn says he found the people resourceful, hard-working, friendly, and welcoming. “From the personal point of view, I found that the most satisfying of the projects.”

In 2000, Thorn retired from HR Wallingford and set up his own business, Wallingford Research Consultancy. He later became involved in PIANC, the World Association for Waterborne Transport

RIGHT: Michael Thorn, now retired and a resident of Cornwall in the south of England, says the area offers enough estuaries and beaches to keep a hydraulic engineer happy! Here, he and his wife Heather pose on one of Cornwall’s beautiful beaches.

Infrastructure. This international association of governments provides technical support for the development of ports and waterways. He was also quite involved in the work of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and received a Gold Medal from ICE for his dedicated and valuable service.

Thorn says he found his career extremely rewarding. “My passion and fascination for civil engineering hydraulics, inspired during my year at IIHR, remains undimmed!”

Today, Thorn is retired, and he and his wife Heather live in Cornwall, a scenic coastal area of the U.K. He plays the cello with the Penzance Orchestra and several other local ensembles. The couple has three children: Rachel, Hillary, and Robyn, and eight grandchildren.

Cornwall provides plenty to keep this hydraulic engineer happy. He recalls that as a child, he was never happier than on a beach with a stream running across it. “I would spend hours damming it, diverting it, creating networks of channels and wide sandy deltas. Perhaps that was the first spark of my interest in this subject!

“I should add,” Thorn says, “that I still do this with our grandchildren on the Cornish beaches!”

Michael Thorn (right) with then-IIHR Director John Fisher Kennedy in Leningrad in 1990 at the International Commission of Experts meeting to review the incomplete Leningrad Flood Protection Barrier. The bottles on the table contained a metallic-tasting mineral water, no vodka, Thorn says.

I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 2 1

Ceyda Polatel

The Magic and Mystery of Hydraulics She was in Nuray Denli Tokyay’s hydromechanics Ceyda Polatel remembers the precise lab at the Middle East Technical University (METU), moment she knew she wanted to be a observing a demonstration of hydraulic jump. hydraulic engineer.

Polatel watched, mesmerized, as the flow of water

leapt in the flume. “It was almost — I don’t want to say magical — but it really makes you want to learn more about it because it is so mystifying,” she says.

“That was it! That was the moment I knew I was going to be a hydraulic engineer.”

VISITORS FROM IOWA

Polatel is a native of Turkey. Her family was nomadic until her grandmother’s generation settled in a small Turkish town. She was born during a military coup in Turkey, and the family had to relocate to the capital city, Ankara. Polatel grew up and attended school in Ankara, where she was an excellent student, particularly in math.

Polatel qualified to attend METU, Turkey’s most prestigious engineeering school. Tokyay was the first woman to earn a PhD in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Iowa while conducting research at IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering (IIHR); she taught Polatel in METU’s civil engineering program.

Thanks to Tokyay, Polatel developed a great opinion of IIHR. “She would tell stories of Iowa — the lab, the daily life, the people, and everything.

“She was an inspiring educator who turned out to be a huge influence in my life,” Polatel says.

Polatel earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering at METU and was looking around for a PhD program in hydraulics.

At that most opportune moment, two visitors arrived at METU — IIHR Director V.C. Patel and P. Barry Butler, who was dean of the University of Iowa 2 2 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

(UI) College of Engineering. Polatel was already interested in IIHR but meeting the lab’s director and the dean in person made her decision to apply that much easier. She now knew two people at Iowa, which she had heard so many good things about.

“It was meant to be!” Polatel says.

Even though she was still learning to speak English, Polatel says she felt comfortable and confident immediately upon her arrival at IIHR. “Knowing someone in the country helped me transition to life in Iowa so easily,” she explains. “I remember that when I finally jumped on a plane and arrived in Iowa, I didn’t feel out of place at all.”

Turkey is a place where people pride themselves on their hospitality, but even so, Polatel was impressed by how friendly Iowans were. “It was super helpful to start the American life in Iowa,” she says. “Iowans are so welcoming, so forgiving of the difficulties that come with being a foreigner.”

UNCERTAINTY AND UPHEAVAL

Polatel arrived in Iowa City in August 2001. Less than a month later, terrorists flew two commercial airliners into the twin towers in New York City and another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Thousands died, and the United States entered a period of great uncertainty and upheaval.

As a native of Turkey, a middle eastern country, Polatel might have had reason to feel unnerved by the atmosphere in the United States after the attacks.

For her, it offered another reason to love Iowa.

“It was a bit of a shock to the system,” she says. But in Iowa, she never felt singled out or discriminated against. “It was almost like people were working even a little harder to avoid making me feel alienated,” Polatel explains.

Through a program sponsored by UI International Programs, Polatel got to know several families in Iowa City. They invited her to their homes for dinner and special occasions, such as Thanksgiving. “They wanted to show American life. They wanted to learn a little more about me.”

Ultimately, Polatel became friends and stayed in touch with some of these families for many years.

“Being in Iowa had many advantages,” she says.

ADVICE THAT FITS ON A POST-IT

At IIHR, Polatel worked with advisor V.C. Patel to complete her PhD project on Large-Scale Roughness Effect on Free-Surface and Bulk Flow Characteristics in Open-Channel Flows. In fact, she was his last PhD student before retirement. As an experienced mentor,

Patel didn’t waste any time or words as he guided Polatel through her PhD. In fact, Patel’s advice was so pithy and to the point, she keeps a quote from him on a post-it note on her desk. “I still use it today when I am writing reports,” she says.

“He was very brief and pointed in his advice,” Polatel explains. “He would listen more than he talked.” As Polatel spoke, Patel processed what he heard and then offered his very concentrated and pertinent suggestions.

SAVING THE EVERGLADES

Today, Polatel works as lead hydraulic engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in Jacksonville, Fla., focusing on a large restoration project in the Florida Everglades. This complex environmental restoration effort is the largest project of its kind in the world. It is possible, Polatel says, to spend one’s entire career on the various elements of this massive, overarching effort.

As lead hydraulic engineer, she concentrates on the various modeling components, creating an integrated numerical modeling tool that better reflects the natural world. Although the challenges are huge, she’s excited to be part of such an important endeavor.

“I am certainly in the right place to contribute as much as I can,” Polatel says.

Without a doubt, climate change is a huge driver of the evolving environment in Florida, Polatel says.

She feels the urgency to make progress, but also the pressure to get it right. It’s a balancing act, she says.

“Mistakes are obvious, costly, deadly,” she says.

“Failure — we don’t have that luxury.”

ARTISTRY WITH WORDS

In her free time, Polatel loves spending time with family members who have moved to Florida from Turkey. Every weekend, she takes part in large family dinners. She also enjoys mentoring her younger cousins who are pursuing various degrees and careers in the United States.

Polatel also likes reading and writing, and she doesn’t limit herself to technical reports. In fact, she is working on a collection of vignettes and poems. “It took me many years to accept my non-native English as my writer’s voice,” she says.

I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 2 3

Marlene Janssen

For the Fun of It: Working at IIHR Marlene Janssen exaggerated her age to get her first job at the University of Iowa.

Janssen was only 13 — just two months shy of the legal working age of 14 — when she and her sister and a friend signed up to work at graduation, collecting caps and gowns after the ceremonies. When the graduates turned in their graduation regalia, Janssen and her co-workers gave them their diplomas in exchange (in those days, caps and gowns had to be returned before the diploma was awarded!).

She earned $2.

“I just lived in fear for years,” she says. Despite this shaky start, Janssen would go on to a long and remarkable career at the university, serving for almost three decades as a top administrator at IIHR.

LEAPING INTO THE UNKNOWN

Janssen grew up on a farm near Iowa City and attended a one-room country school from kindergarten through 8th grade. She went on to attend high school at University High on the University of Iowa (UI) campus (now North Hall).

Janssen’s first full-time job at the UI was in payroll.

After a few years, she moved on to a position in personnel, where one of her duties was to update job postings.

That was how she learned about an opportunity at the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, as IIHR was known in those days. Her co-workers in personnel all 2 4 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

Marlene Janssen with Shop Director Dale Harris.

seemed concerned that someone else would apply for the job.

“I thought, ha! They’re taking me for granted.” So Janssen applied herself.

At the interview, Janssen remembers that thenIIHR Director John Fisher Kennedy showed her a typewriter, one of the newfangled IBM Correcting Selectrics that were state of the art in 1975. He demonstrated how to use it and asked if she thought she could manage it. She responded that yes, she thought she could.

“But in the back of my mind, I thought, I won’t be doing that for long.”

She was right. Before long, things fell into place, and Janssen’s responsibilities at the lab grew. One day, when a co-worker’s typewriter broke, Janssen picked up her own IBM Correcting Selectric and plopped it on her colleague’s desk.

“That was it. I was done with that.”

Janssen became Kennedy’s assistant and later the chief administrative assistant for the entire lab.

When she started, the world of hydraulics was a big unknown to her. Kennedy insisted that Janssen take care of all his correspondence, which gave her the opportunity to learn about his research and his thoughts.

“I could better assist him, knowing what his approach was to things,” she explains.

BOUNDLESS ENERGY

IIHR was a fun place to work. Janssen gives the credit to Kennedy, who set the tone. “He had such a great sense of humor,” she says. “He just loved to laugh.”

Kennedy had a quick wit. He also loved to sing, especially musicals. It wasn’t unusual for him to spontaneously launch into song around the office. The music of Cole Porter was a particular favorite.

It was just part of the fun of it.

Kennedy also had a competitive streak, Janssen says. “He made everything into a race or competition.”

The classroom was on the third floor and his office was on the fourth floor. As she sat at her desk, Janssen could hear him open the door and bound up the stairs to get to the top before the door swung shut.

Kennedy was also a runner. He frequently invited visitors to join him at the Fieldhouse for a run. Most declined, but on one occasion, Kennedy invited someone who turned out to be a regular runner, not to mention considerably younger.

“He just really was concerned that he wasn’t going to be able to keep up with this younger guy,” Janssen remembers.

When the day came and Kennedy returned from the Fieldhouse, Janssen asked him how it went. “I did fine,” he said. “I stayed on the inside and I asked very short questions that required very long answers.”

It took a lot of energy to be Jack Kennedy, Janssen says. “It was boundless. He drove himself.”

I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 2 5

SINK OR SWIM

Kennedy was an effective leader and advisor, Janssen says, who knew how to challenge people to do more than they thought they could..

Kennedy would watch to see how well they coped, ready to advise. He only challenged people this way when he had confidence that they could handle the situation.

“He didn’t set people up for failure,” Janssen explains.

He used this technique with research engineers to engage them in new areas of research outside their expertise, but also with Janssen — often, she says.

She recalls one occasion when Kennedy had negotiated with the UI treasurer for financial support for some project or other. Kennedy insisted that Janssen call the treasurer and ask him when he would transfer the money.

“I knew the request was premature,” she says. But Kennedy kept asking her about it. Reluctantly, she made the call. “The treasurer rather condescendingly told me, ‘Well, Dr. Kennedy knows that this has to have [Board of] Regents approval first.’

Kennedy got a big laugh out of Janssen’s temerity.

“By the time he retold the story, he had it that I went to the treasurer’s office with a money bag in hand, expecting to collect the cash.

“In this case, I think I’d been set up,” Janssen says.

A CAST OF CHARACTERS

Janssen knew Hunter Rouse, too, although he had moved on to new responsibilities when she arrived at IIHR. His style was more formal than Kennedy’s, but Janssen remembers at least one unintentionally funny exchange. Someone had started bringing Janssen rocks, which she displayed on the corner of her desk.

Her collection grew as more people brought her souvenirs from their travels.

“People assumed I liked rocks,” she says.

One day, Rouse noticed Janssen’s collection and commented that he couldn’t think of a female equivalent for “rockhound.” The silence dragged out for a few awkward beats, and then Janssen replied, “I think I know, but I don’t want to say.”

Rouse chuckled but he seemed embarrassed, Janssen remembers.

TOP: Marlene Janssen, lady rockhound? Janssen kept a collection of rocks on the corner of her desk that grew as her colleagues brought back specimens for her from their travels.

BOTTOM: Janssen relaxes in her lovely Coralville home.

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A PENCIL AND A YELLOW LEGAL PAD

Janssen’s office was next to Lou Landweber’s, and she got to know him well. “He was such a sweet man,” she says.

“He had a yellow legal pad with a lead pencil and an eraser. Those were his tools,” Janssen says. Landweber would sit and gaze out the window. When she asked him what he was doing, he would reply, “I’m doing research.” He’d figure it all out in his head and then write it down.

When a staff member needed help with her elementary math class, Landweber offered to tutor her. They worked together every day over the lunch hour. “Here’s this world-renowned hydrodynamicist and mathematician, helping her with basic algebra,” Janssen recalls.

“He was just a really good man.”

A BRUSH WITH MCCARTHYISM

Landweber came to IIHR in the 1950s after an unfortunate incident at his previous job. At the time, Senator Joseph McCarthy was leading a fear-inspiring crusade against supposed communists in government and other avenues of American life. He ruined many careers with his frequently unsupported allegations.

Janssen recalls the story this way: Landweber, who at the time was working at one of the leading naval basins in the country, was asked to hold some flyers an acquaintance was handing out. Someone photographed Landweber holding the flyers, which allegedly promoted “un-American activities.” That was all it took — he lost his job.

Fortunately for all concerned, Hunter Rouse stepped up and offered Landweber a position at IIHR. “Lucky for us!” Janssen says. Landweber converted the lab’s old research channel into a ship towing tank, which is still one of the world’s most advanced.

He initiated a new line of research at IIHR, ship hydrodynamics, which continues to thrive today.

Landweber almost opened up yet another new area of research, decades ahead of his time. Janssen remembers a senior staff meeting where Kennedy was pressing researchers to think ahead to what the next big cutting-edge research area might be.

Landweber spoke up and said, “Windmills.”

“He was generally pooh-poohed,” Janssen says.

“I think about that every time I see these fields of windmills we have in Iowa today.”

LIKE A FAMILY

Working at the hydraulics lab, Janssen says, was like being part of a family.

“For the most part, a functional family,” she laughs.

“I think people had a certain respect and camaraderie with one another.”

She remembers lab picnics and Christmas parties.

“They were just for the most part hilarious,” she says.

“It was so fun.” Janssen says that Kennedy and his family were unfailingly generous and gracious to the people who worked at the lab. They even hosted holiday parties at their home until the staff became too large.

And as with any family, there are sad times as well as happy.

“I remember when Dr. Kennedy died,” Janssen says.

“It was just such a devastating loss.” Still, the IIHR family stuck together. “Everybody was emotionally invested in trying to make things work,” Janssen says.

“I have often thought of the three directors with whom I worked [Jack Kennedy, Interim Director Rob Ettema, and V.C. Patel] as having unique gifts that they imparted to others.”

All three leaders had a keen intellect and were very generous, Janssen says. She remembers Kennedy particularly for his restless intellect and his quick embrace of new possibilities and new challenges. “He was exuberant in his interactions with people.”

Rob Ettema, who stepped up to serve as interim director before and after Kennedy’s death, represents heart, Janssen says. “He had a big and forgiving heart and he cared deeply for IIHR and its people.

“Patel was spirit – he was on a serious personal spiritual journey and encouraged others to identify their passion and to pursue it,” Janssen says.

She adds, “The people I worked with at IIHR were really wonderful, each in their own way.”

In 2004, Janssen retired early to serve as a United Methodist minister, work that she found very rewarding. She retired again after 15 years in the ministry.

What she remembers most about IIHR is the people. “Such fine people,” Janssen says. “When I retired, that was actually my only regret. I knew that there would be people that I cared for a lot that I’d never see again.”

I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 2 7

Flumes, floods, and flowers: Twila Meder took it all in stride.

Water Everywhere Twila Meder Twila Meder’s welcoming smile and warm greetings helped create a strong community at IIHR.

Twila Meder was working at her desk at Stanley Hydraulics Lab when the phone rang.

“Somebody said, ‘One of the flumes is overflowing!’”

Meder remembers.

She jumped up and ran downstairs to find water gushing out of the flume on the second floor. “It was going everywhere,” she remembers. “It was actually running down the steps to the first floor.”

Meder didn’t know how to turn it off. “I had no clue,” she says. It was Fred Stern’s experiment, so she called him. A student was supposed to be supervising it, Stern said, but that student was nowhere to be seen.

Meder grabbed a big, wide broom and started pushing water down the steps and out the front door.

“I can very distinctly remember having the front doors propped open and sweeping water out the door and down the steps,” she says.

“You just hoped there wasn’t somebody walking by as you made that push,” Meder says. “It was water everywhere.”

She adds, “OK, it’s a hydraulics lab — it seemed very appropriate, but nobody wanted to walk through the water, right?”

GO NORTH

An Iowa City native, Meder graduated from City High. She started her first job when she was still in high school, working as a secretary at the Johnson County Social Services office. After a few years, she got married and left to have a family. She and her husband Tom raised three kids at their home in North Liberty: Tim, Teresa, and Tracy. Today, they have seven grandchildren as well.

At that time, North Liberty was a small, quiet community, and the Meders lived on a gravel road near the edge of town. The kids could run off to play in the creek with their friends without any worries.

“They’d come back just muddy, filthy,” Meder says.

“You’d have to hose them off outside.”

She adds, “But you didn’t have to worry about them, either. They were down there with their friends.” If 2 8 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

the kids weren’t at the creek, they were in the family’s yard, playing tetherball or having fun on the swing set with their friends. “I either had nobody there or a yard full of kids.”

TWENTY-FOUR YEARS

When her children were grown, Meder decided she wanted to go back to work. She got a job in the business office of the University of Iowa (UI) Hospitals.

After about a year there, the office reorganized, and everyone got a new job.

“I went to my boss and said, ‘OK, is this what I’m going to be doing?’” Meder remembers. “She said, ‘It’s your new job.’

“I said, ‘In that case, I’m looking for another job.’”

Meder went to the UI employment office and scanned the job listings. She saw an opening at IIHR and applied immediately. Before long, she had an interview.

When Meder walked into the hydraulics lab for her interview, she found herself looking at a huge flume and nothing that looked remotely like an office or a reception area.

After searching around a bit, she found a directory and realized she needed to go upstairs to get to the main office. There was an elevator, although it, too, presented a challenge. It was a freight elevator with a gate you had to close behind you. If you closed the gate too hard, it could bounce back open a little bit.

When that happened, the elevator was stuck.

Fortunately, Meder made it to the main office for her interview. The very next day, the phone rang. “Do you want the job?”

“I said, ‘Absolutely!’” Meder says.

As receptionist, Meder was the first person people met when they came to the hydraulics lab. She also performed secretarial duties for faculty. Just before desktop computers came on the scene, the office staff used a word processing system known as NBI — “nothing but initials.” The machines were huge and noisy. Faculty would write out everything by hand on yellow pads, no matter how long the report was (“They went through yellow pads like you wouldn’t believe!”). Then Meder and the other office staff would enter it into the word processor.

HERE YOU GO!

The hydraulics lab was one of the first departments at the university to get desktop computers for office use. The new Mac computers arrived on a Friday.

“They set them on our desks, and said, ‘Here you go!’

And then walked off.”

Meder and her co-worker Karen Gee had no idea how to make the computers work. They came into the office on Saturday and spent the day learning about the new computers.

“Of course, the first thing is, how do you turn it on?”

Meder says. And then, what next?

“Luckily, at that time, computers actually came with a manual,” she says.

It was a steep learning curve, but after that day they had some idea of how to proceed. On Monday, they had to start using the computers in earnest. “That’s the way it was. There was no going back,” Meder says.

They didn’t think about being on the cutting edge of the computer revolution. “At the time, it was more like an inconvenience,” she says.

WELCOME HOME

Meder’s favorite part of the job was interacting with IIHR students and making them feel at home. “That was my thing,” she says. “To make sure they felt as if they were part of IIHR from day one.”

Meder took photos of all the new students (usually about 20 or 30), wrote down their names, and mounted the photos behind her desk where they were out of sight. “My goal was to learn the names of those students as quickly as I could to make them feel like they belonged.”

With students from many countries scattered in buildings around campus, Meder had to be inventive to get to know them all. When her duties took her out to make the rounds of IIHR’s buildings, she would check in on the students there.

“You know — how are you doing over here? What do you need? Is there anything we can do to make things better?” she says. “Just trying to connect with them.

“It was exciting and it was fun,” Meder says. “You had to learn to listen, to pay attention to what they were saying.”

It wasn’t just students that Meder nurtured and cared for. One of her best-loved duties was the small flower garden she planted and cared for along the sidewalk just south of the lab. People would often stop and thank her for beautifying this small bit of campus — and not just people she worked with at IIHR. In her 24 years at the lab, Meder says she found that she liked the people she worked with as well as the job. She’s not one to stay where she’s not happy.

“I’m not afraid of quitting a job and moving on,” Meder says.

“If I hadn’t liked the job, I wouldn’t have stayed for 24 years.”

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Larry Weber

Choosing to Lead Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Larry Weber realized there was only one choice: Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

THIS PAGE: Then-IIHR Director Larry Weber poses in front of a model of the Priest Rapids Dam. FACING PAGE: Working with IIHR researcher Jacob Odgaard, Weber helped develop fish passage research into a thriving area of study at the institute.

3 0 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

The morning sun sparkled on the Iowa River, reflecting blue sky overhead. Larry Weber walked along the river, arriving at work early on that spring day, as he often did. Weber had been appointed director of IIHR not many months earlier.

As he walked, the lab loomed larger and larger until it almost blocked out the sky.

Out of nowhere, a thought hit him: “My god, what have I done?” All his insecurities came to the surface.

“I am now the director of this place with this historic program, and if it fails under my watch, what a shame that would be.”

At the time, he was struggling with how to handle IIHR’s financial troubles and cultural issues, not to mention his own feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.

“I thought of all the reasons why I was going to fail.”

As he walked on, a flash of clarity came to him: he could focus on all the problems, or he could face his fears and get on with the job.

“There’s only one way this fails. If it fails, it’s on me and only me. It’s not because people were not nice to me, and it’s not because of funding issues or

relationship between the institute and the college — it’s just me.”

It was a turning point, Weber says. He realized at that moment that there was only one choice. “Either lead or follow or get out of the way. I chose to lead.”

From that moment on, he was able to move past his fears (most of the time) and let the external factors take care of themselves. If his skills were up to the task, the job would get done. And if they weren’t, he’d find something else to do. He let go of his worries and the negativity.

“I really took that to heart.”

BABY 1, GRANDMA 0

As a baby, Larry Weber drove his grandmother out of the house, permanently and much to his mother’s delight.

His story starts on a small farm near Dyersville in Northeast Iowa, where Weber was born to a family that had often struggled to make ends meet. Weber’s father Art, the oldest son, quit school after the eighth grade to help out on the family farm. When Art’s

father (Larry’s grandfather) died unexpectedly in 1951 due to a sudden illness, Art took over the farming operation at the age of 15. With significant help from his uncles, Art was responsible for the farm, which supported his family of six.

In his 20s, Art met Joan Funke at a community dance, and the two married in 1963 and set up housekeeping in the family farmhouse, where Art’s mother Marcella was still in charge. The newlyweds settled down to farm and raise a family. When baby Larry arrived, his colicky cries and persistent fussiness drove his grandmother to distraction.

“Can’t you make him be quiet?” Grandma Marcella demanded. Eventually, she moved out of the farmhouse to her own home in town.

“I don’t know if it was weeks or months or how long it was,” Weber says. But the change certainly suited Weber’s mother Joan, who was ready to run the house on her own terms and raise her family without supervision.

“That’s probably the funniest story of my childhood,” Weber says.

AN IOWA FARM BOY

Weber worked hard on the farm from a young age.

“I was at my dad’s side from early childhood until I left,” Weber says.

The family was always well-fed because they could eat what they raised on the farm. But there wasn’t much money for extras for Larry or his two sisters.

Weber remembers one of his best Christmas presents growing up was a Western Dubuque High School gym bag. It was a tubular duffel bag with straps and one zipper down the middle. It was a simple thing that probably didn’t cost $20. “But it made me feel so happy because it was one of the few times that I really felt like I fit in at school,” he says. “I never got to play any sports because I had to go home and work on the farm,” Weber says.

THE LURE OF HAWKEYE FOOTBALL

Weber says his father likely expected him to take over the farm. But the farm crisis of the 1980s and summer jobs in construction motivated Weber to enroll at the University of Iowa (UI) after high school graduation — that and a love of Hawkeye football.

“That’s an absolutely serious statement,” Weber says. “I wanted to come down here to go to football games and study engineering.”

He expected to graduate and go to work in construction. Later, his plans evolved to focus on a career in engineering consulting.

I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 3 1

But then Weber discovered hydraulics.

As a child, Weber loved playing in the creek on the farm whenever he got a chance. He was fascinated by the flowing water and the way it endlessly rearranged and rebuilt the sandbars. “Kind of serendipitously, I ended up here at the hydraulics lab working in the ice lab as an undergraduate,” Weber says. He enjoyed that work and stayed on to complete a master’s degree and later a PhD, working with Wilf Nixon.

Weber enjoyed the ice mechanics world, but he never saw it as something he would continue over a lifetime. The idea was that he would go to work in industry.

But as Weber was completing his PhD, he had the opportunity to stay on at IIHR and work with Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Jacob Odgaard on fish passage research for the hydropower industry in the Columbia River Basin.

The research focused on structures that allowed fish, particularly salmon, to move safely through the large hydropower dams that had altered the salmon’s migration pathway.

Weber had found his passion in this interface with industry, solving real-world problems and providing a product that IIHR could deliver better, and perhaps faster, than anybody else. And they did it all while also involving graduate students and postdocs and engaging in the broader academic community.

“I love that work,” Weber says. “Being involved in this complex, engineering, hydrologic, biological project is really interesting.”

The opportunity to work with Odgaard was another lucky break. “He was so generous with sharing credit and giving me the opportunity and the responsibility to kind of take that project and just run with it.

“Jacob is someone whom I’ll always have the deepest respect for.”

and Miechelle share a love of the outdoors and for the woodland property they are restoring near Iowa City.

Weber says he might also have been a bit ahead of himself when he took on the directorship of IIHR at the relatively young age of 38. “It’s just always felt like I’m half a step ahead of myself, jumping in before I’m probably ready,” he says. “But you take those challenges on. I was never one to shy away from anything.”

HYDRAULICS HERO

Weber considers former IIHR Director John Fisher Kennedy — also not one to shy away from a challenge — his role model at IIHR. Weber admired Kennedy’s ability to bridge the gap between academia and industry. “That was something that I really valued in him and valued in my directorship,” he says. “I think there was perhaps some commonality in the way he ran the lab in the way I ran the lab.”

Kennedy’s priority was on applied research that solved real-world problems for industry. This meant constructing a different kind of lab, building not just a physical infrastructure, but also a human infrastructure that could meet those needs.

HALF A STEP AHEAD

Weber had met his wife-to-be, Miechelle, in the fall of their freshman year at the university, when they were both living in Burge Residence Hall. They dated for three years and married in 1988 — maybe just a tad before they were ready, as both readily admit.

Ready or not, Larry and Miechelle began their married life together as undergraduates. Miechelle earned a degree in radiologic technology and went on to work as a sonographer at the UI Hospitals’ OBGYN department, while Larry finished his fifth year as an engineering undergraduate and later earned master’s and PhD degrees in civil and environmental engineering. They would go on to raise two sons, Benjamin and Michael. Besides faith and family, Larry 3 2 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

A young Larry Weber found opportunity beyond his most optimistic dreams at IIHR.

“A lot of folks from industry came to Iowa. They came to Jack. You couldn’t separate Jack from the lab,” Weber says.

“He ran it a bit like a business.” Weber laughs when he remembers an anonymous comment on his third reappointment review: ‘Well, you know Larry runs IIHR like a business ... Like it’s his business.’

It probably wasn’t really meant as a compliment, but Weber takes it in stride. “You know, guilty as charged,” he says. “I developed a lot of research and brought a lot of funding here. I built a team and supported an awful lot of folks here for a lot of years.”

A FLOOD OF OPPORTUNITY

Just a few years into Weber’s tenure as director, IIHR faced a new threat: the devastating flood of 2008 that caused almost $1 billion in damages to the UI campus.

Weber says he wasn’t just worried about the building during the flood, but also about a possible existential threat to the institute.

It was yet another challenge for Weber, as he considered how best to protect IIHR and whether to flood the basement of Stanley Hydraulics Lab proactively to try to save it. Eventually it became

Larry and wife, Miechelle, pause for a photo on the woodland property they are restoring near Iowa City.

a moot point when the university mandated the evacuation of the building. The basement flooded when the power was turned off, although Weber took the first shift for a team that kept gasolinepowered sump pumps running for weeks to protect multimillion dollar tow tank equipment in the building’s lower level.

But as it turned out, the results of the flood were positive as well as negative. “So much grew out of it,” Weber says. “It unified the lab. We had a common purpose. We were able to work with intention. It allowed me and my skills to work in the legislative environment and strategic framing processes.”

Perhaps the most impactful result of the 2008 flood has been the Iowa Flood Center (IFC), co-founded by Weber and his colleague Witold Krajewski. “Once we joined forces, we were a force to be reckoned with, right? The two of us together, for sure. That was wonderful,” Weber says.

The IFC is the first academic center dedicated solely to the study of flooding, and it has helped Iowans become better informed and more flood resilient. The center is also a key player in the Iowa Watershed Approach (IWA), a five-year, $97 million project that Weber conceived and leads. The IWA is a collaborative project to build distributed storage structures (farm ponds, wetlands, etc.) throughout nine Iowa watersheds to reduce the impacts of flooding downstream while also improving water quality and providing other key benefits.

The IFC is just one of the innovative new research directions that emerged during Weber’s tenure. “This creative way of building an organization — it allowed me to work in the way that I work the best,” Weber says. The lab expanded and grew to a level that would have been unimaginable when he was first appointed.

“If somebody would have said, ‘You’re going to create a nationally recognized, state-funded flood center, co-found the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, bring the Iowa Geological Survey here, and organize a grant for a hundred million dollars.’ People would have said, ‘You’re crazy. Just crazy.’”

Without question, Weber says, the best years of his professional life were as director of IIHR. “I think what we accomplished during that period was just amazing.

I mean, programs across the country would have loved to have had that energy and synergy and can-do spirit.”

He’s proud of what the IIHR team has accomplished, and proud to have served as its leader for 13 years.

He’s had opportunities to move on, but Iowa has a tight hold on him. “We’re so deeply rooted in Iowa City and Iowa,” he explains. “Our timber property is close by. I’ve got this incredible job.

“Why would I ever leave?”

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Stan Stutzman

Just a Kid at Heart Stan Stutzman makes sure to have fun, no matter what he’s doing.

Stan Stutzman shrugged into his winter coat, hat, and mittens and ran out the farmhouse door, carrying his lunch pail and schoolbooks. His one-room country school near Kalona, Iowa, was only an eighth of a mile away — just a quick walk through the snow.

But Stutzman had other plans.

He hopped on his sled and zoomed down the hill, pulling up by the little schoolhouse in a small puff of swirling snow.

“It was all downhill,” he remembers. In the winter, he sledded to school most days. Stan and his friends would go outside at recess to sled whenever they could. They never stayed inside if they could help it. If it was too cold and wintry to be outside, they played ping-pong in the schoolhouse, Stutzman says.

A DOLLAR A DAY

Today, Stutzman lives in Frytown, Iowa, just a few miles from his boyhood home. As the 13th of 14 children, Stutzman helped a neighbor with farm chores because his older brothers and sisters had everything under control at the Stutzman farm. He earned a dollar a day for his work at the neighbor’s place — making hay, milking, and gathering eggs.

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“That was good money back in those days,” he remembers.

Stutzman enjoyed the one-room country school, where a single teacher taught all the grades. “We grew up that way, so we didn’t think anything of it.”

When Stutzman finished the eighth grade, he went to work. His first job was driving a truck, and then he worked at a local feed mill. After a few years, he switched to maintenance and learned to weld, with help from one of his Amish neighbors.

Stutzman’s welding abilities would serve him well throughout his career.

IT STARTED WITH A WHITE SHIRT

Professor of Fluid Mechanics and IIHR Director Hunter Rouse was fussy about his white shirts. They had to be washed, pressed, and starched just so.

Rouse paid Eliza Martin (Stutzman’s grandmotherin-law), to “do up” his shirts every week. Before long, Stutzman’s wife Shirley was also babysitting for the Rouses’ children.

In 1959, Rouse and his wife went to Germany on sabbatical. While they were gone, Shirley took care of the house, and Stan mowed the yard.

When Rouse returned, he called Stutzman in for a chat. He met with Rouse and shop manager Dale Harris, who offered him a job at the hydraulics lab.

It was the start of Stutzman’s long career at IIHR, including 25 rewarding years spent working with Harris.

It was February 1960. Stutzman spent his first day on the job puttying windows. In the winter, he plowed snow off the sidewalks. But for many years, Stutzman spent most of his time welding.

“I did a lot of pipe welding,” Stutzman says. “River models take a lot of piping.”

MODEL WORK

Stutzman especially liked working on the models: river models, dropshaft models, and fish passage models, including a screen test model for the Columbia River.

The latter was part of a fish passage project for one of the hydropower plants in the Pacific Northwest.

Stutzman remembers that IIHR Director John Fisher Kennedy (Rouse’s successor) pushed the IIHR staff to develop the screen test model in only a week’s time.

“That got us into that Columbia research,” Stutzman says. IIHR got a contract to investigate the screens, which guide young migrating salmon safely away from the hydropower turbine intakes. Fish passage research continued for decades at IIHR. Years later,

LEFT: Stutzman shows off his property near Frytown, which features several beautiful homes, ponds, and a windmill.

BELOW: Stan Stutzman (foreground) on the job at IIHR

Stutzman worked with Larry Weber on additional Columbia River fish passage projects.

One of the first projects Stutzman worked on was the meandering bends model that they built in the old West Annex. It was constructed entirely from poured concrete. This was the first model that used computers to gather data, under the supervision of Jack Glover. Stutzman remembers the boxes and boxes of cards required by the early computer.

When Jim Goss took over as shop supervisor, he asked Stutzman to be his assistant. That involved doing purchasing for all the lab’s projects. “That was my main thing,” he says, and it was work he enjoyed.

He worked with Goss for 18 years. “We were a good team,” Stutzman says. “It was wonderful.” Stutzman and Goss sometimes did fieldwork, including taking river measurements for Tatsuaki Nakato.

Stutzman also pitched in wherever he was needed.

He liked the variety. “That was what was nice,” Stutzman says. “I didn’t just work in welding. I’d work with whoever else needed help.”

For instance, Stutzman was also part of a crew that built and installed flumes for clients around the country, including Penn State University; Lafayette, La.; Milwaukee, Wis.; a 100-foot flume at

the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Howard University in Washington, D.C. Stutzman was part of a three-man team that spent three weeks in D.C. installing the flume at Howard.

FRIENDS AND CO-WORKERS

Stutzman says he appreciated the people he worked with at the lab — for instance, Hunter Rouse, the man who gave him the job. Rouse ran a tight ship, Stutzman says, but he was fair. No one was allowed to eat or drink at his or her workstations — that’s what the break area was for. And the only time they were allowed to listen to the radio while working, Stutzman says, was when Mid-Prairie went to the state basketball tournament.

Then there was Lou Landweber. “I liked Lou,” Stutzman says. “He was such a kind man. And of course, he had that big smile.”

Landweber’s ship hydrodynamics research in the tow tank required wooden ship models built precisely to specifications. Stutzman assisted expert carpenter Bob Hamer to build and finish the models.

Stutzman also remembers Rex Elder, a frequent collaborator with IIHR researchers. “He was super I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 3 5

nice,” Stutzman says. “He’d always be amazed that we could do or achieve anything he asked for.”

Stutzman chuckles when he recalls another occasion when the shop team was building a dam testing model for Edward Naudashev Bergetta from Germany. “We asked him, ‘How long do you want it?’ Bergetta said, ‘Two rake handles and a hoe.’ We thought that was pretty cute.”

Being part of IIHR definitely had its fun side.

Stutzman recalls the holiday parties at Kennedy’s house, attended by faculty, staff, and students. They sang Christmas songs around the piano and laughed at the skits and poems.

Stutzman says he never had any complaints about his work at IIHR. “I felt very fortunate and blessed to be there.”

LIFE IN FRYTOWN

Today, Stutzman is retired and lives in a house that he and his wife Shirley designed and built together in the tiny community of Frytown, south of Iowa City. They raised three boys, Walter, Curtis, and Lyle; today, there are six grandchildren and 10 greatgrandchildren.

Stan and Shirley had 66 wonderful years together before she passed away in 2020. He points to a chair overlooking the property. “That was her chair. She said, ‘Oh, I never get tired of that view.’”

The house is part of a small development they created together, which includes two ponds, a windmill, and a few homes nestled in the hills and valleys.

“This was our land,” Stutzman says. “We had 51 acres here. When I retired, we put in the road and the ponds.” He has space for 10 more houses on the property. Stutzman says his experience in purchasing at IIHR has served him well in this project.

He also keeps busy in his shop. Stutzman recently built a Little Free Library — a “take a book, return a book” free book exchange — for his granddaughter in Minneapolis to put in her yard. He also volunteers for Crowded Closet in Iowa City, repairing donated toys and furniture. He also enjoys trips to visit family and friends, such as a trip to celebrate his 85th birthday last year that took him to Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and California’s Napa Valley, where he toured three different vineyards. Stutzman got a piece of birthday cake at each stop. “I said wow, I’ll never forget this birthday!”

Although he hasn’t been on his sled lately, Stutzman says he’s still just a kid at heart. “The body tells you otherwise,” he says. “But I’m thankful. I do what I can and still enjoy it.”

3 6 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

We Are

POINTS OF PRIDE

93 4 800 2

5,065

IIHR graduate students, from 17 countries

Fulbright Fellowships awarded to Marian Muste

conservation practices completed or in progress as part of the Iowa Watershed Approach

new IIHR faculty researchers, Venanzio Cichella and Caterina Lamuta visitors to the webcams page on IIHR’s new website since July 1, 2021 (https://www.iihr. uiowa.edu/webcams)

Witold F. Krajewski

newly elected member of the National Academy of Engineering

IIHR

Advisory Board Members Paul Bates (2020–24) School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol Jeffrey Czajkowski (2019–23) Center for Insurance Policy and Research, National Association of Insurance Commissioners Sarah Johnson (2019–23) ACLU-PA

Larry Weber

winner of the Integrated Water Resources Management Award from the American Water Resources Association

Hannah Molitor

winner of the NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium Fellowship

Michelle Scherer

Stephanie Houser

recipient of the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship from NOAA’s Sea Grant Program

new University of Iowa Distinguished Chair and recipient of the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence and the UI College of Engineering’s Faculty Excellence Award for Service

Jerry Schnoor

Fellow of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors

David Cwiertny

recipient of the UI College of Engineering’s Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching

IIHR Currents

winner of the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts’ Award of Excellence in the Communicator Awards program

Thad Michael (2016–21) Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division Pedro Restrepo (2016–21) National Weather Service (retired) Hugh J. Roberts (2020–24) The Water Institute of the Gulf Lawrence Tarasek (2018–22) Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division Martin Teal (2018–22) WEST Consultants Inc. Kathleen White (2020–24) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gabriel Vecchi (2020–24) Department of Geosciences, Princeton University Peter Vikesland (2018–22) Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech EX OFFICIO MEMBERS Harriet Nembhard Dean, College of Engineering, University of Iowa Gabriele Villarini Director. IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa Carmen Langel Director of Development and Communications, IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa

Developed

research infographic to represent IIHR’s comprehensive research, which spans the entire hydrologic cycle

Rachel Marek

recipient of the UI College of Engineering’s Staff Excellence Award for Research

I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 3 7

FROM THE ARCHIVES

A Plumb Job for IIHR

BY MARG OT D I C K

During the Great Depression, IIHR took on plumbing research that kept the doors open and the lights on.

The work, such as important research to stop “back-siphoning,” saved lives and protected human health. Backsiphoning allowed contaminated water from toilets to inadvertently flow into sinks.

The 1930s were the height of the Great Depression. Unemployment was at an alltime high, and many hydraulic research institutes nationwide were closing for good.

Facing these difficult times, IIHR turned to industry leaders. Though the country was in financial distress, safety and sanitation were still necessities.

In 1936, Francis Murray Dawson arrived at the University of Iowa and the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research (as IIHR was then known). At his previous job as head of hydraulics at the University of WisconsinMadison, Dawson had focused primarily on plumbing with his close friend and colleague A.A. Kalinske. Also a professor of hydraulics, Kalinske followed Dawson as he made his move across the Midwest. At Iowa, Dawson was not only able to continue his work on plumbing, but also to focus on the larger field of hydraulics as the new director of IIHR.

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Together, Dawson and Kalinske conducted research on toilet backflow, water heater valves, water-hammer noises, vertical drains, and more. During World War II, they even conducted studies on grease traps to help make grease disposal in military kitchens more efficient. Their plumbing research put IIHR on the map in this field, and in 1938, IIHR was named the official testing agency of the National Plumbing Laboratory. The research — and the funding that came with it — helped keep the doors open at IIHR through difficult economic times.

SAVING LIVES

Dawson and Kalinske’s research on the safety of toilets and the movement of sewer water once it left the bowl was particularly significant and life-saving. In the 1930s, plumbers did not yet know that pipes need air circulation to prevent the creation of a vacuum. When water drains in a vertical pipe without holes to allow additional airflow, the water creates suction like someone drinking through a straw. This suction in the system can pull the water backward through the pipes and out other appliances in an action called “back-siphonage.”

In toilets, for example, contaminated water that should be drained out of the toilet bowl and into the sewage system could instead be pulled back into the home and flow out through the taps in the house, contaminating water used for drinking and bathing.

Dawson and Kalinske’s research helped ensure that toilets were designed and installed correctly to prevent sewage from contaminating clean water and reducing the chance of water-borne illness.

A ROCKET IN THE BASEMENT

The 1930s were also a dangerous time to own a water heater. Explosions were frequent, generally killing those unfortunate enough to be in the building at the time.

Dawson and Kalinske examined the cause of these explosions and found that they were not caused simply by high pressure, though that was a factor. Broken water heater casings were often the culprit. When water is heated above the boiling point in a high-pressure environment, a sudden pressure release turns the water to steam nearly instantaneously.

A sudden change from liquid to steam dramatically increases the volume of the liquid inside the water tank, which in turn increases the pressure in the closed system.

When a water heater has a leak, the water will suddenly be exposed to a lower pressure outside the tank. Inside the tank, the steam has nowhere to go. This steam presses on all sides of the tank until it finally explodes, turning the heater into a rocket and damaging the surrounding area.

Dawson and Kalinske proposed that companies be required to add both pressure and temperature release valves to lower the risk of water heater failure. Though the explosion is not caused strictly by overpressurization of the system, a pressure release valve can still keep a heater from exploding. Dawson and Kalinske noted that when the excess steam flowed into pipes attached to the heater, the resulting pressure stabilization prevented an explosion. With this in mind, they suggested the implementation of pressure release valves in all new water heaters to discharge the surplus steam as soon as it was created.

Temperatures in a pressurized container like a water heater are also an issue; they can rise to more than 212 degrees before water turns to steam. To stop the change in state with sudden pressure drops, a release valve keeps the temperature from rising above the boiling point of water, removing the possibility of steam altogether.

The research conducted at IIHR during the Great Depression improved the health and safety of people everywhere and remains an important part of IIHR’s history.

TOP: Plumbing research, which began in the 1930s and continued even after World War II, earned IIHR the title of the official testing laboratory for the National Association of Master Plumbers.

BOTTOM: IIHR researchers explored the redesign of grease traps in drainage systems for the U.S. Army.

I I HR C UR R E NTS 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 • 3 9

No Two Days the Same

BY MARG OT D I C K

“Everyone says electronics and water don’t mix, but everything I do is electronics essentially in water.”

Jim Niemeier is calm as he discusses high voltage equipment submerged in, or dangling just above, a river — an excellent conductor of electricity. After 15 years and three degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Iowa (UI), Niemeier knows how to combine the two forces. He started out working with UI engineering faculty members Witold Krajewski and Anton Krueger as a master’s student at IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering in 2006 on the stream sensor project. Since then, he has also received a PhD and holds a full-time position at the Iowa Flood Center and IIHR. Today, Niemeier takes care of the IIHR electronics shop and all the strange and fascinating requests that come along with it.

“I never quite know who’s going to knock on my door and have some sort of electrical question,” Niemeier says.

IIHR faculty researchers need his expertise for their work in a wide variety of areas. For instance, Niemeier set up cameras to observe streams for Marian Muste, worked with Corey Markfort to monitor bat activity around wind turbines, and is helping Craig Just with instrumentation for wastewater treatment plants. Niemeier says that no day is like the one before, with a constant stream of new and interesting challenges.

Niemeier says he has traveled to all corners of the state for instrument installation in his work for the IFC. Given the flood center’s goal of installing at least one rain gauge in each of Iowa’s 99 counties, he is sure to see even more.

“One point even within the county isn’t much, but it’s a lot more than what there is currently,” Niemeier says.

The new and improved rain gauges not only measure the volume of each rainfall event, but 4 0 • IIHR CUR R ENTS 2021–22

also track how the water moves through the area. As raindrops fall, they hit a small area at the top of the tripod called an impact disdrometer that acts as a drum, measuring the number of raindrops in the area over a given time period. Below the ground around the tripod, soil moisture and soil temperature readers collect data and report back to the same program.

The tripod can track the rain’s progress as the first few drops strike the surface and then percolate into the soil.

Eventually, those raindrops make their way to local streams where IFC’s stream-stage sensors pick up the change in water depth all the way to the Mississippi River. Niemeier says with these data, you can track the entire life cycle of a raindrop as it travels through the state.

A passion for electrical engineering isn’t all Niemeier found at Iowa. The university is also where he met his wife, a recently retired naval officer. She then decided to pursue her own PhD at Iowa and will be following the same path Niemeier did, working with Anton Krueger as she studies for her doctorate in electrical engineering.

Since his wife returned to Iowa after her deployment, Niemeier says he is establishing a new routine at home. His wife is settling into school, and Niemeier says there are some hobbies he would like to resume, such as woodworking, hunting, and fishing. For his next project, he plans to finish a dining room table he’s been working on. It is made of a single, solid slab of oak.

Niemeier says the one thing he enjoys most about his job is the company, both the shop staff and other co-workers across the river.

He still works alongside the researchers who advised him when he first arrived at Iowa over a decade ago.

IIHR Profiles A Force for Good

BY MARG OT D I C K

The intersections of environmentalism and policy can be found everywhere, but at the federal level, they’re found on Capitol Hill.

Stephanie Houser, a PhD student at IIHR and the University of Iowa, returned to campus in February 2022. She is working with her advisor, Assistant Professor of Occupational and Environmental Health Kelly Baker. Houser had spent a year stationed on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., as a Knauss Sea Grant Fellow, working for Pennsylvania Representative Matt Cartwright.

She is returning to her studies after a year on the East Coast assisting Cartwright with legislative work, helping constituents, and writing speeches.

Houser’s path thus far has ranged from dual degrees in engineering and international relations at Bucknell University, to a master’s degree in engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to her fellowship in D.C., and finally back to the University of Iowa to complete a PhD in civil and environmental engineering. She has studied all across the United States, expanding her knowledge in hopes of using science as a force for good.

Houser says she was inspired to pursue science at a young age when a teacher encouraged her to join after-school academic activities and clubs, including Future Cities, Science Bowl, and Solar Sprint. These activities piqued her interest in science at a young age.

“I really wanted to help people, and I saw engineering as a way to do that.”

As she grew older, Houser noticed ongoing inequities in communities without access to clean drinking water. Sustainability through science became her goal, and she saw a path forward in engineering. From there, she searched for a way to apply her knowledge and make a difference in the world.

Recently, Houser has noticed a need for clean water in her own backyard. Many counties in Iowa offer free well water testing to residents through the Grants to Counties Program, though a recent study at the University of Iowa found that much of that grant money goes unused each year.

Houser’s research group has partnered with Dubuque County in northeastern Iowa to test private wells in the area for microbial and chemical contaminants.

Some of the more recognizable contaminant names include Giardia, Salmonella, and E. coli.

The researchers will also be using microbialsource tracking markers to attempt to locate the source of contamination, whether it be from livestock, runoff, or a septic tank leak.

In her absence, David Cwiertny, an IIHR research engineer and a member of her PhD committee, contacted locals in the Dubuque County area to ask for access to their private wells for testing purposes. Cwiertny and his students will use these wells in their research as they search for answers about local microbial contaminants during Houser’s final year of study.

When she completes her doctorate, Houser has a few ideas for her next venture, including heading back into scientific policy.

“I see myself working probably in an agency or a nonprofit, trying to make sure we’re enforcing good use of the science to protect human health and our environment,” she says.

Houser says she enjoyed her time in D.C. with the other fellows. They got together for bike rides on the National Mall and to explore the area. On her own, she enjoyed searching the farmers market for breakfast or fresh fruit and taking her dog out for walks in the city.

For now, Houser is happy to be back in Iowa, a place she says has an active volleyball community she is excited to reconnect with.

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IIHR Currents is published annually by IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering The University of Iowa 100 C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Laboratory Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1585 319-335-5237 www.iihr.uiowa.edu

Mission IIHR’s mission is to advance science and technology, providing innovative solutions for fluids-related problems while building upon its long tradition of excellence in laboratory, field, and simulation-based research and education.

Vision IIHR’s vision is to be the recognized leader in fluids-related science, engineering, research, and discovery.

Value IIHR comprises a diverse community that values excellence through integrity, transparency, mutual support, and respect. Our culture is rooted in scientific curiosity, mentorship, service, and stewardship.

The University of Iowa prohibits discrimination in employment, educational programs, and activities on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, disability, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, service in the U.S. military, sexual orientation, gender identity, associational preferences, or any other classification that deprives the person of consideration as an individual. The university also affirms its commitment to providing equal opportunities and equal access to university facilities. For additional information on nondiscrimination policies, contact the Director, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, the University of Iowa, 202 Jessup Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242-1316, 319-335-0705 (voice), 319-335-0697 (tdd), diversity@uiowa.edu.

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