Mathias Medal 1996
Clifford W. Randall

Left to right: Dr. Christopher D'Elia, Dr. Carol Browner, Dr. Clifford W. Randall and Dr. Grant Gross

A native of Somerset, Kentucky, Clifford W. Randall received his undergraduate and master's education in the field of Civil/Sanitary Engineering at the University of Kentucky, and then completed a doctorate in Environmental Health Engineering at the University of Texas, Austin in 1966. He served over three years in the Commissioned Officer Corps of the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey, 1959-62, with most of his service in the Chesapeake Bay Environs, particularly the lower Potomac River Estuary.

After beginning his academic career at the University of Texas, Dr. Randall joined the Environmental Engineering Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, February, 1968. He served as Chair of the Environmental Engineering and Sciences Programs from 1979-96, and has held the rank of Endowed Professor since 1982.

At the request of the Virginia State Water Control Board, he established the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Program, July 1, 1972, and led the Occoquan Laboratory as it pioneered suburban and urban nonpoint pollution research and control, watershed-wide water quality monitoring linked to reservoir water quality responses, computer modeling of reservoir water quality as a function of watershed landuse patterns, and evaluation of atmospheric pollutant deposition during its first decade.

Other governmental appointments have included the USEPA Chesapeake Bay Nonpoint Pollution Committee, 1977-78; the Advisory Committee and the Technical Liasion Committee of the Virginia-North Carolina Chowan River Basin Commission, 1979-83; the Virginia State Board of Certification for Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators, 1979-86; the Lower James River Water Quality Management Advisory and Technical Advisory Committees, 1983-88; Virginia appointee to the Chesapeake Bay Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee, 1985-95, where he is currently serving a second two-year term as Chair; the Virginia State Water Control Board (SWCB) Nutrient Standards Technical Advisory Committee, 1986-88; the Science Advisory Committee of the Virginia SWCB, 1991-94; the Virginia-Israel Water Resources Management Cooperative Effort, 1988; and the Virginia Chesapeake Bay Project Partnership Council since 1995.

Dr. Randall introduced biological nutrient removal (BNR) wastewater treatment to the Chesapeake Bay area in 1984, and worked with the Hampton Roads Sanitation District from 1986-90 to develop the public domain patented VIP process, now in operation at the 40 MGD Norfolk Plant for over 4 years. A similar plant will begin operating at Suffolk, Virginia in 1997. He has worked closely with the Maryland Department of the Environmental since 1987 to develop and implement BNR processes at municipal plants throughout Maryland. These efforts have resulted in the modification and operation of more than 15 BNR plants in Maryland, including development of the VT2 Process now operating at Bowie, and the IFAS Process in operation at both the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Cox Creek plants. Other efforts in Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania have resulted in modification of another 15 Bay watershed plants for BNR, and 21 waste-water treatment plants are currently being evaluated for BNR implementation.

Active in professional organizations, Dr. Randall is currently President of the Association of Environmental Engineering Professors, the USA Representative on the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Removal Specialty Group of the IAWQ, and Vice-Chair of the Wastewater Management Committee of the Environmental Engineering Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers.