ASCE has honored Bruce W. Melville, Ph.D., M.ASCE, with the 2025 Hans Albert Einstein Award for pioneering research on local scour around hydraulic structures and his authoritative book Bridge Scour (Water Resources Publications, 2000), a key resource advancing hydraulic engineering worldwide.
Melville has made significant contributions to hydraulic engineering through his extensive research on preventing erosion around hydraulic structures such as bridges. One of his notable achievements is his work on “scour countermeasures,” which are techniques used to prevent or reduce the erosion (scour) of soil and sediment around structures in rivers and coastal areas. Scour can undermine foundations, leading to structural failures and safety hazards.
By enhancing the understanding of how various protective strategies interact with water flow and sediment movement, Melville’s work has been instrumental in improving the safety and resilience of bridges and offshore structures. His findings have been widely adopted by engineers worldwide.
The Hans Albert Einstein Award is given to a member who has made a significant contribution to the engineering profession in the areas of erosion control, sedimentation, and/or waterway development either in teaching, research, planning, design, or management.
