Tom Iseley Moves to Purdue

Purdue University is very special. It is located in West Lafayette, Indiana. It is a public institution founded in 1869. Purdue research exceeds $347.1 million a year using more than 400 research labs. Purdue Civil Engineering has been consistently ranked as a top 10 undergraduate program by U.S. News and World Report for over a decade. Purdue’s water related activities involve nearly 100 academic faculty, researchers, and students.

These professionals are working to address the grand challenge of protecting the future of our water resources. Broad areas of research include water use; water pollution; aquatic ecosystems; human dimensions; and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). WASH includes drinking water, wastewater and storm water conveyance systems.

For example, when Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) was first emerging as an engineering professional practice, Purdue was selected by the Federal Highway Administration to quantify the cost effectiveness.

Tom states that he has been blessed over the years to have gained a tremendous amount of experience. This experience is a unique blend of “hands-on” construction; engineering design; education and training; and research and development experience. He advanced from a laborer with a family water and sewer pipeline construction firm to owning and operating my own utility construction firm.

He advanced from a junior draftsman to vice president of engineering for a consulting engineering firm, and advanced from assistant professor to a full tenured professor at Louisiana Tech University where he established the Trenchless Technology Center (TTC) in 1989. Of course, this experience includes being one of the five founding directors of the North American Society of Trenchless Technology (NASTT).

As a result of his efforts, he has received the highest awards in the construction industry having been inducted into the National Academy Construction; the highest award in civil engineering having been inducted into ASCE as a Distinguished Member; and the highest awards in the trenchless industry having been inducted into the NASTT Hall of Fame and receiving the 1993 Trenchless Person of the Year. So, as a Professor of Engineering Practice, he will be in a unique position to share this experience with undergraduate and graduate students and to mentor junior faculty members.

Tom will continue his involvement and commitment to the trenchless industry. I will continue my leadership role with the Buried Asset Management Institute-International (BAMI-I). BAMI was established in the Department of Watershed Management (DWM) for the City of Atlanta in 2003 as a result of the leadership and inspiration of Mayor Shirley Franklin and DWM Commissioner Jack Ravan. In 2004, BAMI transitioned to BAMI – International (BAMI-I) as a non-profit organization. In 2006, BAMI-I was selected for U.S. EPA Cooperative Agreement (CP 83 282901-1), which was completed in 2008. In 2010, BAMI-I launched the first Certification of Training in Asset Management course (CTAM-100) online course.

This CTAM online program has now expanded to 4 courses taken by individuals from 15 countries. As a result of industry demands, BAMI-I conducts the CTAM classroom training. So far, BAMI-I has held four 4-day CTAM training courses for North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ), Raleigh, NC; RCAP, Columbus, OH; Upper Trinity Regional Water District, Lewisville, TX; City of Atlanta (COA) Department of Watershed Management (DWM) and 1-day CTAM 100 workshop for New Jersey Water Environment Association (NJ WEA).

Also, on December 16-19, 2019 BAMI-I teamed up with ASCE'S Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute (UESI) to hold the Sixth UESI Utility Investigation School at Colorado School of Mines. This 4-day short course gave the practitioners the knowledge and tools to provide competent utility investigations in accordance with accepted national standards (ASCE 38). On January 23, 2020 BAMI-I, Trenchless Technology Center, Fracta, Inc. and Applied Engineering & Science teamed up to offer a Lunch & Learn (L&L) session on asset management developments and how Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA) impacting the future of the asset management.

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