Joe DeVries
Joe DeVries

Johannes J. DeVries

(1936-2013)

Special Recognition Award

The following is the text found on the Special Recognition Award presented to Johannes (Joe) DeVries, Ph.D., P.E., P.H., D.WRE at the 2006 California Extreme Precipitation Symposium held at the University of California, Davis on June 23, 2006.

Special Recognition Award

Presented To

Johannes J. DeVries

This award is presented in recognition of your lifetime of service as a teacher, advisor, and mentor to your colleagues who work to minimize the adverse impacts of extreme precipitation in California.

We honor your contributions as an instructor at the University of California at Davis, as a facilitator of professional development courses worldwide, and as a mentor and advisor through consulting. You always have been willing to give of yourself to generations of students and young engineers and scientists, all of whom have good memories of working with and learning from you. You have always been willing to provide us a helping hand with hydrology and hydraulic modeling, keeping in mind that solutions to flood management problems must be understandable and affordable.

As a tribute to your unselfishness, talents, integrity, and service, your colleagues are pleased and honored to present to you this acknowledgement of our appreciation and gratitude.


June 23, 2006

2006 California Extreme Precipitation Symposium

At the Event

Joe was invited to say a few words at this symposium.

Professional Background

Joe DeVries is an internationally recognized expert in hydrology and hydraulic engineering and has over 40 years of experience. He spent nearly two decades at the University of California, Davis as a research engineer and lecturer. He worked as a hydraulic engineer/hydrologist for the California Department of Water Resources and for various consulting engineering firms. He spent 4 years as a hydraulic engineer at the Hydrologic Engineering Center. He taught in the Departments of Civil and Environment Engineering and Land Air and Water Resources at U.C. Davis. He was Associate Director of the Water Resources Center of the University of California for five years.

He has served as a consultant to the Corps of Engineers, National Weather Service, government agencies in California, Argentina, India, and Taiwan, the United Nations, the World Bank, USAID, and to several engineering firms. For past nine years he has been employed by David Ford Consulting Engineers in Sacramento.

Dr. DeVries has a PhD in Hydraulic Engineering from the University of California, Davis; MS and BS degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and a BS in Engineering and Science from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He is a registered civil engineer in California (1963) and a registered hydrologist with the American Institute of Hydrology (1986). He is a Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (2001) and is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (October 2005).

His technical specialties include:

Projects he is currently involved with are: design storm development for a county water resources agency, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling for a master plan of drainage for a local city, review of two-dimensional models of the Lower American River, and calibration of rainfall-runoff models for probable maximum flood determination for the South Fork American River.

Dr. DeVries has extensive experience in technology transfer through university and private professional development courses. He has trained engineers and scientists in use of the computer programs HEC-1 and HEC-HMS (catchment runoff analysis), HEC-2, HEC-RAS, UNET, DWOPER, and DAMBRK (river hydraulic analysis), HEC-5 (reservoir modeling), and HEC-6 (sediment transport analysis). He has prepared dozens of training documents, engineering manuals, and other guidance for local government agencies, state agencies, the Corps of Engineers, National Weather Service, and UN Agencies. His most recent activities have been for training courses for technical staff of the Texas Department of Transportation, for the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, and for Iraqi engineers at the Hydrologic Engineering Center.