Dr. Daniel B. Oerther

Professor, College of Engineering and Computing( CEC)

Executive Director, American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES)

Honorary member, Tau Chi Alpha (TXA), the Environmental Engineering Honor Society

Commissioner, Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Commission

President, Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB)

Biography

Professor Daniel B. Oerther (pronounced O’thur) is internationally recognized for:

  1. leadership and excellence in environmental engineering and science policy1 including redefining environmental engineers as solving the problems of planetary health2 [VIDEO];
  2. innovation in teaching and learning3 including interprofessional education4 pioneering modified mastery learning5 to advance the V-shaped profession6 of the nurse+engineer7 providing universal health coverage8 [VIDEO];
  3. practical applications of humanitarian technology9 including community-engaged design10 improving access to clean water and nutritious food11, local to global, through sustainable technology12 and improved social contracts13 [VIDEO]; and
  4. discovery research in environmental biotechnology14 including 16S rRNA-targeted15 and genomic methods16 improving fundamental understanding of bacterial ecology17 in activated sludge18 and membrane systems19 as well as tracking sources of microbiological contamination20 of water.
Training and Licensure

Dan holds an earned doctorate in environmental engineering from the University of Illinois. He completed post graduate coursework in environmental health at the University of Cincinnati, public health at Johns Hopkins University, and public affairs at Indiana University Bloomington.

Dr. Oerther is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), Board Certified in Environmental Engineering (BCEE), and a Chartered Engineer (CEng) in the United Kingdom. He is a Certified Environmental Health Specialist (CEHS), and a Diplomate Laureate (DLAAS) of the American Academy of Sanitarians. Dan is a Board Certified Environmental Scientist (BCES), and a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) in the United Kingdom.

Positions

Dr. Oerther teaches in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Previously, he taught at the University of Cincinnati.

Dan is the Executive Director of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. Previously, he served as the Senior Science Advisor in the Secretary’s Office of Global Food Security at the Department of State where he represented the United States at the Second International Conference on Nutrition in Rome, Italy in 2014 [VIDEO].

Examples of Professor Oerther’s prior leadership include: Head, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Cincinnati, President, Graduate Faculty Missouri S&T; President, American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists; Chair, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (London, UK); Chair, Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Commission; Treasurer, Engineers Without Borders – USA, Treasurer, Sigma Nursing Building Corporation; and Chief Information Officer, Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors.

Funding

Dan’s work – more than 50 projects worth more than $20 million – has been financially supported by a variety of sources, including:

Integration and Application

An Academic member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, Professor Oerther is a proponent of science communication, which includes authoring newspaper op-eds (outreach), journal editorials (in-reach), and online blogs and vlogs (trans-reach), such as:

A former Foreign Affairs Officers (FAO), Dr. Oerther is a proponent of science diplomacy, which includes scientific exchanges and the cross-border collaboration of scientific organizations. For example, he was a Fulbright Scholar to England [VIDEO] (2019), the Fulbright-ALCOA Distinguished Chair to Brazil [VIDEO] (2012), the Fulbright-Pai Endowed Professor to India (2005), and a Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Scholar to India (2005).

Also, Dan is a proponent of science policy, which includes the allocation of resources for the conduct of science with the goal of best serving the public interest. For example, he was an invited participant for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Keck Futures Initiative in 2005 (The Genomic Revolution) and in 2015 (Art, Design, and Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Frontier Collaborations) as well as the 2011 Frontiers in Engineering Education symposium.

Honors

Professor Oerther has received several professional recognitions, including 13 Fellowships in the following organizations: Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning of the University of Cincinnati (FAFTL), Distinguished Public Policy Fellow of the National Academies of Practice (FNAP), Fellow Academy of Nursing Educators of the National League for Nursing (ANEF), Fellow American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), Fellow Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (FAEESP), Fellow Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (FCIEH), Institute for Public Health and Water Research Fellow (IPWR), Jefferson Science Fellow (JSF), Presidential Engagement Fellow of the University of Missouri System (PEF), Fellow Royal Society for Arts (FRSA), Fellow Royal Society for Public Health (FRSPH), Fellow Society for Environmental Engineers (FSEE), and Fellow Society for Operations Engineers (FSOE).

Named awards received by Dan include:

Dr. Oerther is a proud Eagle Scout.

Disciplines

Boyer’s Model of Scholarship; Community-Based Participatory Research; Design Thinking; Energy Efficiency; Environmental Biotechnology; Food and Nutrition Security; Human Computation; Interprofessional Education; Modified Mastery Learning; Parametric Insurance; Planetary Health; Sustainable Development; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH)

Education

  • 2002 – Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • 1997 – M.S. in Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • 1995 – B.S. in Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University
  • 1995 – B.A. in Biology, Northwestern University

References

  1. 2022, Environmental Engineering as Care for Human Welfare and Planetary Health, Journal of Environmental Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EE.1943-7870.0002013
  2. 2024, Environmental Engineers Solve Problems of Planetary Health, Environmental Engineering Science, https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2023.0301
  3. 2017, Using Nursing Theory to Improve the Teaching of Engineering Practice, ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2–29084
  4. 2022, Improving Interprofessional Environmental Health Education Using the Leave No One Behind Framework, APHA Journal, https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2022.306832
  5. 2022, Using Modified Mastery Learning to Teach Sustainability and Life-Cycle Principles as Part of Modeling and Design, Environmental Engineering Science, https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2021.0385
  6. 2021, From interprofessional to convergence: Nurses educating V-shaped professionals, Nurse Education in Practice, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103047
  7. 2021, The nurse+engineer as the prototype V-shaped professional, Nursing Outlook, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.10.007
  8. 2024, The Urgent Need for Interprofessional Environmental Health Education to Achieve Universal Health Coverage, Even in Disasters, Environmental Science and Technology Letters, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00756
  9. 2021, Humanitarian Technologists as Prototypical V-Shaped Professionals, IEEExplore, https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC53159.2021.9612473
  10. 2021, A Case Study of Community-Engaged Design: Creating Parametric Insurance to Meet the Safety Needs of Fisherfolk in the Caribbean, Journal of Environmental Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EE.1943-7870.0001971
  11. 2019, Improving Environmental Health Practice and Policy Through Convergence Research: A Case Study of Linked Food–Water Systems Enhancing Child Health, Environmental Engineering Science, https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2019.0058
  12. 2014, No Really, (Crowd) Work is the Silver Bullet, Procedia Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.07.060
  13. 2024, Environmental Engineering 3.0: Faced with Planetary Problems, Solutions Must Scale-Up Caring, Journal of Environmental Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1061/JOEEDU.EEENG-7764
  14. 2006, A Vista for Microbial Ecology and Environmental Biotechnology, Environmental Science and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1021/es062631k
  15. 2005, Use of 16S rRNA Gene Terminal Restriction Fragment Analysis To Assess the Impact of Solids Retention Time on the Bacterial Diversity of Activated Sludge, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.71.10.5814-5822.2005
  16. 2007, Using microbial genomics to evaluate the effectiveness of silver to prevent biofilm formation, Water Science and Technology, https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2007.285
  17. 2011, Diversity of Dominant Bacterial Taxa in Activated Sludge Promotes Functional Resistance following Toxic Shock Loading, Microbial Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-010-9783-6
  18. 2004, Bacterial Competition in Activated Sludge: Theoretical Analysis of Varying Solids Retention Times on Diversity, Microbial Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-003-1027-6
  19. 2017, Membrane biofilm communities in full-scale membrane bioreactors are not randomly assembled and consist of a core microbiome, Water Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.06.052
  20. 2008, Bifidobacteria in Feces and Environmental Waters, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01221-07