POTSDAM -- Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology and member of the National Academy of Engineering, will speak on “Saving Venice: Triumphs and Failure,” on Friday, April 27, at 2:30 p.m. in Bernard H Snell Hall, Room 213 at Clarkson University.

The presentation is part of the New Horizons in Engineering Distinguished Lectureship Series at Clarkson University.

A reception will precede the lecture at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Bras maintains an active international consulting practice and for many years chaired a panel of experts that supervised the design and construction of a multibillion-dollar project to protect the city of Venice, Italy, from floods.

The frequency and magnitude of tidal flooding of the lagoon and of Venice have increased dramatically for more than 100 years. This trend can be attributed to past periods of accelerated subsidence and sea level rise. This flooding disturbs commerce and life and seriously damages the infrastructure of the region.

The solution to the problem is a series of gates across the three inlets of the lagoon of Venice. These gates separate the Adriatic Sea from the lagoon in periods of very high meteorological tides and thereby stops flooding. The construction of the multi-billion dollar system is almost completed and represents an engineering and science marvel.

Conversely, the almost-completed project has recently been embroiled in political intrigue and scandal.

Bras' lecture will present the problem, discuss why the particular solution was chosen, illustrate the elements of the built system, and discuss the political, social and management issues that now threaten its completion and the long-term survival of the city.

A native of Puerto Rico, Bras is also a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech and holds the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair.

Prior to becoming provost, Bras was a distinguished professor and dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering of the University of California, Irvine (UCI). For 32 years prior to joining UCI, he was a professor in the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT. He is past chair of the MIT Faculty, former head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, and director of the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory at MIT.

He has served as an advisor to many government and private institutions, including the advisory board, Engineering Directorate, National Science Foundation; the board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, National Research Council; and chairman, Earth Systems Sciences, and Applications Committee of NASA and the NASA Advisory Committee.

Among his many honors and awards, Bras is a distinguished member of ASCE, holds an honorary degree from the University of Perugia in Italy, is a member of the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award Hall of Fame, holds the NASA Public Service Medal and the Macelwane Medal of AGU, and was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize, the James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award of MIT, and the Simon W. Freese Environmental Engineering Award.

Bras is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico, and a corresponding member of the Mexican National Academy of Engineering. In 2012, he was named a corresponding member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. He is also an elected Fellow of AGU, ASCE, AMS, and AAAS.

He has published two textbooks, more than 225 refereed journal publications, and several hundred other publications and presentations.

Bras will be the 16th Distinguished Lecturer in Clarkson University's New Horizons in Engineering series, which is dedicated to improving the understanding of important issues facing engineering and society in the 21st century.

For more details, please contact Distinguished Research Professor of Engineering Liya Regel, New Horizons in Engineering founder and chair, at lregel@clarkson.edu.

Read more about the New Horizons in Engineering Distinguished Lectureship Series at http://internal.clarkson.edu/news/2010/news-release_2010-08-20-3.html.