Academy of Distinguished Alumni
John H. Koon Ph.D., P.E., N.A.E.
Inducted to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni on
John H. Koon received his Ph.D. (1971) degree in Civil (Environmental) Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He also received B.E. (1967) and M.S. (1969) degrees in Civil Engineering from Vanderbilt University. Since 2010, he has held the positions of Professor of Practice in Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and President of John H. Koon & Associates. Prior to 2010, he held senior practice and management positions with several national engineering firms.
Dr. Koon has had a distinguished career as consulting professional engineer focused primarily on environmental services to the industrial sector. He has worked with industrial clients at over 400 locations in the U.S. and abroad on projects covering a broad range of environmental challenges, with nationally-recognized expertise in the treatment of complex industrial waste streams. He has been a key contributor to: advancing technologies used worldwide for industrial wastewater treatment; developing technologies to recycle water in industrial facilities; and resolving complex permitting challenges for industrial clients. Representative projects include: design of wastewater treatment and water reuse systems for pharmaceutical facilities; design of innovative systems to remove selenium from petroleum refinery wastewaters; development of moving bed bioreactor (MBBR) technology and use of advanced oxidation technologies to treat complex waste-streams containing 1,4-dioxane; development and design of systems to remove high concentrations of nitrogenous materials, including treatment of previously deep-welled wastes generated at the world's largest nylon intermediates production facility; development of adsorbent technologies to remove 17 pesticide intermediates from industrial wastewaters; and technologies for bromide removal from municipal wastewater.
Dr. Koon has authored or co-authored more than fifty technical publications, many in peer-reviewed journals. He is a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, fellow of the Water Environment Federation, Board Certified Environmental Engineer (by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers), and an active member of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), serving on the ABET Executive Committee since 2009. He has also been recognized with awards from several industrial clients including the Shield of Irenee Award from DuPont for Excellence in Engineering Design (1994) and BASF Water Team Award of Merit (1996).
Dr. Koon works to enhance the visibility of the Berkeley CEE program to students at Georgia Tech. He counsels students on graduate school selection and works to ensure that Berkeley is considered by the best students. He provides references for students applying for graduate study at Berkeley and communicates with faculty regarding students whom he sees as particularly suited to the Berkeley CEE program.