Academy of Distinguished Alumni
David I. Jenkins Ph.D., N.A.E.
Inducted to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni as an Honorary Member on
David Jenkins was a Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of California, Berkeley. He was born and educated in the United Kingdom. He held a B.Sc. degree in Applied Biochemistry from Birmingham University, England, and a Ph.D. degree in Public Health Engineering from the University of Durham, King's College, England. He conducted research and taught Environmental Engineering at Berkeley from 1960 until 1999. He served the CEE Department as Chair of the Division of Environmental Engineering and Vice Chair of the Department. He also served as Director of the Environmental Engineering and Health Sciences Research Laboratory. Upon retirement, he was awarded the Berkeley Citation and continued to be professionally active in wastewater treatment plant research, teaching, and practice in the U.S., Great Britain, Singapore, Italy, and Brazil. Professor Jenkins passed away in March 2021.
Throughout his career, Professor Jenkins researched and published widely on a variety of environmental engineering topics. His major areas of research were biological treatment processes for wastewater and sludge, and water and wastewater chemistry and microbiology. In these areas, he focused on the causes and controls of activated sludge solids separation problems and the chemical and biological methods of nutrient removal. As a practicing engineer, he specialized in the upgrading and troubleshooting of wastewater treatment plants and in environmental and process problems involving his expertise in chemistry and microbiology.
Professor Jenkins was the author of more than 250 publications and reports and the co-author of four texts. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Water Environment and Management (UK). He received the Water Environment Federation (WEF) Eddy Medal for research (three times), the Camp Medal for contributions to wastewater treatment practice, the Fair Medal for wastewater engineering education, and the Gasgoine Medal for wastewater treatment plant operations research (two times). He was an Honorary Life Member of both WEF and the International Water Association (IWA). He was also a recipient of the IWA Sam Jenkins Medal, the Ardern and Lockett Award, and the Global Water Award. He held the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Pohland Medal for work that bridges theory and practice.