S&T professor is “go-to guy” for flood-control history
Posted by Nancy Bowles
Dr. J. David Rogers, the Karl F. Hasselmann Missouri Chair in Geological Engineering at Missouri S&T, has studied major floods on every continent except Antarctica. No surprise, then, that media organizations seek him out for stories about the history of flood control. Newsy recently invited Rogers to share his expertise in its story about the lessons learned in decades of fighting floods.
Rogers is also an expert in the construction of the Panama Canal, named one of the wonders of the modern world by the American Society of Civil Engineers, where he is a fellow. Rogers earned a bachelor’s degree from California State Polytechnic University and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California-Berkeley. He joined the faculty at Missouri S&T in 2001.
Great story telling with science providing the framework of what challenges lie ahead. My farming families in Missouri have expectations that the solutions remain with engineering away the flooding problems. Yet they are unwilling to change their farming practices for land use, appropriate buffers (riparian systems in the upper most reaches of all tributaries that feed the Missouri River), and man-made reservoirs to hold back waters without taking responsibility for filling them up with silt from their own farms.
Without science based solutions to adjust business strategies for long term success, Missouri’s agriculture seems stuck back in the old days.
I appreciate your efforts to work within these challenged times.
Regards, Kay Modi (ChE ’79)