Dr. Joel Burken, a longtime faculty member at Missouri S&T, has been selected as a recipient of the 2024 President’s Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). 
 
According to ASCE’s website, the annual award was established in the 1980s to honor engineers who have made significant accomplishments and contributions in support of ASCE, their field or the public. No more than two recipients are selected each year. 
 
“I feel humbled to receive this recognition, especially considering the list of past recipients and what they have done,” says Burken, a Curators’ Distinguished Professor and Mathes Chair of Environmental Engineering at S&T.  
 
“ASCE is our nation’s oldest engineering society, and I can’t say enough about the great work the organization and its leaders do for our more than160,000 members and our field. To be selected for ASCE’s President’s Medal is a true and humbling honor.” 
 
Burken will receive the medal at next month’s ASCE 2024 Convention in Tampa, Florida. 
 
A member of ASCE since 1990, Burken has served in multiple local, regional and national ASCE positions. 
 
In late 2015, Burken was named interim chair of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at S&T, and he served as the department’s permanent chair from 2016-2024. In 2018, he was elected to ASCE’s Department Heads Coordinating Council (DHCC), and he served as the council’s chair from 2021-23. 
 
He is also a former associate editor of ASCE’s Journal of Environmental Engineering, president of the Mid-Missouri section of ASCE, and faculty advisor of Missouri S&T’s ASCE student chapter. 
 
Burken has won multiple awards as an ASCE advisor, including the national 2023 Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award. He has twice won the ASCE Rudolph Hering Medal for his outstanding contribution in environmental engineering research. 
 
ASCE’s current president, Marsia Geldert-Murphey, and Maria Lehman, past president, both say Burken’s honor is well-deserved. 
 
“I nominated Dr. Joel Burken because he embodies the spirit of leadership and lifelong learning, and his influence reaches far beyond the classroom,” Geldert-Murphy says. “He is dedicated to inspiring both students and professionals alike to do more, think bigger and stay engaged in shaping the future.” 
 
Lehman shared similar sentiments. 
 
“Joel knows how to instill passion and leadership in our students to launch them into successful professional careers,” she says. “During his tenure as chair of the ASCE Department Heads Coordinating Council, I got to see firsthand how he was looking to be the educational disruptor to make the changes we need to make in undergraduate education in order to thrive in the future.” 
 
Burken earned a Ph.D., master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Iowa. 
 
Since finishing his studies in Iowa, Burken has served as a member of the Missouri S&T faculty, starting as an assistant professor in 1997 and rising to the rank of professor in 2008 and Curators’ Distinguished Professor in 2015.  
 
Burken is considered a pioneering researcher in the areas of phytoforensics and phytoremediation and was awarded a patent related to his work. He has published hundreds of journal articles, book chapters and sections, technical reports and other types of literature on these and other engineering topics. 
 
He is a Fellow of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors and the Taylor Geospatial Institute and previously received the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award to support his research. 
 
To learn more about Missouri S&T’s civil, architectural and environmental engineering programs, visit care.mst.edu. 

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.