2020 John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award

Contribution: Research in soil and water engineering                                                             

Ramesh Rudra Ph.D., P.Eng. is the recipient of the CSBE/SCGAB John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award for his outstanding contributions to research in soil and water engineering. Dr. Rudra is a professor of Water Resources Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Guelph. He obtained the B. Sc. in Agricultural Engineering in 1970 from the Punjab Agricultural University (India) and M.S. in Agricultural Engineering in 1976 and Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering in 1980 from the Pennsylvania State University (USA).

The focus of Dr. Rudra’s research program has been on the development of agricultural nonpoint source pollution control practices for Ontario’s climatic conditions, including mechanics and modelling of processes of drainable water quantity and quality at plot, field, and watershed scale. His contributions include innovative ways of introducing the concept of temporal variations in soil hydraulic and erosion characteristics, targeting approaches for agricultural watershed management, mutli-tier approaches to watershed management, and modelling and monitoring procedures to identify sources of runoff, erosion and pollution from agricultural watersheds.

Ramesh’s research group introduced the application of modelling approaches for agricultural non-point source pollution management during 1980’s and SWAT modeling in the Canadian Great Lakes basin in early 2000. The modelling approaches and the SWAT model are currently used by many conservation authorities in Ontario and many other public and private sectors in Canada. His recent research work has focused on winter hydrology of Ontario, variable source hydrology, effect of climate change on precipitation and temperature regimes, and nutrient management.

Dr. Rudra has supervised over 120 Highly Qualified Personnel (M.Sc, M.Eng., Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral Research Fellows), published more than 200 refereed publications, ten book chapters, one book, and more than 550 presentations at national and international conferences, workshops and symposia. For his exceptional services to CSBE and significant contributions to soil and water engineering field in Canada, Dr. Rudra received the CSBE’s Maple Leaf Award in 2018. He was elected to the grade of Fellow by CSBE in 2005. Ramesh was also made a Fellow of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers in 2012.