Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation in the Public Works ...

In 1969 Dr. Murtha returned to the University of illinois as Professor of Structural and Hydraulic
Engineering. During the 1976-77 academic year he he.:" - Fulbright-Hays Senior Research Fellowship
in the United Kingdom. In 1986 he became the Director of ae Advanced Construction Technology Center
at the University of Illinois. In 1991 he served as Chairman of the National Civil Engineering Research
Needs Forum sponsored by the Civil Engineering Research Foundation. He currently serves as vicechairman
of the task force overseeing implementation of the Forum recommendations.
Peter J. Nowak
Dr. Nowak received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota's College of Agriculture in 1977.
He served as both an assistant and associate professor of rural sociology at Iowa State University prior
to joining the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985. At Madison, he holds a research
appointment as a Professor in the Department of Rural Sociology and an extension appointment as a Soil
and Water Conservation Specialist in the Environmental Resources Center.
His work has focused on the transfer of agriculture technologies to farm audiences. This has
included examining individual decision processes on whether to adopt or reject these technologies; the
socioeconomic impacts of innovative technologies; and how institutional settings influence technology
transfer processes.
Dr. Nowak has publications in professional books, journals, and periodicals resulting from research
at the local, regional, and national levels. He has also served on a number of national committees and
advisory groups including the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, the National Academy
of Science's Board on Agriculture, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Office of Management and
Budget, American Farmland Trust, and the Soil and Water Conservation Society.
Charles F. Seemann, Jr.
Mr. Seemann's practice relates to matters of the construction industry, surety and professional
responsibility, fidelity and financial institution bonds, and public contract law. Mr. Seemann has been the
President and Director of both the New Orleans Association of Defense Counsel and New Orleans Legal
Assistance Corporation. He joined the firm in 1965 after 3 years active duty in the U.S. Navy. In 1959,
Mr. Seemann earned a Bachelor of Science in Geology, and in 1962 an LLB, both from Tulane
University. He has lectured on construction topics at national meetings of the ASCE, ASME, the National
Institute of Municipal Law Offices, at continuing education programs of the Louisiana and Florida Bar
Associations and at Loyola University and the Deep Foundations Institute.
Kyle E. Schilling
Kyle Schilling is Director of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Institute for Water Resources. He
manages a diverse and rapidly responsive program of studies and research relating to current issues in the
changing national water resources environment. His experience centers on comprehensive resources planning,
water supply, and water conservation planning. He directed the staff efforts of the 1977 White
House Drought Study Group and the 1980 President's Intergovernmental Water Policy Task Force Subcommittee
on Urban Water Supply. He was also the principal author of the National Water Resources
Infrastructure Needs Study completed in 1987 for the National Council on Public Works Improvement.
He recently organized and directed a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Advanced Research
Workshop on Urban Water Infrastructure.
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