Global impact of Mays’ work recognized by Saudi Arabia’s leaders
The International Award for Water-Surface Water Prize was presented to ASU professor Larry Mays (second from left) by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salmon Bin Abdulaziz (who recently became King of Saudi Arabia, on Mays’ left), the deputy premier and minister of defense of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz (on Mays’s right), chairman of the awards organization. Mays’ prize and others awarded at the ceremony recognize contributions by engineers and scientists to protecting water resources around the world.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salmon Bin Abdulaziz (who recently became King of Saudi Arabia) presented Arizona State University engineering professor Larry Mays the kingdom’s Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water-Surface Water Prize at a ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The event at the Al Faisaliah Hotel grand ballroom recognized the impact of Mays’ work in water resources engineering and surface water hydrology in countries around the world.
Mays is on the faculty of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
“I deeply feel that my 39 years of university research and teaching efforts in the areas of water resources engineering and hydrology has paid off with this great honor,” Mays said in accepting the award.
“I recognized years ago that developing nations in arid regions of the world, with a fast growing population and limited economic resources, need special attention,” he added. “One of my most prized efforts has been the work I have initiated in the study of ancient water technologies and traditional knowledge, specifically in arid and semi-arid regions, within the framework of water resources sustainability for the present and the future.”
Winning the award, Mays said, gave him “the feeling that my life’s journey in education, research and writing in water resources and hydrology has definitely been a work of love for me, and has led to my interest in water resources sustainability, particularly in developing parts of the world.”
The international prize “provides visibility to the important problems associated with water sustainability issues around the world and will promote innovative solutions for water sustainability in the future, particularly in developing parts of the world.”
The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the 6th International Conference on Water Resources and Arid Environments, which included opening ceremonies at King Saud University.
Mays presented a keynote address (“Realities of Water Resources Sustainability, Traditional Knowledge, and the Future”) at the conference organized by the Prince Sultan Institute for Environmental, Water and Desert Research.
In addition, Mays and other award winners met with Prince Turki Bin Abdullah Al Saud, governor of Riyadh Province, and visited the area’s water agency to discuss water problems in the province.
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