Rafael L. Bras Explained

Rafael L. Bras
Birth Name:Rafael Luis Bras
Birth Place:San Juan, Puerto Rico
Awards:Robert E. Horton Medal
National Academy of Engineering
Website:Office of Provost

Rafael Luis Bras (born 1950) is a Puerto Rican civil engineer best known for his contributions in surface hydrology and hydrometeorology, including his work in soil-vegetation-atmosphere system modeling.

Bras served as the provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology[1] from 2010 to 2020 with faculty appointments in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and continues to be a professor at Georgia Tech.[2]

Education

A native of Puerto Rico, graduated from Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola. Bras studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a bachelor's (1972), a master's in civil engineering (1974), and a science doctorate in water resources and hydrology (1975).

Career

On completion of his doctorate, Bras worked for a time as an assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico school of engineering.[3]

Bras returned to MIT in July 1976, where he served for more than 32 years as a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and held an appointment in the Departments of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. He is a past chair of the MIT faculty, former head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department, and director of the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory at MIT.[3]

On April 24, 2008, Bras was appointed as Dean of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, effective September 1, 2008.[4]

On July 15, 2010, Bras was named provost of the Georgia Institute of Technology.[5] [1] From 2010 to 2020, Bras was a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Schools of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences On January 22, 2020, Bras announced plans to step down as provost and remain a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.[6] He officially stepped down on October 1, 2020[7] and continues to be a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.[8]

Research

As an engineering hydrologist, Bras' major areas of interest include land-atmosphere interactions and geomorphology.[9] With the goal of "coherent understanding of the global water cycle", Bras and Peter S. Eagleson at MIT led scientists to rethink the role of water as an essential component of Earth systems. Bras' books Random functions and hydrology (1985) and Hydrology : an introduction to hydrologic science (1990) are considered foundational publications in hydrologic sciences, combining traditional land hydrology with atmospheric science, ecology, geology, and geomorphology.

Bras has integrated probability and statistics into hydrology to improve forecasting and risk estimation. By examining the interactions of precipitation, runoff, and soil moisture, he has improved river-flow forecasting and flood estimation.[10] Remote sensing, satellite data, and information technology can now be used to support distributed hydrologic modeling and the global mapping of water in near to real time.[11] Bras has developed models of the structure and evolution of river basins in terms of their fractal organization and geometry. His work enables researchers to better understand erosional development on hillslopes and channels within catchments. Mass transport processes modelled include fluvial sedimentation, creep, rainsplash and landslides.[12]

In his work in ecohydrology, Bras tries to integrate information about the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. He seeks to quantify the ways in which plants affect and are affected by hydrologic and energy cycles in the environment.[13] With Elfatih Eltahir he examined the role of precipitation recycling on the atmospheric branch of the water cycle of the Amazon River basin, and showed that deforestation can have serious impacts on climate.[14] [15] Bras is considered a leading authority on soil-vegetation-atmosphere system modelling and the evolution of landscapes due to climatic disturbances including global warming.[16]

Bras is listed as an ISI highly cited researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information in Ecology/Environment, Engineering.[17] He is a registered professional engineer in several states. He has served as a professional consultant in multiple projects around the world. Beginning in 1995 Bras chaired an international panel for oversight of a system of barriers for the flood protection of Venice, Italy.[18]

Honors and awards

Selected works

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Rafael Bras Named Georgia Tech Provost. Georgia Institute of Technology. 2010-07-07. 2011-07-10.
  2. Web site: 2020-01-22. Rafael L. Bras to Step Down as Georgia Tech's Provost. 2021-09-19. Office of the Provost, Georgia Tech.
  3. Web site: Former Dean Rafael L. Bras The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine . Samueli School of Engineering . 5 December 2022.
  4. News: Denise . Brehm . Rafael Bras named dean of UC Irvine School of Engineering . 5 December 2022 . Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering . 27 April 2008.
  5. News: Bras named new Provost . 5 December 2022 . Technique . Georgia Tech . July 15, 2010.
  6. News: Ivy . Susie . Rafael L. Bras to Step Down as Georgia Tech's Provost News Center . 5 December 2022 . news.gatech.edu . January 22, 2020f . en.
  7. Web site: Rafael L. Bras to Step Down as Georgia Tech's Provost . www.news.gatech.edu . 22 January 2020.
  8. Web site: Rafael Bras . GTRI . 5 December 2022 . en.
  9. News: Rafael Bras New Chair of the Faculty . 5 December 2022 . MIT Faculty Newsletter . 2002.
  10. Web site: Rafael Bras . FEEM Climate Policy Workshops . 5 December 2022.
  11. News: Gabrielle . V. . The Renaissance of Hydrology . 5 December 2022 . Eos . 28 March 2019.
  12. Book: Rodríguez-Iturbe . Ignacio . Rinaldo . Andrea . Fractal River Basins: Chance and Self-Organization . 27 August 2001 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-00405-3 . en.
  13. Web site: MEET A LEAF: Rafael Bras . AGU Ecohydrology. December 28, 2020 . 5 December 2022 . en.
  14. Eltahir . Elfatih A. B. . Bras . Rafael L. . Precipitation recycling . Reviews of Geophysics . 1 August 1996 . 34 . 3 . 367–378 . 10.1029/96RG01927 . 1996RvGeo..34..367E . 6 December 2022.
  15. Eltahir . E. A. B. . Bras . R. L. . Precipitation recycling in the Amazon basin . Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society . July 1994 . 120 . 518 . 861–880 . 10.1002/qj.49712051806 . 1994QJRMS.120..861E . 6 December 2022.
  16. News: Toon . John . High-Resolution Model Explains Role of Soil Erosion in Carbon Budgets News Center . 6 December 2022 . Georgia Tech News . June 7, 2016 . en.
  17. Web site: Thomson ISI. Rafael L. Bras, ISI Highly Cited Researchers. 31 January 2014.
  18. News: Engineering marvel may save Venice; Parker Lecture is April 23 . 6 December 2022 . Vanderbilt University . April 19, 2021 . en.
  19. Web site: EWRI 2017 Awards . ASCE . 5 December 2022.
  20. Web site: HISTORICAL LIST OF DISTINGUISHED AND HONORARY MEMBERS . American Society of Civil Engineering . 5 December 2022.
  21. News: Dr Rafael L Bras Named Recipient of the 2010 Anthony J Drexel Exceptional Achievement Award . 5 December 2022 . Drexel University . 30 September 2010 . en.
  22. Web site: In the Zotlight 2009 . The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine . 5 December 2022.
  23. Web site: Enclosure D James R. Killian, Jr., Faculty Achievement Award 2008-2009 Citation for Rafael L. Bras . The James R. Killian, Jr., Faculty Achievement Award Selection Committee for 2008-2009 . 5 December 2022.
  24. Web site: Simon W. Freese Environmental Engineering Award & Lecture Past Award Winners . ASCE . 5 December 2022.
  25. Web site: Honorary Diplomates . American Academy of Water Resources Engineers . 5 December 2022.
  26. News: Brehm . Denise . Rafael Bras to receive AGU's Horton Medal . 5 December 2022 . MIT News . Massachusetts Institute of Technology . October 17, 2007 . en.
  27. AAAS News and Notes . Science . 28 Oct 2005 . 310 . 5748 . 634–637 . 10.1126/science.310.5748.634 . 220094341 .
  28. Web site: Bras, Dr. Rafael . School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA . 5 December 2022.
  29. Web site: HENAAC Hall of Fame . Great Minds in STEM . 5 December 2022.
  30. Book: National Academies of Sciences . Engineering, and Medicine. Committee on a Framework for Analyzing the Needs for Continuity of NASA-Sustained Remote Sensing Observations of the Earth from Space . Continuity of NASA earth observations from space : a value framework. Appendix H: Committee and Staff Biographical Information . 2015 . The National Academies Press . Washington, D.C. . 978-0-309-37743-0 .
  31. Web site: Dr. Rafael L. Bras . National Academy of Engineering . 5 December 2022.
  32. News: Sales . Robert J. . Three slated to receive Leadership Awards at annual MLK breakfast . 5 December 2022 . MIT News . Massachusetts Institute of Technology . January 26, 2000 . en.
  33. News: Brehm . Denise . Bras wins Clarke Prize given for exceptional water research . 5 December 2022 . MIT News . Massachusetts Institute of Technology . June 3, 1998 . en.
  34. Web site: Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prizes Past Award Winners . American Society of Civil Engineers . 5 December 2022.
  35. Fellows of the AMS . Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society . 1994 . 75 . 8 . 1418 .
  36. Web site: James B. Macelwane Medal . American Geophysical Union . 5 December 2022.
  37. Web site: Rafael L. Bras . John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation . 5 December 2022.
  38. Web site: Hydrologic Sciences Award AGU . American Geophysical Union . 5 December 2022.

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