Water Resources: Hydraulics and Hydrology
mentioned some other professors that were particularly influential?
A:
Yes. My favorite professor was Bernard Etchevary , who was very practical. Engineering
He
practice meant a lot to him, and he did a lot of consulting work on practical jobs.
consulted a lot for the Los Angeles County Flood Control District and the Riverside
County Flood Control District, and was on their consulting boards. They would send him
back to Washington to get some money for their projects, and he'd usually come back with
some money. That's why they liked him on their work.
Now, was he a structures person in civil engineering?
No, his specialty was hydraulics of irrigation, flood control, and hydropower projects.
He knew a lot about dam and channel structures, but little about their structural design,
as was the case with bridges and buildings. Of all the professors I had, he came closest
to representing what I wanted to follow.
Vem
had a similar comment about the professor that most impressed him, or most
influenced him.
I didn't know that.
He held the same viewpoint--that of a person who had practical experience and did a lot
of consulting.
I understand.
So you think it is particularly significant for hydraulic engineers to have such an
experience with their professors?
A:
I think so. But some professors don't use their experience to their students' best
advantage, and these students complained, "We don't see the professor enough. He sends
an instructor in to talk to us when he's away on a consulting job." But Etchevary never
did that. He was always right there. He never had a substitute. Well, in those days,
there wasn't that much consulting to do, I guess.
I had a different experience with Derleth, the Dean of Engineering, who was a structural
engineer, bridge designer. The San Francisco-Golden Gate Bridge Authority hired him
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