A Virginia Tech professor with the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech and renowned expert on water infrastructure will headline a Jan. 27 press briefing on water quality and safety. Sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS), the 9:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) event will take place at the National Press Building, Broadcast Center on the fourth floor, in Washington D.C.

Marc Edwards, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor with the Virginia Tech Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, along with chemists and other scientists from the ACS will assess local and world water problems -- ranging from cleanliness to adequate supplies to terrorism. The webcast will be accessible online. Offsite reporters can ask questions during the briefing via e-mail.

Additional participants include: Thomas Lane, president of the ACS; Margaret Cavanaugh, a moderator with National Science Foundation; William Ball of Johns Hopkins University and Engineers Without Borders; and Charles Haas of Drexel University.

Winner of the National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellowship, Edwards was dubbed the “Plumbing Professor” by Time magazine for his internationally recognized expertise on drinking water, concentrates in environmental, and water resources engineering. Recently he teamed with another College of Engineering faculty member to establish the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management (SWIM) research institute in Blacksburg, Va.

The world’s largest scientific society, the American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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