LOUIS WILLY-ALBERT De BACKER

Name De BACKER Louis W.
Nationality Belgian, born in Brussels, September 20, 1937
Family Spouse: AUTELET Viviane
Children : Bruno (Urbana, IL, 1964), Pascal (Corvallis, OR, 1966), Eric (Brussels, 1968)

Diploma

- 1961, M.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering, Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Belgium
- 1965, Ph.D. in Agronomy (Soil Physics), University of Illinois, USA

Title

Full Professor since 1978, emeritus (1997)
Research Soil Physics and Hydrodynamics, Hydrology and Water Management.

Functions held at: -UCL :

- Head of the Agricultural Engineering Unit, GERU (1970-1990)
- Secretary of the Hydrogeological Scientific Commission (1972-1995)
- Coordinator of the Water Sciences Programme of the Interfaculty Institute of Applied Natural Sciences (1974-1995)
- and of the Interuniversity postgraduate programme in Hydrology (1980-1995)
- Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy (UCL), (1978-1982)
- Founding member of the Board of the Open Faculty for Adult Education, FOPA(1980-1985)
- Professor of Soil Physics (till 2001), Hydrodynamics and Hydrology

-FUL (Fondation Universitaire Luxembourgeoise) :

- Professor in Agrometeorology (till 2003) and in Water Management
- Director (1991-1995)

Past activities :

- President of the Belgian Committee of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA),1980-1988
- Chairman of Section I Soil and Water of the Commission Internationale de Génie Rural (CIGR), 1989-1993
- Member of the Board of the Société de Génie Rural
- Member of the Belgian Committee of International Hydrology Programme (IHP-UNESCO)
- Member of the Amer.Soc.of Agronomy (ASA), the American Geophysical Union (AGU),
and of the Groupe Français d'Humidimétrie Neutronique (GFHN)
- Member of the Editorial Board of the Revue d'Hydrologie Continentale (ORSTOM),
Correspondant of the Revue Internationale des Sciences de l'Eau (INRS-Canada),
and Consultant to Alexandria Sciences Exchange (Egypt)
- Reviewer for the Journals on Transport in Porous Media and of Hydrology, and for the Bulletin GFHN
- Assessor for the Australian Research Grants Committee (ARGC)
and the International Foundation for Sciences (IFS, Sweden)
- Coordinator of the interdisciplinary project Water, Vade-Mecum of the Citizen
sponsored by the King Baudouin Foundation
- Supervisor of the Operation Sources sponsored by the King Baudouin Foundation, UNICEF and WWF Belgium

Other activities :

member of the Rotary International, Club Wavre-Europe, District 2170
member of the Belgian Rotary interdistrict committee Preserve Planet Earth
member of the district education committee of the Rotary Foundation
member of the interdistrict committee of the Rotary Initiative For Population and Development

Short biography :

-1961-1965 Research Assistant in Agronomy (Univ. of Illinois)
-1965-1967 Research Associate in Forest Hydrology (Oregon State University)
-1967-1973 Assistant Professor and 1973-1978 Professor (UCL)
-1974-1978 Secretary of the Faculty of Agronomy (UCL)
-1978-1982 Dean of the same Faculty
-1975-1981 Leader of a 6 year field research project on water resources reviewuation of the Dyle watershed (UCL-FDS 150)
-1981- 2001 Teaching in the UNESCO postgraduate programme in Hydrology (CIUF) and Agrometeorology (FUL-WMO)
-1982-1985 Teaching in Tunisia
-1982-1987 Chairman of the Organization Committee of the Vth World Congress on Water Resources of IWRA, Brussels,1985
-1983-1985 Teaching in Burkina Faso.
-1987-1990 Preparation of the Regional Water Observatory
-1988- Organisation of Operation Sources, a semestrial survey of nitrates content in springs
by primary schools with UNICEF and WWF-Belgium
-1991-1995 director of the Fondation Universitaire Luxembourgeoise
and board member of the Association Universitaire pour l'Environnement
-1993- member of the board of the Walloon Institute for land use and Development
-1997- 2000 Chairman of the Global River Environmental Education Network, GREEN-Belgium.

Publications : more than 100 papers in international journals and books.

Qualifications :

- Education, training and research in water resources
- Expertise in soil and groundwater pollution and in water management