In memoriam: Adil Godrej, research associate professor of civil and environmental engineering
Adil Godrej, research associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering, passed away on April 10.
Godrej worked at Virginia Tech for almost 33 years, most recently serving as co-director of the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Laboratory (OWML) in Manassas, Virginia. He was instrumental in the growth and success of the OWML, contributing his expertise in water quality monitoring and modeling, potable water reuse, and watershed and reservoir studies.
Godrej’s affiliation with Virginia Tech began in 1980, when he entered the civil and environmental engineering program as a graduate student. After earning his degree, his roles at the university included research associate, assistant professor, and later associate director of the OWML.
His students remember Godrej for his great storytelling, often about the history of the OWML. He was proud of his longevity working at the lab, and his passion for teaching was complemented by his interest in learning from each of his students.
Godrej was a member of several area water monitoring committees, including the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Regional Monitoring Subcommittee, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program Data Integrity Workgroup, and the Northern Virginia Regional Commission’s (NVRC) Occoquan Model Technical Advisory Committee.
“The Northern Virginia region lost forever more than 30 years of irreplaceable institutional and historical knowledge on the Occoquan Watershed with Adil’s sudden passing,” said Normand Goulet, director for the NVRC’s Division of Environmental and Resiliency Planning. “He will be sorely missed, not only as a colleague, but as a friend.”
A celebration of Adil’s life will be planned at a future date. His obituary can be found at https://www.piercefh.com/obituaries/Adil-Godrej/#!/Obituary.
