Mehta Award 2021

The Mehta Award is a given to an individual who has made significant contributions to the advancement in the theory or application of cohesive sediment transport in the marine or aquatic environment. The award, which carries a plaque and a prize of $3,000, is normally given when INTERCOH is convened. Awardees are globally selected and are not limited in any way to the specific themes or participants at the conference.

The award is named in the memory of Jayant J. Mehta (1916-1996) by his son Ashish J. Mehta. Jayant J. Mehta (MS, MIT, 1938) was a pioneer in the inception and growth of the petrochemical industry in India, contributing significantly to the country’s industrial expansion starting in the 1970s. The award is given only if a suitable candidate is chosen. In that event the Award Committee will indicate the basis for its choice in its letter to the awardee. Deliberations by the committee leading to the selection will remain internal to the committee whose decision will be final. The awardee will be invited to the conference to present a keynote lecture on the award topic.

Since 2017, the Award Committee is composed of the winners of the last three editions. For the present 2021 edition, the members are: Erik Toorman (KU Leuven, 2015 winner), Sergio Fagherazzi (Boston University, 2017 winner) and Michael Fettweis (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 2019 winner), and is chaired by the longest ago winner amongst them.

The deadline for nominations is about 4 months prior to the conference (which is biennial). Specific deadline date is given in the announcement of the next conference. Nominations are welcome from anyone associated with cohesive sediment transport research or application. The nomination package should include a letter of transmittal from the nominator indicating the basis for the choice of the nominee, nominee’s bio-data and two letters of support from individuals other than the nominator. The entire package must be transmitted by e-mail to the chair of the award committee, i.e. for INTERCOH2021 to erik.toorman@kuleuven.be.