Ulric P. Gibson

Outstanding Achievement Award Recipient

School of Public Health, May 9, 1983

Ulric P. Gibson, native of Guyana, received an M.S. in public health engineering and a Ph.D. in environmental health engineering from the University of Minnesota. He is described as a pioneer in water quality and a leader in global health. During his tenure as an assistant professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, he wrote a manual titled Water Well Manual. Commissioned by the U.S. Agency for International Development, it was the first instructional book that provided simple and easy to understand directions on how to build sources of safe drinking water. It went on to become an international bestseller and is still considered an important resource in the developing world. He left the University of Minnesota to return to Guyana to help his fellow country people. He is the author of the legislation that led to the founding of the Guyana Water Authority, which brought running water to the Guyanese families for the first time. He held posts at the American Health Organization and served as a consultant with the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization. He worked tirelessly to improve the environmental health of U.S. communities through his work with Remedial Management (REM) contracts in support of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund Program. He retired in the late 1990s but his contributions remain visible - from the water systems infrastructure in Guyana to the cleanup of hazardous waste sites in the United States.

Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.