IDA appoints Awerbuch as Academy dean

The International Desalination Association (IDA) on 28 May 2012 named Leon Awerbuch the interim dean of the IDA Desalination Academy, which will offer its first courses in conjunction with the 2012 Singapore International Water Week (1-5 July 2012).

Awerbuch is a past president and currently a director of IDA, and also co-chairs IDA’s Technical Programs Committee. President of Leading Edge Technologies, Ltd. (LET), he has retired from International Bechtel Co. Ltd. where he was a business development manager.

Since joining Bechtel in 1972, he has been involved in research and business development, particularly in the fields of desalination, water technology and power. Awerbuch holds 23 patents and disclosures and has published over 80 technical papers.

His education covered chemical engineering and chemistry with a master degree and chemical engineering PhD program from Brooklyn Polytechnic and studies in mathematics at Warsaw University. He is a registered professional engineer in California and Wisconsin, USA.

“IDA is committed to ensuring that the Desalination Academy provides the best and most comprehensive curriculum of any training program available to our industry. The appointment of Leon Awerbuch to the position of Interim Dean clearly demonstrates our vision and further differentiates the Academy as a global institute for specialized training in desalination and a higher school for special study in this field,” said Patricia A Burke, IDA secretary general.

The academy’s inaugural courses will be presented on 4-5 July 2012 at the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore, to be followed by a behind-the-scenes tour of the SingSpring Desalination Plant on 6 July. Course topics will range from in-depth examination of membrane and thermal technologies, to costing strategies and plant operations.

The faculty members (master teachers) of the academy are leading experts in their fields, distinguished by their combination of theoretical and practical knowledge and experience. Master teachers for these inaugural courses are Lisa Henthorne, Dr Mark Wilf, Nikolay Voutchkov, David H Paul, Dr Corrado Sommariva and Leon Awerbuch.

For information about the academy, see the IDA website.