ESSIE Welcomes Dr. Annable as Department Head

The Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE) at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering is proud to announce the appointment of Michael Annable, Ph.D., as head of Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences.

Dr. Annable has been a faculty member within the department since 1992, beginning as an assistant professor. His appointment as department head began in January 2020.

“ESSIE is delighted to have Professor Michael Annable as the new head of the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences,” said ESSIE Director, Kirk Hatfield, Ph.D. “Dr. Annable is an outstanding example of a successful academic who has excelled in research, teaching, graduate student mentoring and service. He brings considerable leadership experience to the position, and his dedication and service to EES has earned the trust of faculty.”

Throughout his nearly three-decade career within the department, Dr. Annable has been recognized as an Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year in 2007, a recipient of the CSIRO Distinguished Visitor Award in 2008 and awarded an Otto Mønsted Guest Professorship in 2015.

“I would like to see the department continually improve and be recognized nationally and internationally as a high-quality program at both undergraduate and graduate levels. I would like to support our students to excel during their time here on campus and in their future activities in the environmental science and engineering fields,” Dr. Annable said. “I want to continue to promote diversity and inclusiveness at all levels from incoming freshman to our senior faculty in the department. I would like to encourage and foster our students to become the future leaders in society and within the profession.”

Dr. Annable thanked his predecessor, Chang-Yu Wu, Ph.D., for his six years of service as Department Head for Environmental Engineering Sciences.

“He oversaw a period of significant change with a number of faculty retiring and a very active period of hiring new faculty and supporting our ongoing efforts to increase diversity. Dr. Wu has been critically involved in our efforts to dramatically restructure our undergraduate curriculum over the next few years. His leadership will be missed but having him as a resource in the department will be critical to our future success,” Dr. Annable added.

Dr. Annable’s research interests include hydrology and water quality. He developed passive flux meters for measuring water and contaminant flux as well as interfacial tracers for measuring air-water and oil-water interfacial areas in porous media. Dr. Annable has published over 100 research journal articles.

He received his bachelor’s degree in geology at Michigan State University, master’s degree and doctorate in civil engineering from Michigan Technological University and Michigan State, respectively.