Donald Hayes (Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction) received the 2017 Dredger of the Year Award  from the Western Dredging Association (WEDA) for his extensive and outstanding contributions to the dredging community and to the association.

As professor and department chair at UNLV, Hayes supports the dredging community in developing improved dredging technologies and dredged material management techniques. Of immeasurable value to the dredging industry, the association noted, Hayes’s research has focused upon efficiencies of technologies for both navigation and environmental dredging, sustainable management of dredged material including contaminated sediments, and coastal restoration and mitigation.

Hayes is an active member of the WEDA Board of Directors and serves on its Technical Papers Committee, the Training and Certification Committee, and the Awards Committee. Hayes has also been a long-standing contributing member of the WEDA Environmental Commission. He is well known for WEDA short courses and delivering lectures during the day before WEDA conferences. He also supports the dredging community as a lecturer at the annual Dredging Short Course at Texas A&M University.