Rudy J. Tekippe
International expert in environmental engineering, implementation of wastewater management, and innovative design development
Inducted 2022
Rudy J. Tekippe earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Iowa State in 1965 and1966, respectively. He continued his studies and received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and an AMP degree from Harvard University. He was a diplomat for the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and a registered professional engineer in five states.
Dr.Tekippe has been active in the Environmental Engineering field for over 50 years. In one of his most notable projects, he worked as a program manager for JMM who co-located with the Water Boar in Sydney, Australia. There he led a team of over 100 professionals dedicated to planning and engineering water reclamation projects to clean up regional waterways enjoyed by 3.7 million people. He was also the founding president of a subsidiary firm, Innovyze, which has grown to be a dominant software engineering firm in the field of water distribution and storage systems and other hydraulic facilities.
He has written over 30 papers, chapters in several books, and many reports in the environmental engineering field. In water reclamation process design, his specialty has been suspended-growth biological treatment and clarifier design. Building upon his Iowa State masters’ thesis focused on circular clarifier design, he developed innovative design modifications that greatly increase the compacity of clients’ secondary clarifiers, thereby saving them millions of dollars.