The Hugo B. Fischer Award, which is made in honor of the late Professor Hugo B. Fischer’s pioneering work on San Francisco Bay-Delta water quality modeling, is given annually for (1) the development, refinement or innovative application of a computer model or (2) furtherance of the effective use of models in planning or regulatory functions. The award was conceived and endowed in 1995 by Lyle Hoag, retired Executive Director of California Urban Water Agencies, and co-founder of the Bay-Delta Modeling Forum, the predecessor to the CWEMF.

Hugo B. Fischer was born in Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937 and earned his B.S. degree in 1958, his M.S. in 1963, and his Ph.D. in 1966, all from the California Institute of Technology. He was a professor of civil engineering at the University of California, Berkeley from 1966 until his death in 1983. Dr. Fischer was a recognized authority in salt-water intrusion, water pollution, heat dispersion in waterways, and the mixing of rivers and oceans. A list of his research papers can be found in the University of California’s On-line Water Resources Center Archives.

The Hugo B. Fischer award is presented each year at the CWEMF’s Annual Meeting.

Year	Hugo B. Fischer Award Winners
2024	Dr. Edward Gross – Principal & Project Manager, Resource Management Associates Recipient’s Acceptance – Tracer-Based Phytoplankton Modeling
2023	Dr. Michael MacWilliams – Anchor QEA. HBF Award Presentation Recipient’s Acceptance – Twenty Years of Delta Model Advancements 2003–2005 TRIM3D
2022	No award given
2021	No award given
2020	No award given
2019	Charles Young – Stockholm Environment Institute Andy Draper – Stantec
2018	Dr. Saquib Najmus – Woodard & Curran, Inc. HBF Award Presentation Dr. Ali Taghavi – Woodard & Curran, Inc. HBF Award Presentation
2017	Rich Juricich – CA Dept. of Water Resources HBF Award Presentation
2016	Dr. Eli Ateljevich – CA Dept. of Water Resources HBF Award Presentation Recipient’s Presentation – Water Cost Tool and Bay-Delta SCHISM: Towards Fidelity in Planning Questions and Answers
2015	Dr. Mike Deas – Watercourse Engineering HBF Award Presentation Recipient’s Presentation – “Water Temperature Transaction Tool (W3T)”
2014	Dan Easton – MBK Engineers HBF Award Presentation Recipient’s Acceptance Speech
2013	Dr. Nigel Quinn – Berkeley National Laboratory, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation HBF Award Presentation  Recipient’s Presentation – “The Power of Data”
2012	Nancy Parker – U.S. Bureau of Reclamation HBF Award Presentation Recipient’s Presentation – “Planning Modeling for USBR Mid Pacific Region”
2011	Dr. Russ Brown – ICF Recipient’s Presentation – “Thirty Years of Daily Modeling”
2010	No award given
2009	Dr. Pete Smith – U.S. Geological Survey   HBF Award Presentation Award Recipient’s Presentation – “Using 3D Hydrodynamic and Particle-Tracking Models to Explore Fish Movements and Distributions”
2008	Dr. Richard Howitt – UC Davis Dr. Jay R. Lund – UC Davis   HBF Award Presentation Award Recipient’s Presentation “Adventures with CALVIN”
2007	Dr. John DeGeorge – Resources Management Associates HBF Award Presentation
2006	Dr. Carl Chen – Systech Engineering, Inc        HBF Award Presentation Dr. Paul Hutton – Metropolitan Water District of So. CA
2005	No award given
2004	Tom Heinzer – U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
2003	Dr. Emin C. Dogrul – CA Dept. of Water Resources
2002	Dr. Gerald Orlob–University of California, Davis
2001	Armin Munevar – CA Dept. of Water Resources
2000	Kamyar Guivetchi – CA Dept. of Water Resources Dwight Russell – CA Dept. of Water Resources
1999	Walter Bourez III –Surface Water Resources, Inc. Jack Rowell – U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
1998	No award given
1997	Dr. Francis Chung – CA Dept. of Water Resources Dr. Gregory Gartrell –Contra Costa Water District
1996	Dr. Ralph Cheng – U.S. Geological Survey
1995	Dr. Richard Denton – Contra Costa Water District Dr. Alan Jassby – UC Davis

 
Hugo B Fischer and graduate students from his Mixing Processes class visiting the Sandmound Slough tide gates in the Delta. May 1982. Photo courtesy of Richard Denton