Danny D. Reible
2026 Sigma Xi Fellow
Statement
"I am pleased to be recognized as a Fellow of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society. My history with the organization began in 1979 when I had completed my MS in Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. I was working on several manuscripts and was invited into the organization by Fred Shair, my advisor and a faculty member who also began the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) at Caltech and later served as Director of Education at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Fred continued to be a friend and mentor to me throughout my career, first at Louisiana State University (LSU), then the University of Texas and now at Texas Tech University where I am the Donovan Maddox Distinguished Engineering Chair and Paul Whitfield Horn Professor. During my time at LSU, I worked closely with John Nemeth, then at Georgia Tech, who served as an Associate Director of a multi-university Hazardous Substance Research Center that I led. Of course, John would later serve as Executive Director of Sigma Xi, completing the multiple touch points with Sigma Xi throughout my career."
Biography
Dr. Reible is currently the Paul Whitfield Horn Professor and Donovan Maddox Distinguished Engineering Chair at Texas Tech University. He serves as Associate Director of the Water and Environment Research Center (WATER). He also serves as the Director of the Center for Urban Rural Environmental Sustainability (CURES) at Texas Tech which seeks to enlist faculty across the campus in addressing the wide range of issues that face rural and small urban communities. He previously served as Director of the multi- university consortium, the Hazardous Substance Research Center (HSRC) South and Southwest (1995 -2007) while at Louisiana State University. He also was the Bettie Margaret Smith Chair of Environmental Health Engineering (2004-2013) and Director of the Center for Research in Water Resources (2011-2013) at the University of Texas.
Dr. Reible was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2005 for “the development of widely used approaches to managing contaminated sediments”. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. He is a Board-Certified Environmental Engineer (BCEE) and a Professional Engineer (PE). He has received numerous other awards including in 2024 being named TTU’s inaugural Big 12 Faculty Member of the Year, the 2020 Gordon Maskew Fair Award and 2017 Kappe Lecturer of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists, the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association of Environmental Health Sciences, the 2011 Malcolm Pirnie Frontier in Research Aware of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, a 2006 Presidential Service Award for environmental mentoring of former Soviet defense scientists and the 2001 Lawrence K. Cecil Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He has served on 8 National Academy of Science Committees leading to reports addressing contemporary environmental challenges and served on the Academy’s Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology.
Dr. Reible has served as PI on projects totaling approximately $50 million and has authored/edited 6 books, 50 chapters in books, and more than 200 referred journal papers. His current research is focused on sustainable water management and the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites. Specific research activities include the development of passive in-situ sampling to assess and manage risks at contaminated soil and sediment sites and the evaluation of in-situ sorbent amendments to manage contaminant migration. He has also worked to assess the quality and management of stormwaters from military bases and industrial sites. Dr. Reible also leads projects on the development of sustainable energy resources including geologic hydrogen. The efforts in geologic hydrogen are primarily focused on stimulating subsurface hydrogen production and extraction. Dr. Reible is also a co-principal investigator for the Texas Produced Water Consortium which seeks to develop and demonstrate technologies for the desalination and beneficial reuse of wastewater from oil and gas activities.
In his spare time, he is an avid sailor, a dedicated Formula 1 fan and, whenever possible, he and his wife, Susie, are playmates to their four grandchildren, ages 5 to 8.