Environmental Educator and Waterways Champion, Dr. David Wicks, receives UofL's Josh Smith Memorial Sustainability Award
As a part of the Community Engagement Awards Ceremony during UofL's March 20th Engaged Scholarship Symposium, the University of Louisville Sustainability Council will present the 2026 Josh Smith Memorial Sustainability Award to Dr. David Wicks, a pioneer in waterways protection and environmental education.
We first got to know David as a faculty member in UofL’s College of Education and Human Development and co-director of our Center for Environmental Education from 1992-2009. In retirement, David has volunteered his time to collaborate with the Speed School of Engineering on our Community-Engaged Educational Ecosystem. a project that improves STEM skills regionally by immersing high school and college students in STEM concepts, as well as helping them engage with the community around STEM issues. For many semesters, David has mentored and guided student interns working on various community projects, instilling in them knowledge about the natural environment and helping them develop valuable skills in leadership, communication, data collection, and analysis.
David is also actively collaborating with UofL researchers on an interdisciplinary team to study several waterways in the Louisville area, including using drone technology to address challenges at Silver Creek. He is always generous about sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm about our local waterways and ecosystems with a wide array of UofL stakeholders and is a key connector for us in our community-engaged sustainability work. For these reasons and many more, we are thrilled to present the 2026 Josh Smith Memorial Sustainability Award to Dr. David Wicks.
