On May 9, 2025, friends, colleagues, students and alumni gathered in the Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science to celebrate a milestone—the 50th anniversary of Philip Bedient’s career at Rice. Bedient, the Herman Brown Endowed Chair of Engineering and director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disaster Center (SSPEED), was honored for his legacy of exemplary research, teaching, and leadership in surface water hydrology, flood modeling, predictions, and disaster management.
The celebration began with dinner and a warm welcome by co-director of SSPEED and longtime collaborator, Jim Blackburn, who opened the program with a poem he composed for Bedient. From there, speakers painted a picture not just of a leading hydrologist, but of a passionate teacher, an innovator, and a mentor.
Jamie Padgett, chair of Rice’s civil and environmental engineering department, reminisced about Bedient’s boundless energy and enthusiasm for hydrology, his fun and generous personality, and the instrumental role he played in bringing her and several others to Rice to build a community of disaster researchers. “The name Phil chose for the center—SSPEED—is quite apt since that is the vigorous pace and urgency with which he works, to this day!” Padgett said.
Bedient developed one of the first radar-based rainfall flood alert systems (FAS5) in the U.S. and has several operational FAS systems in Texas. He founded the SSPEED Center at Rice in 2007 to advance research and education on mitigation and protection strategies from inland flooding and coastal surge due to hurricanes. He has evaluated flood issues in Texas, California, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee and worked on six of the largest and most devastating floods to hit the U.S. between 2001 and 2017, including modeling the environmental impact of Hurricane Harvey.
He has mentored generations of students, launched study abroad programs in England and the Netherlands, and helped build a global community of hydrology researchers. His textbook, Hydrology and Floodplain Analysis, now in its sixth edition, is used in over 75 universities.
“Phil is driven by his deep passion for hydrology and has made enormous strides in identifying and implementing flood mitigation and protection strategies which have not only advanced science but have had an extraordinary and lasting impact on Rice, communities in and around Houston, and the broader world. He perfectly exemplifies the mission of our school—solving for greater good,” said Luay Nakhleh, William and Stephanie Sick Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing. “Phil’s long and fruitful research and teaching tenure at Rice is a testament to his excellence, stamina, and love for nurturing the next generation of engineers, and reflects how deeply his students—many of whom are now researchers, educators, and leaders around the world—and his colleagues love and respect him.”
“I was totally amazed by the many wonderful comments at the celebration event and am humbled beyond belief by the turnout we had,” Bedient said. “It felt wonderful to be surrounded by my family, great Rice colleagues, awesome students, and close friends who have stood by me for many years.”
Click here to see more photos from the event.