Bob Neville
Robert Neville is a Senior Restoration Hydrologist who brings over forty years of interdisciplinary leadership to the Bioengineering Group. He holds degrees in engineering, landscape architecture, natural resource planning and also a PhD in hydrology. For years he ran the urban forestry program of the US Forest Service, a program which evolved under his guidance to link ecology, recreation, and water resource planning in dense cities and urbanizing areas.
Bob retired from federal service a decade ago, but he can’t bring himself to stop work as long as he knows he is making a difference to the ecological and human communities he cares so deeply about. At the Bioengineering Group he serves as the Interdisciplinary Coordinator, a role that allows him to be the “glue that binds” the team of technical professionals into a cohesive whole. His unique grasp of four academic fields and a career that spans many decades allows him to bring enormous wisdom to the groups of colleagues, clients, and community members he interacts with. He is a staunch advocate for interactive and inclusive planning and design. Bob leads by example and inspires others to seek the right answers much as he has tenaciously done throughout his life.
After completing service with the US Marine Corps in the early 60’s, Bob attended Boston’s Wentworth Institute for his engineering training. “As I worked on highways and other projects as a surveyor, draftsman, designer, and construction supervisor, I came to realize that there just had to be a better way to get these jobs done without the high level of forest loss and other damages I was watching.” In order to outfit himself with suitable skills, he went back to pursue landscape architecture at UMass in Amherst. He plied his new trade effectively as a landscape architect in the US Forest Service until he realized that the new environmental regulations demanded a level of science-based analysis that he and most others he worked with were simply not equipped with.
So once again, Bob returned to school, this time to study natural resource planning at the University of Montana, then returned to the Forest Service. “In those years, I worked on some of the largest and earliest Environmental Impact Statements and came to realize that collecting data on existing conditions and impacts of proposed work did not ordinarily lead to better outcomes. Teams of scientists often collected reams of information but did not know how to use it to propose alternatives that could reduce impacts or even restore past damage. Foresters and engineers often did not know how to consult scientists they worked with to meaningfully inform themselves as they developed project plans. I came to realize that without a proper process for integration of science and design, environmental policy goals would not be fulfilled, so I set about to develop tools and procedures to do just that.”
Bob gained many followers within his agency and among other related organizations as he offered the use of geographic overlay analysis techniques (before the days of GIS), analysis matrix systems (before the advent of database software), and conceptual design alternatives (using his signature bold and clear hand sketches) to equip teams to share and use complex information to make environmentally sensitive decisions. In addition to the technical approaches he pioneered, he also worked to perfect a method of community involvement through a cycle of decision-making sessions which is magical to observe. Few people have gained the level of mastery that Bob has at gaining the trust of diverse people and cultivating understanding of complex subjects in order to make important and inter-related decisions. He does this with patience and diligence that is an inspiration to watch.
Never satisfied for long, Bob attended the State University of NY at Syracuse University where his PhD dissertation used the newly developed HPSF model linking hydrology and water quality data within watersheds of many scales, proving that old dogs can learn new tricks, even high tech ones. We can’t even imagine what it was like at the Bioengineering Group before Bob joined our team six years ago. He enjoys using his many abilities to help developers, large public agencies, and others find their own best ways to make better decisions about environmental resource management and design. He can often be found coaching young staff on grading design techniques, and especially how to “break the rules” by incorporating microtopography for detention and infiltration rather than enforcing consistent positive drainage. Or he can be heard to help ask the right questions to help a budding designer select the best type of information to use in a community presentation so that complicated information can be made clear, without being patronizing. He takes special interest in mentoring of junior staff as they identify how to progress towards their chosen personal goals.
Around the office and in public meetings, his exceptional story-telling skills entertain people of all ages (even if everyone does not yet appreciate down-Maine humor). We have heard that his irrepressible laughter and unstoppable sense of humor have gotten him into trouble at times, but we can’t imagine who wouldn’t love Bob all the more for that. When he is not in the office he romps with the grandchildren, goes spear-fishing in New Zealand, and stops for ice cream every chance he gets. We know he will never stop working since he starts each day with a six-mile run along the Atlantic shore in New Hampshire where he lives with his wife of 40 years, Janet.