Dr. White’s research interests focus on ecosystem level processes related to the landscape interactions of streams, reservoirs, and lakes; bioturbation; zoobenthic ecology and the interactions between benthic organisms and substrates; and the effects of toxic substances on behavior and distribution of biota. His extensive portfolio includes grants from US EPA, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and he has published more than 120 scholarly articles since the year 2000. With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in zoology from DePauw University and a PhD in biology from the University of Louisville, Dr. White actively participates in a number of professional societies, including the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, the International Society for Great Lakes Research, the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education, and the Kentucky Academy of Sciences.
      The Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, located at the University of Kentucky, is one of 54 Institutes established under the Water Research Act of 1964 “to assist in assuring the Nation at all times of a supply of water sufficient in quantity and quality to meet the requirements of its expanding population...[through] the conduct of research, investigations, experiments, and training of scientists in the fields of water and of resources which affect water.” The Barfield Award was established in 2005 to honor the Commonwealth’s foremost researchers in water-related fields.
      The award ceremony took place at the Annual KWRRI Symposium in Lexington, Kentucky.