Dr. Johnson is a professor of Civil Engineering and has been dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences at Howard University since 1996.Dr. Johnson is a professor of Civil Engineering and has been dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences at Howard University since 1996.
Prior to this appointment, he was the chair of the Department of Civil Engineering and interim associate vice president for Research for Howard University. Dr. Johnson received his B.S. from Howard University, M.S. from the University of Illinois and Ph.D. from the University of Delaware. He has taught Department of Civil Engineering undergraduate and graduate courses in the area of environmental engineering including hazardous waste management, treatment and disposal.
Dr. Johnson's research interests include treatment and reuse of wastewater sludges and the treatment of hazardous substances, the evaluation of environmental policy issues in relation to minorities and the development of environmental curricula.
In the course of his Howard tenure, he has been the head of several interdisciplinary centers located on campus and the Howard lead in several consortia based at other universities. Currently Dr. Johnson is the co-principal investigator (with Ramesh Chawla), of the HBCU/MI Environmental Technology Consortium., a 17 member DOE environmental research, education and technology transfer funded project. From 1989-2002, he was the associate director, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic Center for Hazardous Substance Research-a U.S. EPA Center Serving Federal Regions 3 and 5; participating colleges included The U. of Michigan, Michigan State U. and Howard. From 1996-2002, he oversaw the activities of ECSEL (Engineering Coalition of Schools for Excellence and Leadership in Education) a seven-member, National Science Foundation-funded consortium of which Howard was the lead institution. (Other members were CCNY, MIT, Morgan State U., U. of Maryland, Washington U. and Penn State.)
Since 1971, Dr. Johnson has participated in consulting activities, mostly recently from 2002 to the present in the Office of the President, University of California, as a member of the Environmental, Health and Safety Panel monitoring activities at the three DOE National Laboratories operated by the University of California. He has also been a consultant to the administrator of Department of Public Works, Water and Sewer Utility Administration, Washington, D.C., and to Stottler Stag and Associates where he prepared preliminary engineering design of wastewater treatment facilities in Livorno, Italy for the U. S. Air Force.
Dr. Johnson is a member of the National Research Council's Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, Civil Engineering Research Foundation (CERF) Board of Directors, SECME's Board of Director, Board of Directors of the Engineering Deans Council of the American Society for Engineering Education and serves on several university and private sector advisory committees. He has been a paper referee, proposal reviewer or performed editorial functions for the Water Environment Federation, the Journal of Hazardous Waste, American Council on Education, New York State Center for Hazardous Waste Management, State University of New York at Buffalo, International Association on Water Pollution Research and the National Science Foundation.
His publications number over 50 scholarly articles, contributions to three books, and he has co-edited two books including one on hazardous waste. Dr Johnson's memberships in professional organizations include the American Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, American Water Works Association, fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society for Engineering Education and Tau Beta Pi. Dr. Johnson is a registered professional engineer in the District of Columbia and a diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineer.
As a dedicated Howard alumnus, he has been active participant in supporting Howard University projects. In 2000, he was chair of the University-wide Advisory Committee for Strategic Framework for Action II and in 1996-98, he was chair of the Howard University Republic of South Africa Project (HURSAP), and previous to that in 1996 he was a member of the Howard Educational Delegation to the Republic of South Africa. He has also been an active member of the Howard Committee on Research Infrastructure and a member of the Howard University Task Force on Graduate Education and Research.
"In my role as the incumbent of the Massie Chair at Howard University, I have formulated program goals that express actions needed to increase the participation of minorities in environmental engineering studies and the profession. First, for students in K-12, we must include environmental topics across the curriculum in English, science, technology and mathematics. This may include designing modules as well as creating on-line learning experiences. Pedagogical avenues for advancing understanding of the importance of the environment for this age group include outreach programs such as those in which Howard University has been engaged for over 30 years as well as seminars to increase parental involvement."
"The second goal is to widen the environmental engineering focus to allow the cross-fertilization of various disciplines in order to truly integrate all the factors that impact on environmental policies, decision-making, research and development and technology; these range from politics to economics to societal values. The role of nanotechnology in achieving this goal will operate inclusively and naturally lead to experts and scholars across a spectrum of disciplines uniting to create new technologies and processes."
"The third goal is one to ensure the future. This goal concentrates on developing a cadre of eager, excited and curious learners who will become the next generation of engineers and scientists to forge new processes, technologies and policies to protect, preserve, extend our natural resources and expand the possibilities of our environment, e.g., by investigating the potential and limits of manufacturing in space, exploitation of hydrogen-based fuels, and the use of microbes and their enzymes to catalyze chemical reactions for environmental applications such as decontaminating radioactive wastes and producing plastics from agricultural crops."
"Briefly, the three goals that I expect our College to address are:
"3-D Structural Modeling of Humic Acids through Experimental Characterization, Computer Assisted Structure Elucidation and Atomistic Simulations, accepted for publication," Diallo, M. S.; Simpson, A.; Faulon, J. L.; Gassman, P. Goddard, W. A. III; Johnson, J. H. Jr and Hatcher, P. G. , Environmental Science and Technology,
2003.
"Bonding of Hydrophobic Organic Compounds to Dissolve Humic Substances: A Predictive Approach Board of Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation, Atomistic Simulations and Flory-Huggins Solution Theory,"Diallo, Mamadou S.; Faulon, Jean-Loup; Goddard, William A. III, and Johnson, James H., Jr,
Humic Substances: Structures, Models and Functions, 2001. Cambridge, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, November 2001, 221-240.
"Bioremediation of PCBs in Aqueous and Soil Systems," Chawla, Ramesh C.; Liou, Raychurn; Johnson, James H. Jr., and Tharakan, John T, Remediation of Hazardous Waste Contaminated Soils, Second Edition 2000, pp.237-264. NY, NY
"Molecular Modeling of Chelsea Humic Acid: An Hierarchical Approach Based on Experimental Characterization, Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation and Atomistic Simulation,"
Diallo, Mamadou S.; Faulon, Jean Loup; Goddard, William A. III; Johnson, James H. Jr., and Weber, Walter J. Jr., ACS, Division of Environmental Chemistry, Reprints of Extended Abstracts, 219H. ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA. March 26-30, 2001, 40(1); 2000: 343-347.
"Polyamidoamine/Dendrimers: A New Class of Higher Capacity Chelating gents for CU (II) Ions," Diallo, Mamadou S.; Balogh, Lagos; Shafagati, Abdul; Johnson, James H. Jr, Goddard, William A. III, and Tomalia, Donald A., Communications to the Editor,Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 35, No. 3 (1999), pp. 820-824.
"Molecular Distribution of Some Commercial Nonyl Ethoxylates Using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desporption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry," Ayorinde, F.E.; Eribo, E., Johnson, J.H., Jr, and Elhilo E., Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 1999, Vol. 13, pp. 1-5.
"Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimers: A New Class of High Capacity Chelating Agents for Cu(II) Ions," Diallo, M.S., Balogh, L., Shafagati A., J.H. Johnson, Jr., W. A. Goddard III and D. A. Tomalia, Environmental Science and Technology, submitted for review September 1998.
"Biodegradation of PCBs in Aqueous and Soil Systems," Johnson, J.H., Jr., Chawla, R.C., Tharakan, J.P. and Liou, R., ASCE, Remediation of Hazardous Waste Contaminated Soils (2nd ed.), to be published by Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., in preparation.
"Fate and Behavior of Benzoapyrene in Soil Composting Systems," Williams, T., Karimpanal, D. and Johnson, J.H., Jr., Hazardous and Industrial Wastes, Proceedings of the 29th Mid- Atlantic Industrial Waste Conference(Gregory Boardman,(ed), Technomic Publishing Co, Inc. 1997.
"Anaerobic Dechlorination and Aerobic Degradation of PCBS in Soil Columns and Slurries," Liou, R., Johnson, J.H., Jr., and Tharakan, J.P Proceedings of the 29th Mid-Atlantic Industrial and Hazardous Waste Conference-Hazardous and Industrial Wastes (Gregory D. Boardman, ed.), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, July 13-16, 1997, pp. 414-423. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Technomic Publishing Co., Inc., 1997.
"A Woman's Place May Be in Engineering," Johnson, J.H., Jr. and Mitchell, L.S., Impacting Change Through Collaboration, 1997 WEPAN/NAMEPA Joint Conference Proceedings, March 8-11, 1997, pp. 337-342.
"Biphenyl-Assisted Co-metabolic Biodegradation of PCBs - Individual Congeners and Mixture Studies,Chawla, R.C., Tharakan, J. P. Kizito, S.R.N. and Johnson, J.H., Jr Proceedings, Forum on Environmental Remediation and Toxicology, Michigan State University, September 19, 1996.
"Preliminary Results of PCB Biodegradation in Soil Columns," Liou, R., Johnson, J.H., Jr., and Tharakan, J.P., Proceedings, Forum on Environmental Remediation and Toxicology, Michigan State University, September 19, 1996.
"Thermal Extraction of Hexachlorobiphenyl from Sandy Soil,"Raghavan, D., Jackson, R., Umezi-Ernonia, and Johnson, J.H., Jr,
Proceedings, Forum on Environmental Remediation and Toxicology," Michigan State University, September 19, 1996.
"The Use of Cosubstrates in the Biological Degradation of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs),"Tharakan, John P., Kizito, S., Chawla, R.C. and Johnson, J.H., Jr., Proceedings, Forum on Environmental Remediation and Toxicology, Michigan State University, September 19, 1996.
"In-Vessel Composting and Benzo(a)pyrene Disappearance in Soil,"Johnson, J.H., Jr., Karimpanal, D. V., and Williams, T., Proceedings, Research Findings on Environmental Remediation and Toxicology, Michigan State University, Spring 1995.
"Biotransformation of TNT by a Rhodococcus in Batch and Continuous Culture,"Tharakan, John P, Welsh, G.E., and Johnson, J.H., Jr., Proceedings, Research Findings on Environmental Remediation and Toxicology, Michigan State University, Spring 1995.
"Comparison of Extraction Methodologies for Desorption of Pyrene,"Raghavan, D. and Johnson, J.H., Jr., Hazardous and Industrial Wastes, Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Mid-Atlantic Industrial Waste Conference, Arup Sengupta (ed.), Technomic Publishing Co., Inc., 1995.
"Biotransformation of Trinitrotoluene,"Tharakan, J.P., Welsh, G. E., and Johnson, J.H., Jr., Hazardous and Industrial Wastes," Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Mid-Atlantic Industrial Waste Conference, Arup Sengupta (ed.), Technomic Publishing Co., Inc., 1995.
"Use of Composting Technology to Remediate Contaminated Soils and Sludges,"Johnson, J. H., Jr., and Wan, L. W., in 20th Annual RREL Research Symposium Abstract Proceedings, EPA/600/R-94/011, Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S.E.P.A., Cincinnati, Ohio, March 1994.
"Bioremediation of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene Contaminated Soil Via 2,4,6-Trinitrobenzoic Acid Using Composting Technology,"Mohsen, M. B., Johnson, J. H., Jr., and Wan, Lily W. Hazardous and Industrial Wastes, Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Mid-Atlantic Industrial Waste Conference, Allen P. Davis (ed.), Technomic Publishing Co., Inc., 1993.
"Batch and Continuous Models of Surfactant Soil Washing," Khokhar, T.A., Johnson, J.H., Jr., and Fleming, L.N., in Proceedings of the 1993 International Waste Management Conference, U.S. EPA, Sandia National Laboratories, University of Turabo, San Juan, Puerto Rico, April 29-30 and May 1, 1993.
"Bachelor of Civil Engineering Technology and Civil Engineering Programs," Highter, W.H., Johnson, James H., Jr., Phang, M. K. and Watwood, V. B., ASCE Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 119, No. 2, pp. 118-125, April 1993.
"Future Concerns in Environmental Engineering Graduate Education," Luthy, R.G., Bella, D.A., Hunt, J.R., Johnson, J.H., Jr., Lawler, D.F., O'Melia, C.R. and Pohland, F.G., ASCE Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering, Vol. 118, No. 4, pp. 361-380, October 1992.
"Bioremediation of PAH-Contaminated Soil via In-Vessel Composting," Adenuga, A.O., Johnson, J.H., Jr., Cannon, J.N. and Wan, L., Water Science Technology, Vol. 26, No. 9-11, pp. 2331-2334, 1992.
"Detoxification of a Contaminated Sludge via In-Vessel Composting," Yusuf, M., Johnson, J.H., Jr. and L. Wan, in Proceedings of 23rd Mid-Atlantic Industrial Waste Conference, R.D. Neufeld and L.W. Casson (eds.), Lancaster: Technomic Publishing Co., Inc., 1991.
"Importance of Soil-Contaminant-Surfactant Interactions in in situ Soil Washing,"Chawla, R.C., Porzucek, C., Cannon, J.N. and Johnson, J.H., Jr., in Emerging Technologies in Hazardous Waste Management II, ACS Symposium Series 468, D.W. Tedder and F.G. Pohland (eds.). Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, 1991.
"An Ion Exchange Model of Lead-210 and Lead Uptake in a Foliose Lichen: Application to Quantitative Monitoring of Airborne Lead Fallout."Schwartzman, D.W., Stieff, L., Kasim, M., Kombe, E., Aung, S., Atekwana, E., Johnson, J.H., Jr. and Schwartzman, K., The Science of the Total Environment, 100 (1991): 319-336.
"Recovery of Organic Compounds From Sewage Sludge by Proton Transfer,"Diallo, M.S., Johnson, J.H., Jr., Chawla, R.C., Cannon, J.N. and Senftle, F.E., in Emerging Technologies for Hazardous Waste Management, ACS Symposium Series 422, D.W. Tedder and F.G. Pohland (eds.).Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, 1990, pp. 311-327.
"In-situ Treatment of Soils Contaminated With Hazardous Organic Wastes Using Surfactants: A Critical Analysis," Chawla, R., Diallo, MS., Cannon, J.N., Johnson, J.H., Jr. and Porzucek, C, in Solid/Liquid Separation: Waste Management and Productivity Enhancement, H.S. Muralidhara (ed.) Columbus: Battelle Press, 1990, pp. 356-367.
"The Reaction of Organic Nitrogen Compounds With Chlorine and Chlorine Dioxide," Varma, M.M., Niles, F.R. and Johnson, J.H., Jr. 1989-90. Journal of Environmental Systems, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp.33-43, 1989-90.
Hazardous and Industrial Waste, Proceedings of the 20th Mid-Atlantic Industrial Waste Conference, M.M. Varma and J.H. Johnson, Jr. (eds.). Washington, DC: Hazardous Materials Control Research Institute, 1988.
Hazardous Waste Management Engineering, E.J. Martin and J.H. Johnson, Jr. (eds.). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Publishing Co., 1987.
"Storage of Hazardous Waste," E.J. Martin and J.H. Johnson, Jr. (eds.). in Hazardous Waste Management Engineering, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., Inc., 1987, pp. 317-364.
"Quantitative Monitoring of Airborne Lead Pollution by a Foliose Lichen," Schwartzman, D.W., Kasim, M., Stieff, L. and Johnson, J.H. Jr., Water, Air and Soil Pollution, Vol. 32, pp. 363-378, 1987.
"Active Carbon: Dechlorination and the Adsorption of Organic Compounds," Johnson, J.H., Jr. with Snoeyink, V.L., et al., Chapter 11, in Chemistry of Water Supply Treatment and Distribution, Alan J. Rubin (ed.). Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ann Arbor Science, 1973.
Member, American Society of Engineering Education. 1995 - present
Member, International Association of Water Quality. 1995-present
Member, Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. 1984-present
Member, American Water Works Association. 1970-present
Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers. 1969-present
Men of Courage Award, A Tribute to Women of Color of Anne Arundel County, MD
Listed in Strathmore's Who's Who Register of Business Leaders
Outstanding Engineering Alumni, College of Engineering, University of Delaware
The First N. Jerome Edwards Award for Outstanding Service, Mt. Moriah A.M.E. Church, Annapolis, Maryland