RIVER MASTER
Professor of civil and environmental engineering is the embodiment of Colorado State University’s wide-ranging expertise in water management
By Josh Rhoten | May 4, 2026
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
— Heraclitus
NEIL GRIGG EASILY recites details from a career that has spanned more than six decades working in water.
Names and dates pour out of him as he lists past roles and outlines key cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The names of his students bubble up as well, along with their impressive titles and honors. All of it flows into an estuary of research and application that he continues to lead at Colorado State University to this day.
That pool of work – consistently highlighted by agencies, professional organizations, and institutions around the world – tells the story of CSU’s rise to prominence in the field of water resources planning and management during the post-World War II research boom. It is also a story about the shifting tides of modern research priorities in the most important resource on the globe and the university’s leadership role on those increasingly choppy waters.
As Grigg might put it, though, that’s a long answer to a short story for you.
“A lot of times, I feel like I am doing nothing but telling stories to students,” Grigg, 86, jokes in his Southern drawl. “But in my career, I have tried to find a way to bring theory and reality together in a coherent way. Stories do just that, and we can learn a lot from what has already happened.”
Grigg’s immense career in water started with his youth in the lush city of Montgomery, Alabama, which sits on the banks of the Alabama River. As a boy, he would often fish and play in those waters. He would also come to see how their flooding could damage structures and change lives. Both experiences informed his choice to study engineering, first as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and then in pursuit of a master’s degree in hydraulic engineering at Auburn University.
When it came time to pick a university to get a Ph.D. in the field, an adviser recommended Colorado State University.
The land-grant institution had a solid reputation in water dating back to the 1880s with Elwood Mead – the first professor of irrigation engineering in the United States during his time at Colorado Agricultural College, which evolved into CSU. Ralph Parshall, a water hydrologist, alumnus, and faculty member, added to the school’s notable achievements when, in 1921, he invented the Parshall Flume at the college’s Hydrology Lab; the flume was a groundbreaking measuring device still used internationally today. With the construction of the Engineering Research Center and Hydraulics Laboratory at CSU in 1962, the scope and scale of the university’s water research increased drastically.
When Grigg arrived in Fort Collins, he found himself working in this new space, studying under and alongside future CSU legends, including hydraulic engineers Daryl Simons, for whom the center was eventually named, and Maury Albertson.
Simons served as the first associate dean for research in what became the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. Over his 18-year tenure he ushered in an era of increased research funding – particularly from new agencies, such as the World Bank and United Nations, that were focused on water as it related to global development. Many of those relationships can also be traced to Albertson, who served as a consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development and was instrumental in establishing the Peace Corps.
Soon, those agencies and others began funding substantial CSU research projects in hydraulics, hydrology, and wind engineering in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Many of those efforts used the state-of-the-art Engineering Research Center to develop and test methods that have since become integral to the field.
Professor Neil Grigg is known internationally for his wide-ranging expertise in water resources and management. Photo: Joe A. Mendoza / Colorado State University.
Grigg earned his doctoral degree from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1969 and began working as a researcher and assistant professor in 1972.
He said he saw how the funding sources, research problems, and shifting student demographics came together in that era to shape a spirit of service in the university and department. That persists to this day, with a renewed focus on the institution’s land-grant mission and drive to address real-world problems with the latest technologies and interdisciplinary approaches.
“At that point, CSU was a minor school in terms of population and research contributions. But by pursuing and being successful with these projects around the world, we began to be seen as a leader in this space,” Grigg said. “It was an exciting time to be here because there were several generations of great researchers, all working with students who came from everywhere to learn from the best after seeing and hearing about our work.”
Mike Applegate had Grigg as a teacher during this time. After graduating in 1974 with a degree in civil engineering, Applegate stayed in touch and frequently hired graduate students from Grigg’s team into his consulting work. He said Grigg was “the definition of a Renaissance man,” with technical skill across subjects to go along with great warmth and humility.
“Neil has a warm quality in his teaching that enhances his ability to transfer his academic knowledge and makes learning enjoyable,” Applegate said. “He has a vast knowledge on numerous subjects and a rare talent to inspire people to improve themselves. I truly feel he has made this world a better place for his having lived and worked in it.”
Grigg loved CSU and the town of Fort Collins, but soon got a job offer that took him and his family to North Carolina – out of academia and into the public arena.
In 1977, he accepted a position leading the University of North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute. The research hub served the 16 universities in the UNC system with a focus on rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters. The role included teaching duties at two universities in the system, but Grigg also often found himself facilitating and meeting with officials and stakeholders on a variety of issues relating to water. North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt noticed Grigg’s practical engineering background and his work navigating difficult discussions.
“They thought I was doing a good job and offered me a political appointee position as the assistant secretary for natural resources to oversee environmental management for the state,” Grigg recalled. “I had never had a political job before, but I thrived working there because there were so many problems and opportunities. I had to learn fast, but being engaged in real-world problems was amazing coming from academia.”
Grigg had various roles in the state until 1982. During that time, he helped implement new federal laws that were developed and enforced by the fledgling Environmental Protection Agency. He also led interstate negotiations related to water rights disputes. His work in this period was recognized with the Governor’s Award for Environmental Protection in 1981.
He said he still pulls from that time in his teaching today in the form of stories and case studies. The period also built up a research interest in engaging stakeholders and supporting public participation in water management in addition to core engineering work, such as developing infrastructure. As a result, Grigg’s research portfolio is incredibly interdisciplinary – based in civil and systems engineering, while also brushing up against public administration and sociology.
“These were complicated problems, like cleaning up a polluted estuary. They involved many stakeholders as well as the engineering and technical details. It is hard for pure academics to understand what it is like to speak to concerned citizens about something that will certainly impact their lives and that they care deeply about,” Grigg said. “You have to meet people where they are and convince them of what needs to be done.”
“Neil has a warm quality in his teaching that enhances his ability to transfer his academic knowledge and makes learning enjoyable.”
While Grigg may have been slightly ahead of his time in embracing interdisciplinary approaches beyond civil engineering, his approach has proven to be attractive to modern CSU students who are hungry to solve problems with every available tool.
Dixie Poteet took several civil engineering courses with Grigg at the undergraduate and graduate levels around 2020. But when she asked him about pursuing a Ph.D., he encouraged her to consider systems engineering. She said that path perfectly matched her interest in considering not only water – but also related energy and utility systems and how they can best be integrated into existing city infrastructure.
“It was in his class that I first heard about the 2022 Water Energy and Transportation Systems Integration Urban Design Challenge,” she said. “I not only had the privilege of being on the winning team there but also met my now Ph.D. adviser, Professor Steven Conrad, and ended up working with him in the Blue-Green Decisions lab as a researcher.”
She added that Grigg’s published works continue to shape her understanding each time she encounters them.
“Whether looking at his 2025 paper on urban infrastructure policy adapting to technological and social change, or his discussion in 1973 on examining the challenge of legal constraints while using a systems approach for urban water management, his impact and presence on the field is evident over the decades,” she said.
Grigg returned to CSU as a faculty member in civil and environmental engineering in 1982. In addition to teaching, he became the third director of the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute. The organization – now known as the Colorado Water Center – had recently become more independent and continued to bloom under his leadership. Today, it is still a hub that manages research projects in the state’s universities, shares new technology and information, and acts as a liaison between the state and the federal departments that administer research funding.
Grigg’s career as a faculty member accelerated at this time. He served as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 1991 to 2000 and became a fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Public Works Association.
After stepping down as chair, Grigg redoubled his focus on research. The move came with the start of a new century that saw the university begin to consider its role as a modern land-grant institution.
“I came to realize the problems had changed around the world. There was now less emphasis on engineering and instead a deepening focus on problem-solving around the associated human issues related to water rights and management,” he said. “There is also more conflict than ever.”
Grigg serves as river master for the Pecos River, which runs from New Mexico into Texas. He was appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court and has argued water distribution issues before the court.
There is no doubt that Grigg is a prodigious researcher.
To date, he has published well over 350 journal articles and 15 books. Together, the body of work touches on water resource management writ large, with few clear borders. It includes technical findings on infrastructure and hydraulics as well as philosophical approaches for international development and community stakeholder engagement. Some papers call for cross-collaboration between disparate disciplines, such as systems engineering and water resources management. Others delve into water law and policy – globally and in the U.S. A whole segment of his portfolio is dedicated to natural disasters, which can cause public health emergencies in the form of disease and pollution.
The distinct mix of topics reflects how Grigg has come to view intertwined forces, such as climate change, population growth, and economic development, against the shifting priorities, considerations, and constraints of modern water infrastructure management.
It all informs his teaching, which continues at CSU today.
“At the core of all of my work is an effort to find and support ways for people to negotiate,” he said. “So many of the problems we run into today are not just technical challenges, but communications challenges between teams and stakeholders working to address increasingly complex problems.”
Grigg’s work around the Pecos River dispute demonstrates that dynamic perfectly.
The dispute is a long-simmering conflict between New Mexico and Texas over an agreement in 1949 around water rights and allocations in the region. The Pecos River Compact required New Mexico to retain and provide specific amounts of water to its downstream neighbor each year. But Texas eventually sued in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1974 for what it believed was under-delivery. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled for Texas and, as part of its decision, created the role of river master to serve as arbiter for future disagreements related to the Pecos River, which is a major tributary of the Rio Grande.
Grigg became the first river master for the Pecos River in 1988. It’s a position he still holds and one he earned with years of impartiality and work on similar issues in places such as the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The job requires an engineering background to accurately evaluate and measure how water is stored across the system. It also requires a human touch to ensure distribution is fair in practice because disputes can arise over where, when, and how measurements are taken or how to account for evaporation along the way.
“I wound up dealing with a lot of new and unique situations in that role – some of which went on and were argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. I will tell you it is nerve-racking to have your work evaluated in that forum and way,” Grigg said.
Class of 1968. Photo courtesy of Neil Grigg.
Grigg’s goal is always to find solutions that are win-win rather than confrontational. That approach drives everything he does in his work and research. Part of that stems from his easygoing nature. It also comes from decades of experience navigating the complex and often volatile world of water.
“I find that, even today, this field is missing ways for people to communicate and work things out. There has been a lot of lip service over the years to public participation, but that is a lot harder to do than talk about and has not happened at the level it should,” he said. “The work of engaging all stakeholders is becoming more important all the time.”
He has carried that philosophy around the world through work with the United Nations around the Nile River and Somalian water policy. And he has traveled to China, Japan, Vietnam, and other Asian countries to discuss best practices around river management. In 2020, he received an honorary doctorate from GĚRENS postgraduate school in Lima, Peru, for his ongoing efforts to train water managers there.
GĚRENS President Armando Gallegos credited Grigg with having a significant impact on the school’s curriculum and educational programs. He also highlighted a cultural and academic exchange program that sent would-be water managers in Peru to study with Grigg at CSU.
“The contributions you have made to water and environmental management, your papers, books, and the hundreds of students you mentored and whose lives you touched are a testament to your dedication and passion for your profession,” Gallegos wrote in the nomination letter. “You are the embodiment of a true global citizen, and the impact of your commitment to the betterment of this rapidly changing world will be felt for years to come.”
Professor Charles Shackelford has been at CSU since 1988 and served as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 2013 to 2025. He said the impact Grigg has had at the university, in the state of Colorado, and in the rest of the world is immeasurable.
“Neil is still going strong after nearly six decades at CSU. His numerous awards and recognitions attest to his national and international stature and renown in water management,” Shackelford said. “He has served as an exemplar of the excellence in the water programs here at CSU as well as a mentor and sage to numerous students, staff, and faculty both at CSU and elsewhere.”
Grigg’s former student Poteet echoed those sentiments.
“There are many brilliant faculty at Colorado State University, and I think it goes without saying that Neil is among them. Where he stands out – in my mind – is both his kindness and his ability to gently encourage students to go just a bit further, no matter their background,” she said. “The privilege of attending Colorado State University has allowed me to meet many great educators, but if I had to pick an all-time great, it would undoubtedly be him.”
Photo at top: John Eisele / Colorado State University.
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