A View of the River from Downstream: Some Lessons Learned

Dr. Panos Diplas is an Emeritus Professor at Lehigh University. He served as the P.C. Rossin Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and was department chair from 2013 to 2020.

Abstract: Charles Kettering (1876–1958), inventor, engineer, and researcher, is often credited with the observation that “a problem well stated [formulated] is a problem half [nearly] solved.” The ability to define and formulate a problem appropriately is indeed a critical first step toward finding a meaningful solution.

This seminar will explore several considerations that can help researchers, especially graduate students, formulate and approach scientific and engineering problems more effectively. These include:

• Keeping the problem as simple as possible, but not simpler, following the advice commonly attributed to Albert Einstein
• Paying careful attention to boundary conditions, which can fundamentally influence both the formulation of a problem and the validity of its solution
• Examining the phenomenon at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales, recognizing that important physical processes may be overlooked when the wrong scales are considered
• Questioning and periodically re-examining established theories and assumptions, even those that have been accepted and applied for many years

Drawing on examples from my own research experience, I will illustrate how choices made during problem formulation can significantly affect the conclusions we reach.

About: Panos has served in various academic positions for nearly 40 years. Before joining the CEE department at Lehigh University in 2013, he taught and carried out research in the general area of environmental fluid mechanics at the University of Iowa and Virginia Tech. He founded the Baker Environmental Hydraulics Lab at Virginia Tech in 1999 and more recently extensively renovated and expanded the Imbt Environmental Hydraulics Lab at Lehigh. In 2025 he became an Emeritus Professor. He has received a number of awards for his research from NSF and ASCE and for his teaching from Virginia Tech. He currently lives in Charlottesville, VA, and serves as the editor of the Journal of Hydraulic Research, IAHR.