David Sample is an associate professor and extension specialist in the department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he has worked since 2008.  As urban areas expand, the amount of impervious surfaces increases, resulting in large increases in runoff. This causes numerous downstream flooding, water quality, and ecological impacts.  Dr. Sample’s research focuses upon improving the management of urban stormwater at its source. Dr. Sample’s research program has advanced the design of best management practices (BMPs), which are a means of treating runoff to improve resulting water quality. Outputs from his work include improved mathematical models and monitoring techniques for assessing BMP performance. These outputs support improved design. Better designed BMPs are more predictable, and will achieve greater pollution reduction at lower costs, which will lead to improved surface water quality. Dr. Sample’s extension/outreach program integrates his research activities, and has increased awareness of water quality issues and disseminated knowledge on effective stormwater management through fact sheets and workshops. A recent example of one of his workshops is “Urban Stormwater Modeling for Effective Design of Best Management Practices” was cosponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).  This workshop focuses upon the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Storm Water Management Model (SWMM).  Dr. Sample’s extension program reaches audiences such as Extension Agents, consulting engineers, planners, elected officials, and the general public.
Dr. Sample received a BS and ME from the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL) in environmental engineering and a PhD from the University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) in Civil Engineering (Water resources). He is a registered Professional Engineer in Virginia, and is board certified by the Academy of Water Resource Engineers. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Sample has previously worked for 22 years in consulting and municipal government. He has authored or coauthored over 150 journal articles, conference proceedings and/or presentations, extension publications, and reports. Dr. Sample is a registered engineer with experience in government and consulting.