P. Arne Vesilind received his undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Lehigh University and his Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of North Carolina. He spent a post-doctoral year with the Norwegian Institute for Water Research in Oslo and a year as a research engineer with Bird Machine Company. He joined the faculty at Duke University in 1970 where he served as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In 1999, he was appointed to the R. L. Rooke Chair of the Historical and Societal Context of Engineering at Bucknell University. He served in this capacity until his retirement in 2006.
Member of the National Academy of Sciences advisory panel. Former Professor of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University for 19 years.