How do you feel when the world tells you your child is a genius?
PROUD
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

PHOTO BY ROB PRICE Margery and Gene Edwards of Bath share a scrapbook of their son, Marc, at their home. The Edwardses learned last week their son has been awarded a $500,000 MacArthur grant for his work in environmental engineering.

BATH - Most parents believe their children are geniuses, even if the rest of the world hasn't tumbled onto that fact.

But a Bath couple recently had the rare pleasure of seeing their child recognized as extraordinary when their son recently was awarded one of 24 prestigious MacArthur awards for 2007. Known popularly as the "genius grant," the MacArthur award this year provides $500,000 to each award winner, distributed in $100,000 increments over five years.

Gene and Margery Edwards of Magnolia Street, Bath, learned two weeks ago their son, , Professor Marc Edwards of Virginia Tech, would be recognized by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for his research into lead contamination in the Washington D.C. municipal water system.

Edwards received official word of his award from the MacArthur Foundation last week.

In spite of the award's nickname, the Edwardses joke their son is technically not a genius. "He is a dedicated hardworking man," Mrs. Edwards says. "He is a very sensitive kid who drives himself mercilessly."

Marc Edwards is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, where he has been teaching since 1997. His research has focused on water safety issues, such as bacterial contamination and pipe corrosion.

While investigating a water problem at a private residence in Washington, D.C. in 2003, he discovered high levels of lead in the municipal water system - a contamination that can cause serious developmental problems in children and kidney and high blood pressure problems in adults.

His discovery led to pitched battles between Edwards himself, the Environmental Protection Agency, th e Washington D.C. school system, and the District itself. In the process, Edwards testified before six congressional hearings and spent thousands of dollars of his own money seeking public documents through the Freedom of Information Act.

"He took on the Washington establishment," his father says.

Contacted at his office on the Virginia Tech campus, Edwards told The Courier he will use a portion of the award to settle personal debts tied to his research. The remainder will be used to fund student research at Virginia Tech.

Edwards was born in Hornell in 1964 and spent the first two years of his life in Troupsburg, where his father was superintendent of the then-Troupsburg Central School District. The family moved to Arcade in 1966, where the elder Edwards continued his work in school administration at the Pioneer Central School district. They later moved to Ripley, where Marc Edwards graduated as the class valedictorian (Both his parents were valedictorians of their graduating high school classes).

The Edwards home, where Marc grew up with a brother and two sisters, was devoted to education in general and science in particular. While a science and math teacher at Troupsburg, Gene Edwards was awarded a National Science Foundation Scholarship for 1959, 1960 and 1961 to study science education at Syracuse University. The scholarship was created by Congress in the aftermath of the 1957 Sputnik launch in an effort to improve the teaching of science in high schools.

Marc Edwards grew up amidst pet fish and science projects, his parents recall. His mother remembers finding a bowl of murky water in his bedroom; Edwards explained he was raising mosquito larvae to feed his fish.

The elder Edwardses in 2002 moved to Bath, where Mrs. Edwards' sister, the late Iva Lou Trant, was living. Mrs. Trant's husband was the late Gene Trant, a former superintendent of the Haverling school district. They visit their son, Marc, and his family at least three times a year: when they drive south to a home in Florida, then on the way back to Bath; Marc Edwards brings his family to Bath for yearly visits.

Science remains a key concern with the family. While lecturing in Japan, for instance, Marc Edwards enjoys observing there are 10 scientists for every lawyer in Japan, while 10 lawyers for every scientist in the US.

But the business of education in general remains their life's work. "We valued education at home," Mrs. Edwards says, "with the understanding all of our children would be going to college. And they grew up knowing they were going to college."