Col. Timmes is a VMI graduate (Class of 1992) and a professional engineer who served for over 25 years in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. As an Army Environmental Engineer, he conducted extensive drinking water and wastewater system characterizations and public health threat assessments throughout the U.S. and overseas in Macedonia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Italy, Germany, and Norway. He commanded the Headquarters Company of the U.S. Army Chemical Activity-Pacific on Johnston Atoll during its closure as a chemical agent demilitarization site and served as a Jumpmaster with the 82d Airborne Division. He taught a variety of academic subjects on the faculty at the US Military Academy (West Point) for six years. Col. Timmes commanded the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research in Fort Detrick, Maryland, and served as the Director for Environmental Health Sciences and Engineering at the Army Public Health Center before retiring from Active Duty to join the VMI Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.
Col. Timmes has a Masters Degree and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, specializing in lead and copper corrosion control and coagulation pretreatment options prior to membrane filtration. His academic and research interests include water quality, electrocoagulation, military field drinking water, water treatment plant optimization, and water system vulnerability assessments.