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EPA Administrator Honors Scholarship Program that Promotes Air Pollution Reduction Research

Release Date: 3/20/2003
Contact Information: Donna Heron, 215-814-5113

Donna Heron, 215-814-5113

PHILADELPHIA – The Air Pollution Educational and Research Scholarship Program is being honored today for its work in helping doctoral and post-doctoral students pursue much needed research careers in air pollution reduction.

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman recognized the scholarship program and 20 other recipients during the third annual Clean Air Excellence Award ceremony held in Washington, D.C. today. The Clean Air Excellence Awards honor outstanding innovative efforts to make progress in achieving cleaner air.

“From Kentucky to Colorado, and across the nation, these award winners are using innovative approaches to help make our nation’s air cleaner," said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. “I am proud to honor these pioneering individuals and organizations for using creative ideas, showing once again, that government and industry working together can achieve a healthy environment without sacrificing economic growth. The winners of the Clean Air Excellence Awards are real-life examples of how one person -- or one organization -- can take steps to reduce pollution.”

The Air Pollution Educational and Research Scholarship Program is sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic States Section of the Air and Waste Management Association in New York City. This program has advanced the science of improving air quality by giving four $25,000 scholarships annually to doctoral and post-doctoral students who are pursuing research to reduce air pollution.

The scholarships are offered in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York. The 2002 winners include Yongtaek Choi of Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa., for “Fuel cell grade hydrogen from methanol;” Dr. Yen-chih Chen of Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa., for “Mechanistic study of microbial mediated odor production of wastewater biosolids;” and Muserref Turkmen of the University of Delaware, Newark, Del., for “Investigation of odor production and transport from digested biosolids and optimal control strategies.”

The Clean Air Excellence Awards program was established in 2000 by the U.S. EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation at the recommendation of the Clean Air Act advisory committee, a senior-level policy committee that advices EPA on implementation of the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990. The awards are dedicated to the memory of Thomas W. Zosel, an original member of the Clean Air Act advisory committee, who was an internationally-recognized authority on clean air, pollution prevention and other environmental issues.

Winners must directly or indirectly reduce emissions of the Clean Air Act’s criteria pollutants or other hazardous pollutants, demonstrate innovation and uniqueness, serve as a role model and achieve positive outcomes that are continuing and sustainable.