RTI Media Contact: Reid Maness, [email protected], 919-541-7044
ACS media contact: Christina Curtin, [email protected] (202) 872-4400
RTI Researcher Receives International Award for Developing Methods to Detect and Measure Air Pollution
March 20 --
Chemist Radhakrishna M. Jayanty, Ph.D., has been honored by the world's largest scientific society for developing methods to detect and accurately measure air pollution. He will receive the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology at the Society's national meeting in San Francisco, March 28.
In Jayanty's honor, the ACS meeting includes a scientific symposium on environmental chemistry. http://gemini.tntech.edu/~mjw5030/sf2000/sfpgm.html
In the meeting's exhibit hall, at booth 1350, RTI will highlight the accomplishments of its chemistry research and development programs, which range from environmental chemistry to medicinal chemistry. The ACS meeting is March 26-30.
In the 1960s, researchers learned that automotive emissions were causing more than half the air pollution in the United States, said Jayanty, a senior environmental chemist at Research Triangle Institute. The combination of unburned hydrocarbons from gasoline (such as benzene and toluene), nitrogen oxides and sunlight favors formation of ground-level ozone, or smog, which aggravates respiratory problems (http://www.epa.gov/oms/18-youdo.htm).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a research program (http://www.epa.gov/nerl/) to determine how best to measure exposure to air pollution accurately. "Unless you know how much pollutant a person is breathing, you can't control it," said Jayanty. Sources of pollution even include products like anti-perspirant, hair spray and paint (http://www.epa.gov/iaq/homes.html).
EPA provided funds for Jayanty and his research team (http://www.rti.org/units/ese/cemqa/labs/or_meth.cfm) to develop measuring techniques and devices. "They needed to be simple, inexpensive and use commercially available components," he explained. "We did the initial work, and subsequently the EPA proposed our methods for use in state monitoring agencies throughout the country. Many of these methods were also adopted worldwide."
The challenge was twofold: developing collection methods specific enough to capture individual or families of pollutants, and collecting samples sufficiently concentrated for accurate analysis. Jayanty's research involved both.
For 15 years, information has been gathered on the stability of organic compounds in the compressed gas cylinders used to calibrate the instruments to monitor air quality, he said. His team has also conducted laboratory and field evaluations of many measurement methods proposed by EPA.
Jayanty, a native of Andhra Pradesh, India, said he began a career in chemistry because his parents encouraged him. "I was hesitant at first, because I wanted to become an engineer - but it's turned out to be a good decision," he said.
The ACS Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology is sponsored by Air Products and Chemicals Inc. of Allentown, Pa.
Jayanty is the second RTI chemist to receive one of the ACS' prestigious awards. In 1998, Monroe E. Wall, Ph.D., received the biennial ACS award in medicinal chemistry, the Alfred Burger Award (http://www.rti.org/research/pharm_pioneers.cfm).
A nonprofit organization with a membership of 161,000 chemists and chemical engineers, the American Chemical Society (http://www.acs.org) publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences, and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
Jayanty also is the recipient of these awards:
1991, the Air and Waste Management Association's Frank A. Chambers Award for outstanding contributions to the science and art of air pollution control.
1994, named a fellow of the Air and Waste Management Association, becoming the 40th person so honored. The Association cited Dr. Jayanty's contributions to the measurement of toxic air pollutants, and called his research on the stability of trace organic compounds in environmental media "unique and valuable to the scientific community throughout the world."
2000, the annual Distinguished Lecturer Award from the American Chemical Society North Carolina Section.
1996, Distinguished Chemist of the Year by the North Carolina Institute of Chemists, a division of the American Institute of Chemists.
1994, certified by the Institute of Professional Environmental Practice as a Qualified Environmental Professional.
# # #
RSS