ACGIH 2023 Election Results

11/09/2023

ACGIH is pleased to announce the results of our recent Board of Directors and Nominating Committee election. Congratulations to all the 2023 election winners!

Jack Caravanos, DrPH, CIH will remain Chair for 2024, and COL(Ret.) Mary S. Lopez, PhD, CPE will become Treasurer.

Three Active Members were elected to serve on the Board of Directors for a 3-year term:

Representing Academia/Government:

Torey Nalbone, Ph.D., CIH, FAIHA. “When asked to consider service on the ACGIH Board again as a Director, I was certainly humbled.  My first tenure on the ACGIH Board was as Vice Chair Elect eventually becoming the Board Chair.  I served a second year as Chair when the governance now called for the Board to select it Chair among the board members. This was certainly a transitional period for in both its governance and its operations.  Five years later I again ran for the Board Director position and was selected to participate in a Board moving forward with those changes and learning different mechanisms to provide for the membership many were started but certainly not finished.  If elected to rejoin the Board, I would be grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to serve the membership for another term to assist in the completion of the transformation of a professional organization started over 10 years ago. As a member of the Board I am committed to protecting the principle that ACGIH service to the occupational and environmental health profession is a professional trust and in some cases clearly an agent for our members success and to make the resources of the organization available to All in the OEHS profession.”

“If elected, I bring previous non-profit board experiences in intellectual property rights management, fund raising and product delivery along with reliance in a diverse professional career to focus on four specific goals over the next three years.  The focus is to capitalize on the Association’s ACGIH plus years of organizational history, reputation, and context worldwide of getting the science in the hands of practitioners worldwide. The first goal, to continue pushing forward to define and develop a climate and culture for ACGIH to prosper as a 501(c)(3) charitable scientific organization (non-profit). Second, continue to work with leaders in the profession to develop and disseminate new knowledge and practices that support greater global participation.  A third is to promote a compelling business model for ACGIH, one that enhances the members’ experience, and embraces appreciation for the hardworking ACGIH staff as part of our overall change efforts. Finally, explore NEW and innovative opportunities to embolden the public visibility of products and services that result.  In summary, that ACGIH clearly offers an inter-connected continuum of products for exposure perception, planning and prevention which are backed by nine decades of a steadfast commitment to excellence and integrity.”

Dr. Nalbone is Associate Dean of the College of Engineering for Academics and Student Engagement at the University of Texas at Tyler.  The College offers seven different engineering degrees and currently has over 35 faculty and nearly 1000 students in undergraduate and graduate studies.  His degrees are from Baylor University, University of Texas at Dallas, and Texas A&M University where he earned his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Engineering (focus on Health Protection Engineering).  He has been a continuous member of ACGIH since 1985 and has practiced industrial hygiene for over 40 years in a variety of settings which field/lab work, regulatory enforcement, regulatory oversight/management, teaching, research, and consulting.

He has served on scientific committees of ACGIH in both member and leadership roles and his volunteer experience includes Director Positions on the Academy of Industrial Hygiene (AIH) Secretary Treasurer, 4 years on the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), 2 as Chair and most recently 4 years on the ACGIH board, 2 as Chair.  He has also served on boards in his community for children’s museum and the local symphony.  For the last 15 years he has been most involved in the continuous improvement to industrial hygiene education through ANSAC-ABET. He is a member of the Executive Committee for the Applied and Natural Sciences Accreditation Commission (ABET – ANSAC).  Serving as Commission chair from 2018 to 2019.

His continued professional service includes AIHA committees, such as Engineering, Noise Control and several technical committees of ASTM.  Dr. Nalbone is an AIHA Fellow and 2017 recipient of the ACGIH Meritorious Achievement Award.

Pam Susi, MSPH, CIH. Pamela Susi has over 30 years of experience as an industrial hygienist.   She most recently worked for Pennsylvania OSHA Consultation at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). Prior to that she served as the Exposure Assessment Program Director for CPWR – the Center for Construction Research and Training for 23 years.  Ms. Susi is Board-certified with a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Prior to entering the field of industrial hygiene, Ms. Susi worked as a journeyman carpenter following a four-year apprenticeship.  It was during those years that she saw firsthand the dangers of work.   Construction not only presented serious safety hazards, but also health hazards including those found on industrial rehabilitation and maintenance projects such as the smelter and chemical plant she worked on.  Health hazards were even more of a concern, in some respects, since the exposure risk was unknown.

While at CPWR she co-chaired, with NIOSH, an Engineering and Work Practice Controls Work Group for construction for twenty-two years.  She conducted research on exposure and control of silica and hexavalent chromium in construction and participated in the preparation of comments submitted to OSHA on behalf of North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) during OSHA rulemaking for the Silica and Hexavalent Chromium Standards. She has co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications.  She has also served as a consultant for the New Jersey Work Environment Council providing support to the New Jersey Education Association.  Ms. Susi was elected to serve on the ACGIH Board of Directors in 2020. She views the work of ACGIH as foundational to our profession; it provides the tools necessary to evaluate and control hazards in the workplace, which are always evolving.

Representing Industry/Labor:

Stephanie Lynch PhD, CSP, COHC is the Senior Technology and Research Manager at OHD, LLLP in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Vice President of the International Society of Respiratory Protection (ISRP). At OHD, Dr. Lynch manages research projects, serves on local, national, and international associations, and provides internal and external training on industrial hygiene topics.

Dr. Lynch has over 20 years of experience in industrial hygiene and safety across multiple industries and is a skilled researcher with a broad knowledge of respirator fit testing, air monitoring, noise exposure and monitoring, heat stress prevention, and ergonomics. With that specialized background, Dr. Lynch focuses on refreshing and expanding research, advancing partnerships with regulatory agencies, fostering new product development initiatives, and supporting efforts to advance occupational safety and health globally.

Dr. Lynch is passionate about education. In addition to leading the ISRP’s Education Committee, she is an adjunct professor at University of North Alabama and trainer for an OSHA Training Institute, University of Alabama SafeState. Dr. Lynch combines her varied background, extensive education, and passion for worker health, safety, and well-being to provide students a well-rounded education while offering perspectives on different avenues to apply principles and pursue or advance a career in occupational safety and health.

The 2024 ACGIH Nominating Committee will include three elected Active Members to serve a one-year term:

Representing Academia and Government:

Cynthia Cooper, CIH. Ms. Cooper is a board-certified industrial hygienist with more than 35 years of experience in comprehensive health and safety practice with 30 years of specialized industrial hygiene consultation with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Division of Safety & Hygiene (DSH). In this role, she has provided industrial hygiene risk assessments to hundreds of Ohio employers. She also served as the Industrial Hygiene Technical Advisor for DSH. In this role, she oversaw external reporting processes, internal quality analysis, and provided professional development opportunities for IH colleagues. She is currently serving as Manager of Quality Assurance & Technical Support for DSH Field Safety Services. In this role Ms. Cooper manages a team of technical advisors that provides internal professional development, maintains a high-quality technical reporting, and develops technical resources. She also serves as a Director on the Executive Board of Ohio Valley Section of American Industrial Hygiene Association.

Seth Ebersviller, PhD, CIH. I am a fairly new CIH, but I have been doing environmental and occupational health research for about 20 years. I have worked in a variety of settings in areas of R&D, industry, manufacturing, engineering, genetics, genomics, toxicology, air pollution, and water analysis. I also worked for the US EPA in Research Triangle Park (RTP, NC) for a few years researching emissions from combustion technologies used for cooking around the world. I have been teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in the Department of Environmental, Safety, and Occupational Health at the University of Findlay since 2015, but I’ve been a teacher/instructor for 25 years (mainly classes in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, and a slew of Environmental and Occupational Health topics). I also have an active research program using both indoor and outdoor atmospheric reaction chambers to do air pollution research relevant to a variety of settings in industry and the environment.

Though I have been in Ohio for the last 8 years, I’m originally from Minnesota. I have also lived in North Dakota, Tennessee, and North Carolina so, given the amount of time I lived in each place, I’m about 1/2 Yankee and 1/2 Southerner (not that any self-respecting Southerner would ever agree to that). I attended St. Olaf College in MN for 1 year before transferring to TN Tech, where I graduated with a BS in Chemistry (and a minor in Art). I earned my PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Toxicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where I met my rock star wife, Dr. Kim Lichtveld).

Other than my family, my main interests are music, movies, woodworking, and trying to figure out how my dog can be as dumb as he is, and as smart as he is, at the same time….

Representing Industry/Labor:

Beth Angus, CIH. Beth is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) who has worked at Safex since 2015. In her role as an industrial hygienist, she performs qualitative and quantitative industrial hygiene assessments in multiple industries. Her specialties include developing industrial hygiene sampling plans, area and personal exposure monitoring for chemical and physical hazards and ventilation system assessments. She also conducts training on hazard communication, bloodborne pathogens, respirator fit testing and use, emergency response and assists with instructing the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA) Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene and Beyond Industrial Hygiene Fundamentals courses.

At Safex, Beth partners with numerous clients for their industrial hygiene needs. Her current projects include supporting a large plastics manufacturer and several steel manufacturing and processing facilities with their exposure assessment programs. She also spent six months supporting a health care facility as they implemented new safety programs to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Beth routinely performs indoor air quality evaluations, to evaluate moisture intrusion and airborne surface and fungal concentrations, in a variety of commercial and residential properties. Additionally, she advises customers and contractors on remediation strategies and conducts pre- and post-remediation evaluations.

Prior to joining Safex, Beth had a one-year internship where she provided industrial hygiene and safety services in offices, laboratories and industrial settings and created a procedure manual for BSL-2 certification.

Beth is the 2020 winner of the American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists’ John J. Bloomfield Award, which is presented annually to a young industrial hygienist who has made significant contributions to the profession by pursuing occupational health hazards, primarily through fieldwork.

Beth serves on the Conference Programming Committee, Social Concerns Committee and ACTIONS (Government Relations and Advocacy) Committee for the American Industrial Hygiene Association and has served as a guest participant on the American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists Board of Directors. Beth earned a Master of Public Health in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Arizona and has a B.S. in Microbiology from Virginia Tech.