ACGIH Announces 2021 Election Results

10/01/2020

Cincinnati, Ohio – October 1, 2020 – ACGIH^® is pleased to announce new members for its 2021 Board of Directors and its 2021 Nominating Committee.

ACGIH^®’s membership elected three (3) members to serve as Directors on the Board of Directors. They are:

Tom Peters, PhD, CIH. Dr. Peters is a Professor at The University of Iowa, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health. He directs the Industrial Hygiene Program and teaches Control of Occupational Contaminants and Aerosol Technology. Dr. Peters holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Florida and a PhD from the University of North Carolina. Dr. Peters develops novel sampling methods that he then applies to understand and control aerosols in the workplace and the environment. He developed a nanoparticle respiratory deposition sampler that collects nanoparticles with efficiency similar to that in the respiratory tract and a personal diffusion battery to assess exposures to submicrometer aerosols. He applies hazard mapping with direct-reading instruments, networks of passive samplers to assess inter-urban spatial variability of particulate matter, and low-cost sensors to assess noise, particles, ozone, and carbon monoxide in large manufacturing facilities. He developed methods to assess airborne engineered nanomaterials apart from background aerosols through activity monitoring with direct-read instruments and computer-controlled single-particle electron microscopy of collected particles. He also developed passive sampling techniques to investigate the variability in composition of coarse particles in the atmosphere and contributed to the development of EPA’s standard for PM2.5. Dr. Peters served as an expert participant in the US-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Work Group on Science and Technology (Nanotechnology Sub-group). Dr. Peters will serve a three-year term.

Pam Susi, MSPH, CIH. Ms. Susi has over 25 years of experience as an industrial hygienist. She currently works 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. She has also served as a consultant for the New Jersey Work Environment Council providing support to the New Jersey Education Association since 2016. Prior to working as an industrial hygienist, she completed a four-year apprenticeship and worked as a journeyman carpenter. Ms. Susi is a Board-certified Industrial Hygienist with a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research has had practical applications beginning with her master’s project which led to restricted use of methanol-based duplicator fluids in NC schools until more recent efforts that contributed to the development of dust control regulations for construction in Philadelphia. While at CPWR, she worked with the Philadelphia Building Trades Council and Drexel University towards the development of a safety and health certificate program for construction programs and served as an adjunct professor between 2003 and 2005. Ms. Susi served as a member of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Mixed Exposures Team between 1997 and 2006 and as a co-author of a white paper on mixed exposure research priorities. 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. Ms. Susi will serve a three-year term.

Ted T. Zellers, PhD. Dr. Zellers is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS), School of Public Health, at the University of Michigan. He is also a Professor of Chemistry and a Faculty Affiliate in Applied Physics at Michigan. He earned a BA in chemistry from Rutgers University, and an MS and PhD in EHS from The University of California, Berkeley. From 1978–1981 he worked as a synthetic chemist at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Dr. Zellers has worked at the intersection of industrial hygiene (IH), chemistry, and electrical engineering for his 33-year academic career. He is an internationally recognized expert in micro-analytical systems for complex organic vapor mixtures. His work in this area has brought significant technological advances to bear directly on problems related to worker exposure monitoring, indoor air quality assessments, breath analysis, ambient-air monitoring, explosives detection, etc. He has co-authored over 150 peer-reviewed articles and other scholarly publications, and is a co-inventor of several patented technologies. As the IH Program Director at Michigan for the last 21 years, Dr. Zellers has led that program through three ABET accreditation cycles, four competitive NIOSH training grant renewals, and maintaining it as one of leading such programs in the country. He has taught numerous IH lecture and laboratory courses, primarily on the evaluation of workplace chemical hazards, and has mentored a substantial number of graduate students in research. Dr. Zellers is an active member of Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB) and the Developing World Outreach Initiative (DWOI). In 2016, he launched a global occupational health (GOH) initiative at Michigan that included new courses in GOH, a community outreach effort called the Michigan Health Nail Salon Cooperative (MHNSC), and several other opportunities for students. In 2018, he was part of a team that delivered a week-long OHTA course to occupational health professionals in Hanoi, Vietnam. He is a long-standing member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Hygiene, and served as the ACGIH^® representative to the JOEH Board of Directors from 2013–2015. He has also served on numerous AIHA technical committees in the past. Dr. Zellers will serve a second three-year term.

The 2021 ACGIH^® Nominating Committee includes three elected members who will serve a one-year term. They are:

Martin A. Cohen, ScD, CIH, CSP. Dr. Cohen is an industrial hygienist and Principal Lecturer in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) at the University of Washington. Prior to that he worked with the State of Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries, Safety and Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) Program for a number of years where he conducted applied occupational health and safety research and surveillance projects. He then went on to direct the Exposure Assessment Center for a large air pollution epidemiology study based at the University of Washington called, MESA Air Pollution. In 2008, Dr. Cohen joined the Field Research and Consultation Group in DEOHS, where he was an industrial hygienist and conducted occupational health and safety research and service projects throughout the state. He currently directs the group and in addition, teaches and is the Department’s Assistant Chair for Stakeholder Engagement. Dr. Cohen earned his Doctorate of Science in exposure assessment from the Harvard School of Public Health, his Master of Science in air pollution control from the Harvard School of Public Health, and Bachelor of Science in environmental health from Purdue University. As a faculty member at the University of Washington, Dr. Cohen often encourages a wide range of students to enter the field. Over the years, he has seen a change in the students entering the field, toward a group that better reflects the diversity of our population. One of his primary goals as a member of the ACGIH^®’s Nominating Committee would be to find potential members to serve in leadership roles that reflect these changes in the field.

John S. Morawetz, ScM. Mr. Morawetz served on the ACGIH^® Board of Directors from 2013–2016 and was Treasurer from 2015–2016. He is the Director of the International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC) Center for Worker Health and Safety Education in Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1988, Mr. Morawetz has built the Center into a nationally recognized worker training Center that operates through five federal grants and a Consortium of 10 trade union organizations with the University of Cincinnati and the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics. The ICWUC Center trains participants in Industrial, Hospital and School Chemical Emergency Response, Infectious Disease, COVID and Disaster Preparedness. The Center uses adult education techniques with an extensive worker trainer program to develop rank and file workers as trainers in both classroom and web classes. Mr. Morawetz received his ScM degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1983 and then worked at NIOSH and the International Molders Union. At NIOSH, he assisted in constructing a retrospective exposure matrix for an ethylene oxide mortality study that earned the Alice Hamilton Award. From 1996–2006, Mr. Morawetz served on an EPA Risk Assessment Committee setting Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs), with a focus on the evaluation and use of human studies.

Michael A. Valigosky, PhD, CIH, CSP. Dr. Valigosky is an Assistant Professor at The University of Toledo (UT), performing research, teaching and advising in the MSOH and MPH programs. He earned his PhD from UT in Health Education and a Master of Science degree in Occupational Health from the Medical College of Ohio. Prior to joining the faculty at UT he worked for over 25 years as an industrial hygienist and Director of UT’s Environmental Health and Radiation Safety Department. Dr. Valigosky remains active in his local section of AIHA most recently serving as president for the second time. His research interests include the environmental and occupational effects of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, evaluation of healthcare associated injuries/illnesses and emergency response and preparedness. He holds certification as an industrial hygienist and safety professional and has been a member of ACGIH^® since 1992.

These three elected members will be joined by the three Board Members whose terms expire in 2020 – Sheryl A. Milz, PhD, MOD, CIH, FAIHA, J. Torey Nalbone, PhD, CIH, FAIHA, and Donald M. Weekes, CIH, CSP – to make up the six member 2021 Nominating Committee.

Note to Reporters:  Photos are available upon request.

ACGIH^® is a 501(c)(3) charitable scientific organization that advances occupational and environmental health. ACGIH^® is one of the industry’s leading publications resources, with approximately 400 titles relative to occupational and environmental health and safety, including the renowned TLVs^® and BEIs^®. For more information, visit the ACGIH^® website at www.acgih.org or call our Customer Service Representatives at 513-742-2020.