A number of occupational and environmental safety and health professionals who’ve made extraordinary achievements in their sectors have received recognition lately:

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) engineer Lt. Michael Shahan was awarded the Green Medal at the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Joint Engineers Training Conference on May 25. The Green Medal is named in honor of Rear Adm. Richard Stedman Green, U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS). The medal is presented for outstanding contribution to public health engineering and science by a USPHS officer. LT Shahan is an engineer in the NIOSH Pittsburgh Mining Research Division. (Photo at right shows RADM Edward Dieser, USPHS Chief Engineer Officer, presenting LT Shahan with the Green Medal at SAME.)

NIOSH researcher John Sammarco (at left) is a finalist for a Service to America Medal, or “Sammie” award (also known as the “Oscars” of government service). Sammarco has a 30-year government research career and is nominated in the Career Achievement category. On May 8, all finalists were honored in Washington, D.C. as part of Public Service Recognition Week. 

Additionally, several NIOSH researchers and papers receive awards at the recent AIHce Expo:

Mark Hoover received the Herbert E. Stokinger Award. Hoover is a NIOSH senior research scientist, co-director of the NIOSH Center for Direct Reading and Sensor Technologies and coordinator of the NIOSH Exposure Assessment Program. As the award recipient, Hoover gave the Stokinger Lecture: The Importance of Confirming Protection from Risks in All the Places We Live, Learn, Work, and Play. This award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution in the broad field of industrial and environmental toxicology.

Charles Geraci received the Jeffrey S. Lee Lectureship. He is the associate director for NIOSH emerging technologies. As the award recipient, Geraci presented the Lee Lecture, “Big Bangs and Black Holes – Past, Present, and Future Opportunities and Challenges for Industrial Hygiene.” This award pays tribute to the late Dr. Lee whose unswerving dedication and immeasurable contributions to occupational health and safety worldwide will long serve as a legacy and an inspiration for those who serve in the profession.

Authors of the article “Transfer of Bacteriophage MS2 and Fluorescein From N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators to Hands: Measuring Fomite Potential” received the John M. White Award. The recipients are Tyler Brady, Amanda Strauch, Claudia Almaguer, George Niezgoda, Ronald Shaffer, Jr., Patrick L Yorio, and Edward Fisher. This award encourages scientific and application-oriented research in respiratory protection.

Authors of the article “Characterization of Chemical Contaminants Generated by a Desktop Fused Deposition Modeling 3-Dimentional Printer” received the Lila Albin Award. The recipients are Aleksandr Stefaniak, Ryan LeBouf, Jinghai Yi, Jason Ham, Timothy Nurkewicz, Diane Schwegler-Berry, Bean Chen, Raymond Wells, Matthew Dulling, Robert Lawrence, Stephen Martin Jr., Alyson Johnson, and Abbas Virji. This award recognizes an article published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, which provides practical information and expands the knowledge base of IEQ professionals, addresses a critical IEQ issue, and presents the topic clearly and engagingly.