Alumni VITA
Gordon Cobb (BS-ChemE/EPP
1983)
Things couldn't have seemed worse when I graduated in 1983 - no job
offers and I hadn't planned on grad school. I pined away the summer
before accepting a one-year appointment as a mathematics teacher at
a high school in Northern Virginia. Rethinking my career path,
I entered the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering
at The Johns Hopkins University and completed the requirements
for a Ph.D. in environmental engineering in October 1989. An exciting
perk was winning the 17th Annual Engineering- Science/Association of
Environmental Engineering Professors Dissertation of the Year Award
in 1990 for my research in the area of bioreme-diation.
Following a short part-time consulting hitch
with Gannett Fleming in Baltimore during the last few months of my Ph.D.
research in 1988, my wife, Kathy, and I moved back to Northern Virginia
in early 1989, where I took a part-time position with ENVIRON Corporation,
an environmental consulting firm, while I finished my dissertation.
Our daughter, Brittany, was born in April 1989, which set back the completion
of my dissertation by a few months, but was one of the greatest joys
of my life.
I have remained with ENVIRON since 1989 and
am currently involved mostly in due diligence investigations of industrial
properties as part of mergers and acquisitions. My work involves
a fair amount of travel and I have seen a good part of the country,
though rarely the most scenic places. In my spare time, I accepted
part-time teaching positions in microbiology and wastewater treatment
at both The Catholic University of America and Johns Hopkins, but recently
"retired" from these positions to spend more time with my family and
to pursue other interests (send me an e-mail and I'll share those things
with you personally). E-mail: Cobb@environcorp.com.
Academy Committee Proposes
that NIH Seek Greater Public Input on Research Priorities
A committee of the Institute of Medicine has concluded that the National
Institutes of Health should seek broader public inputs on decisions
about how to spend its nearly $14 billion budget. While the criteria
now being used are scientifically sound, the Committee argues that the
process could be made stronger, and achieve higher acceptance if the
public had more say.
As one of the Committee's 19 members, Baruch
Fischhoff (SDS/EPP) drew on his background in risk analysis, decision-making
and public participation, to assist the Committee in its deliberation.
The report, titled Scientific Opportunities and Public Needs: Improving
priority siting and public input at NIH, is available from the National
Academy Press.
Davidson Completes Sabbatical
Cliff Davidson (CEE/EPP) was on sabbatical leave at Chalmers University
in Gothenburg, Sweden during the 1997-98 academic year. Chalmers
is similar in size to CMU but is mostly devoted to engineering and science.
Cliff was in the Environmental Physics Department. His work there involved
three topics. First, he worked with other faculty and a group of .
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Ph.D. students on aerosol research,
focusing on field studies and modeling of pollutant deposition from the
atmosphere. Much of this work involved studying air pollutant damage
at the Domkyrkan Cathedral, a national historic landmark in downtown Gothenburg.
Second, he made arrangements to begin implementing an Environment Across
the Curriculum Program in a few of the undergraduate engineering classes
at Chalmers. He also held workshops at Lund University and the University
of Gothenburg on incorporating environmental issues into nonenvironmental
core courses. Finally, he visited industries in Gothenburg along
with other Chalmers faculty to learn about corporate environmental policies
in Sweden and to encourage links between industry and Chalmers through
joint research and educational activities.
Davidson reports that his corporate visits were
particularly interesting because Sweden is one of the most progressive
European countries in terms of environmental policy. It is the only
country in the European Union to adopt the "reversed burden of proof"
- by which companies must demonstrate that their activities will not damage
the environment. The Swedish environmental authorities have also specified
that companies must choose the least harmful chemical for a specific purpose,
and must continually strive to substitute environmentally safe processes
for those that are problematic. Each industry is responsible for making
these decisions, with the government overseeing the activities.
Where Are They Now?
EPP - Ph.D.
Graduate - 1989
John Toll
Division Manager, Toxicology and Chemistry
Parametrix, Inc.
5808 Lake Washington Blvd., NE
Kirkland, WA 98033
(206) 822-880 (tel); (206) 889-8808 (fax)
toll@parametrix.com
John manages a staff
of 35 people doing high-end ecological
and human health risk assessments, large
national environmental monitoring programs, a
full range of routine to research services in the aquatic
toxicology laboratory, sampling program design,
environmental statistics, and risk-cost analysis.
They are currently working in the US, Australia,
Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.
EPP - Ph.D. Graduate
- 1990
Cindy Atman
Director, Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching
University of Washington
Mechanical Engineering Building, Box 352650, Room G-5
Seattle, WA 98195-2650
(206) 616-2171 (tel)
(206) 685-3072 (fax)
atman@engr.washington.edu
Cindy has recently
been appointed Director of the newly established Center for Engineering
Learning and Teaching at the University of Washington, Seattle.
This Center has two missions 1) to conduct research on engineering student
learning, and 2) to help engineering faculty implement pedagogical change
in engineering classrooms.
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