Christopher Frey, civil, construction, and environmental engineering professor, was selected by the Air and Waste Management Association’s Board of Directors to receive the 2012 Lyman A. Ripperton Environmental Educator Award.
The award, given to an educator who has achieved something in some field of air pollution control, was created in 1980. Those who receive the award are judged by the performance of their students. The basic idea is to award an educator that has helped students achieve professional and social success, according to the Air and Waste Management Association.
Frey’s accomplishment will be honored at the A&WMA’s 105th Annual Conference and Exhibition in June.
The award winners are recognized namely by their students’ achievements. This semester at N.C . State, Frey’s classes include air quality, principles of air quality engineering, and environmental exposure and risk analysis.
Frey said he was nominated based on his work with undergraduate and graduate research assistants, student advising and positive student evaluations. Some of Frey’s students have gotten attention for their own research work, including Brandon Graver, a graduate teacher and research assistant, who was featured in the Southeastern Transportation Center’s Summer 2010 Research Spotlight for his work on measuring the emissions, activity and energy use of passenger trains.
Frey is the faculty advisor of the N.C . State chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association. He also serves on the US Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, as well as the Board of Environmental Studies and the Toxicology of the National Research Council.
Frey was chosen to receive the Environmental Educator Award because of his research and teaching contributions in the areas of air pollution emissions, exposure and risk assessment, and systems analysis of energy technologies.
According to the A&WMA, the award is distinctive because “recipients must be able to teach with rigor, humor, humility and pride.”
Many past winners of this award are extremely well known in their fields, according to Frey. He said he is excited and honored to be in such company.
“I am very honored to receive the award– a lot of past recipients are generally [very] well-known in their fields,” Frey said.
Currently, Frey said much of his work and research is focused on measuring car, truck and railroad locomotive emissions. Additionally, he said he’s working with undergraduate and graduate students to measure human exposure to air pollution.
To continue to make strides in air pollution control research and education, Frey said he is trying to get students involved with his work. Frey wants students to be hands-on and active in emissions-related research.
