AIHA^® Named Awards

AIHA values the profession and our members by providing opportunities and resources to share their work and recognize those who exemplify excellence and leadership. AIHA Named Awards are given to industrial hygienists and other occupational and environmental health and safety professionals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in contributing to the growth and development of the profession.
AIHA members have a chance to recognize and elevate their peers for their dedicated commitments to health and safety in the workplace. In many cases, some of those recognized are not AIHA members. The overriding factor is that these individuals’ efforts significantly strengthen IH/OEHS professionals’ capabilities and improve the health and safety of workers around the world because that kind of work needs to be recognized, valued, and honored.

Edward J. Baier Technical Achievement Award Perry W. Logan, PhD, CIH Nominated by Jennifer Sahmel, MPH, CIH, CSP, FAIHA Without a doubt, Perry Logan has been one of the top technical contributors to the profession. He obtained his PhD in Environmental Health and Industrial Hygiene at the University of Minnesota in 2010. While he has made many impressive technical contributions to AIHA and the profession including in the academic study and application of leadership to industrial hygiene roles (something he has successfully practiced himself as the Global Director of Environment, Health, Safety, and Management at 3M Corporation), his most important technical contributions are in the critical arena of professional judgement by industrial hygienists. This topic is a fundamental, yet often misunderstood or misinterpreted aspect of the practice of industrial hygiene.
During his doctoral research, Perry took on the critical analysis and research needed to better scientifically characterize and statistically improve the process of industrial hygiene professional judgment, something most of us in the profession use in some way nearly every day. Though this research, he helped to highlight the critical parameters surrounding the appropriate application of qualitative professional judgement. He also demonstrated the limitations to professional judgment, and identified what information was necessary to make accurate professional judgments.
A key tool in the appropriate use of professional judgment has also been the use of Bayesian Data Analysis, and Perry has been an important promoter of this critical tool for industrial hygiene decision-making.
He has written book chapters and served as a presenter in many training courses and seminars on this important tool. Some of Perry’s key publications and contributions on this topic include: “Desktop study of occupational exposure judgments: Does education and experience influence accuracy?” in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, “Occupational Exposure Decisions: Can Limited Data Interpretation Training Help Improve Accuracy?”, published in the Annals of Occupational Hygiene, and “Rating Exposure Control using Bayesian Decision Analysis” published in the Journal of Occupational and Industrial Hygiene.
This award is given to the individual or group of individuals, company, organization, or association that has made the most significant contribution to industrial hygiene in recent years through technical expertise, innovations, or scientific advancement.

Distinguished Service to AIHA Award Chris Laszcz-Davis, MS, CIH, COH, FAIHA, AIC Fellow Nominated by S. Zack Mansdorf, PhD, CIH, CSP, QEP, FAIHA and Lynn O’Donnell, CIH, FAIHA As Founder & President of The Environmental Quality Organization (EQO) LLC, Chris Laszcz-Davis has over 35 years of executive management, professional, operational, technical, and consulting experience in occupational safety & health, environmental affairs, operational integrity, risk management, product stewardship/product quality, strategic planning, auditing, and corporate acquisitions/divestitures in industry and government.
Chris is a Fellow of both the AIHA and American Institute of Chemists (AIC), a recipient of the AIHA Kusnetz Award, the AIHA Alice Hamilton Award, the AIHA-Yuma Pacific Southwest Section Clayton Award, and the AIHA-Northern California Section Dr. Christine Einert Award. As Past President, American Academy of Industrial Hygiene (AIH), Chris was instrumental in having the profession sponsor its first major Fall Conference on Risk Assessment in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada back in the early 1990s.
Service to the global professional community has earmarked Chris’s career. Over the years, she has served as a Director, American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), and the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH); Trustee, American Industrial Hygiene Foundation (AIHF); Appointee to both the International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); US Department of Commerce appointed member, Board of Examiners, Malcolm National Quality Award; President, AIHA’s Northern California and Yuma Pacific Southwest Local Sections; President, California Industrial Hygiene Council (CIHC), a consortium of California’s local sections; Board Member, NIOSH’s Federal Board of Scientific Counsellors (BSC), one of 15 nationally appointed scientists; and appointee to ASSP’s strategic Council on Professional Affairs (COPA).
This award recognizes distinguished service in the advancement of industrial hygiene, unique technical contributions to the aims and goals of AIHA, proven leadership in the industrial/occupational hygiene profession, influence on public policy or social reform, or public and community service.

Donald E. Cummings Memorial Award Alan Leibowitz, CIH, CSP, FAIHA Nominated by Celia A. Booth, CIH, CSP on behalf of the AIHA Leadership and Management Committee Drawing on his three-year tenure as the Chief Ethics Officer for ITT, Alan also serves as the Chair of the Joint Industrial Hygiene Ethics Education Committee, a group that advises ACGIH, AIHA, and BGC. In this position, he has authored a series of Synergist articles on ethics case studies to stimulate thought and conversation about ethics in our profession.
Alan’s earlier contributions to the profession include leading the development of the first edition of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z10 – “Safety and Health Management System Standard” from 2001 to 2005. He has written or co-authored the Management, Ethics, and Emergency Response chapters for the 2021 update to Patty’s Industrial Hygiene and the AIHA “White Book.” Alan also served as the editor for the first AIHA auditing manual Industrial Hygiene Auditing: A Manual for Practice (2007).
A Director in the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA) since 2016, Alan was a member of a team that published a new module on Health and Safety Awareness (2020). Alan’s participation in OHTA ensures that safety training curricula and materials are shared around the world to workers and employers who might not otherwise have access to this support. OHTA was formed to promote better standards of occupational hygiene practice throughout the world. The mainly volunteer-driven organization develops training materials and makes them freely available for use by students and training providers. It also promotes an international qualifications framework so that all hygienists are consistently trained to a high standard, recognized in all participating countries. Alan’s contributions to the knowledge and practice of the profession of industrial hygiene, his demonstrated practical application of industrial hygiene knowledge to protect worker health, and the acknowledgement of these contributions outside the field of industrial hygiene are an inspiration and challenge us to continue to improve to our profession.
This award is bestowed upon an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the knowledge and practice of industrial hygiene and who has been acknowledged for his/her contributions outside of the field of industrial hygiene.

Alice Hamilton Award Lydia Renton, B.Sc., CIH, ROH, FAIHA Nominated by Steven Thygerson, PhD, CIH With over 40 years of OHS work in Canada and throughout the world, Lydia Renton sets the bar very high for exceptional work in this noble profession. A native of Canada, Lydia has travelled the world as an OHS volunteer to offer expert services and training to build OHS capacity in developing countries. As an AIHA Fellow, she has passionately dedicated any spare time she has to serving on various AIHA and other organization’s committees and working groups. She is well-deserving of the Alice Hamilton Award as an outstanding example of one committed woman making a difference.
This award is presented to an outstanding woman who has made a definitive, lasting achievement in the field of occupational and environmental hygiene through public and community service, social reform, technological innovation, or advancements in the scientific approach to the recognition, evaluation, and control of workplace hazards.

Kusnetz Award Jennifer Lynn Holliday, CIH Nominated by Crystal C. Brown, CIH, CSP Jennifer Holliday is an exemplary young Industrial hygienist and advocate. Still under the age of 40 she has been a member of AIHA since 2016, has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health, has earned the title Certified Industrial Hygienist, and is currently preparing and striving to earn the title of Certified Safety Professional. She has served AIHA in several positions including as a student section member in 2013 and 2014, and Local Prairie Section President twice: once in 2017 and from 2019 to present, among additional Local Prairie Section board member positions. She has also chaired the Leadership and Advocacy subcommittee for the Women in Industrial Hygiene since 2018, working on the WIH Leadership Scholarship and the 2021 AIHce WIH summit. Additionally, she has written several articles for publications including The Synergist and BOHS Exposure Magazine and was selected to attend the Future Leaders Institute in 2018. Sponsored by Florence Kusnetz, this award honors a certified industrial hygienist who has reached his/her 40th birthday by May 1 of the year in which the award is presented, is currently employed in the private sector, exhibits high ethical standards and technical abilities, has provided for the highest standards of health and safety protection, and shows promise of leadership in the industrial hygiene profession.

Henry F. Smyth, Jr. Award S. Zack Mansdorf, PhD, CIH, CSP, QEP, FAIHA Nominated by Celia A. Booth, CIH, CSP on behalf of the AIHA Leadership and Management Committee During his distinguished career, Zack has consistently made substantial, evidence-based solutions and contributions in recognizing the diverse needs of the industrial hygiene profession, thereby making a major impact on, and the improvement of, the public welfare. His continuing contributions to our profession are an inspiration and will guide us into our future.
His contributions to the topic of sustainability include the authoring of the new chapter in Patty’s Industrial Hygiene, “Sustainability and the Role of the Safety and Health Professional,” (2021) and the Center for Health Sustainability’s “CSHS Best Practice Guide for Occupational Health and Safety in Sustainability Reports” (2016).
Drawing on his extensive career experience, Zack’s served as editor and as a contributing author of the Handbook of Occupational Safety and Health, 3rd Edition, Wiley (2019). This book was the culmination of over seven years of effort working with the authors, many of whom are pioneers in their fields, and the update has been described as “an ideal, go-to resource for those who need to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, and control conditions that can cause injury or illness to employees in the workplace.”
Zack is a current Director in the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA). He led the team that published a new module on Health and Safety Awareness (2020). OHTA was formed to promote better standards of occupational hygiene practice throughout the world. The mainly volunteer-driven organization develops training materials and makes them freely available for use by students and training providers. It also promotes an international qualifications framework so that all hygienists are trained consistently to a high standard, recognized in all participating countries.
A former Managing Principal Consultant with BSI EHS Services and Solutions (formerly EORM), Zack led a wide variety of safety, health and environmental projects ranging from process safety hazard analysis to evaluation to plume dispersion risk assessments for accident releases. His work included frequent travel to Asia for assessments. Prior to BSI, Zack was Senior Vice President of Safety, Health, Environment, for L’Oréal Worldwide. In this role, he had overall responsibility for safety, occupational health, and environment for 42 worldwide manufacturing sites, over 70 distribution sites and over 100 administrative centers around the world. L’Oréal has annual sales of approximately 25 billion dollars with more than 65,000 employees worldwide. Zack worked and lived in Paris, France. Prior to this work, he has held several other senior level positions in the US Army (retired Lt. Col.), Goodyear, Midwest Research Institute, Clayton Environmental Consultants, Liberty International Risk Services and Arthur D. Little Company. Zack spent almost 15 years as head of Mansdorf & Associates which was sold to Clayton Environmental Consultants in 1994.
Zack has a PhD, in Environmental Engineering from the University of Kansas, School of Engineering, with Masters’ degrees in EHS and Safety from the University of Michigan and Central Missouri State. He has certifications (by examination) in all three areas as well (QEP, CSP and CIH). He is a Past President of both the Academy of Industrial Hygiene and the AIHA, as well as a past Board member of the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP).
This award is presented to an individual who has recognized the needs of the industrial hygiene profession and has made major contributions to fulfill those needs, thereby contributing to the improvement of the public welfare.

Social Responsibility Award Back to Work Safely Task Force—Allan K. Fleeger, CIH, CSP, FAIHA and team lead; Hamid Arabzadeh, CIH, CSP, CHMM, FAIHA; David Beatty, MPH, CSP, CCEP; Corey Boles, PhD; Elizabeth Bussman, CIH ; Mark Drozdov, MS, SSM, FSM, BSI, RSO, CAI, CMA, GPRO; Carter Ficklen, CIH, CSP; Bernard L. Fontaine, Jr., CIH, CSP, FAIHA; Shannon Gaffney, PhD, MHS, CIH; Thomas G. Grumbles, CIH, FAIHA; John Henshaw, MPH, CIH, FAIHA; Dana Hollins, MPH, CIH; Catherine Hovde, CIH, CSP; Neva Jacobs, MSPH, CIH; Perry Logan, PhD, CIH; Heather Lynch, MPH; Eric Miller, MPH, CIH; Amber Hogan Mitchell, DrPH, MPH, CPH; Melanie D. Nembhard MSPH, CIH; Justine Parker, CIH, CSP, CHMM, CPH; Jennifer S. Pierce, MS, PhD; Aaron Schoemaker, CSP; Jack Springston, CIH, CSP, FAIHA; Ken Unice, MS; Rachel Zisook MS, CIH; Matt Zock, CIH Nominated by Celia Booth, CIH, CSP The Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic brought global shutdowns of businesses starting in March 2020. Anticipating the need to reopen American businesses and non-profit organizations safely for employees and customers alike, the ad hoc task force members developed practical solutions for businesses in the United States and several Latin American countries to assist the economies of these countries to return to work with confidence that following these reopening guidelines would provide a healthy environment for employees, customers and other stakeholders of the operations described. More importantly, these guidelines assisted in the emotional recovery for these operations to societies that were traumatized by the uncertainly of infection and developing information on the spread and consequences of contracting the COVID-19 Coronavirus. The AIHA-sponsored BacktoWorkSafely.org website launched May 1, 2020, with the first eight guidelines, which were made available to the public. Within a month of the web site’s inception, another ten guidelines were added. By July, the team had prepared 27 guidelines for small business, public (schools and libraries) and non-profit (places of worship) entities and 10 posters, many of which were translated into Spanish, to help with sound occupational health and safety advice for those workplaces. Many of these guidelines were available within months of the initial lockdowns to assist business owners with the challenge of getting their employees, customers, and other stakeholders back to work promptly once lockdowns were loosened. Within the first seven months of the web site being open to the public, the guidelines were downloaded nearly 1.2 million times in both English and Spanish. Over 30 OEHS professionals contributed to the writing, reviewing, publishing, and translating into Spanish of these critical economic recovery documents. BacktoWorkSafely.org earned the attention of OSHA as a resource for recovery and is listed on the OSHA web site as a resource for reopening. This award is presented to an individual, entity, group, or organization who works inside organizations to develop and promote practical solutions to social responsibility issues related to industrial hygiene or environmental health and safety issues.

Yant Award Sean Mahar, PhD, CIH, CSP, PE Nominated by J. Slavin, CIH, CSP, CSHM, CPEA, FAIHA Dr. Sean Mahar solves industrial hygiene problems by providing services such as workplace evaluations for ergonomic, chemical, noise and vibration hazards, training, and indoor air quality investigations. He has taught occupational health and environmental management at the University of Wolverhampton and environmental health and industrial hygiene at Ohio University. He has resided in the UK for more than 20 years and prior to that he served as an industrial hygiene officer in the US Navy for 9 years, managing and performing environmental and occupational health program elements in international settings. He holds an LLB with honours (British Law Degree) from the University of Wolverhampton, a PhD in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine from the University of Iowa, an MS in Industrial Hygiene from Texas A&M University, and a BS in Chemistry from Sacred Heart University. He is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), Certified Safety Professional (CSP), and a licensed Professional Engineer (PE). He is also a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (CMIOSH) and a Chartered Member of the Faculty of Occupational Hygiene (CMFOH). His research has been included in both US and international publications.
This award is presented to an individual residing outside the United States for their outstanding contributions to industrial hygiene or allied fields through academic research, teaching, professional practice, solving major Industrial Hygiene issues, and service to professional societies.

President’s Award Back to Work Safely Task Force—Allan K. Fleeger, CIH, CSP, FAIHA and team lead; Hamid Arabzadeh, CIH, CSP, CHMM, FAIHA; David Beatty, MPH, CSP, CCEP; Corey Boles, PhD; Elizabeth Bussman, CIH ; Mark Drozdov, MS, SSM, FSM, BSI, RSO, CAI, CMA, GPRO; Carter Ficklen, CIH, CSP; Bernard L. Fontaine, Jr., CIH, CSP, FAIHA; Shannon Gaffney, PhD, MHS, CIH; Thomas G. Grumbles, CIH, FAIHA; John Henshaw, MPH, CIH, FAIHA; Dana Hollins, MPH, CIH; Catherine Hovde, CIH, CSP; Neva Jacobs, MSPH, CIH; Perry Logan, PhD, CIH; Heather Lynch, MPH; Eric Miller, MPH, CIH; Amber Hogan Mitchell, DrPH, MPH, CPH; Melanie D. Nembhard MSPH, CIH; Justine Parker, CIH, CSP, CHMM, CPH; Jennifer S. Pierce, MS, PhD; Aaron Schoemaker, CSP; Jack Springston, CIH, CSP, FAIHA; Ken Unice, MS; Rachel Zisook MS, CIH; Matt Zock, CIH Nominated by Lindsay Cook, CIH, CSP, FAIHA This award is presented annually to an individual, task force, special interest group, or local section for outstanding contributions to efforts to achieve the mission of AIHA during the presidency year.