Portland, Ore.

Acclaimed environmental researcher edited field's top journal for 15 years

William H. Glaze, Ph.D., an internationally renowned environmental researcher, educator and editor, has joined the Department of Environmental and Biomolecular Systems (EBS) at Oregon Health & Science University's OGI School of Science & Engineering.

Glaze comes to the Hillsboro, Ore.-based OGI from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he was a professor and former chairman in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. Glaze was a pioneer in studying the integration of ecological sciences with human health sciences, and in exploring sustainable technologies applied to water treatment, and the energy and transportation sectors. He is known throughout the global environmental science community for his 15-year tenure as editor-in-chief of the field's pre-eminent journal, Environmental Science & Technology, published by the American Chemical Society. This journal helped to define the environmental field as it is known today while setting the standard for scientific quality and impact in the environmental literature. Having led ES&T through a sixfold increase in manuscript submissions, Glaze retired from the editorship in January 2003 to focus on his new role at OGI.

Glaze joins OGI's EBS faculty at a particularly exciting time, said Department Head Antonio Baptista, Ph.D. The establishment of the EBS Department in January was the first step in OGI's ambitious growth strategy designed to unify and focus its environmental and life science research and educational programs. The faculties of two former OGI departments -- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Environmental Science and Engineering -- drove the process of merging into one cohesive department using an integrative approach to address modern environmental challenges.

The result, he said, is a larger, better-equipped department focused on problems affecting ecosystem and human health. Glaze is the first of 10 planned faculty hires, Baptista said, and recruitment is under way for new talent in environmental health systems, environmental information systems, environmental modeling and simulation, microbiology and chemistry, he said. "EBS builds on a sustained record of research by highly funded and recognized faculty, working at different scales and in different fields, to develop across disciplinary boundaries the type of integrative approaches needed to address modern environmental challenges," he said.

The unifying principle of the new department's strategy is a focus on important problems involving the link between human health and ecosystem health, emphasizing the use of new tools being derived from the biosciences including genomics and new information technologies. Although the two divisions of the EBS department will continue to award their traditional graduate degrees, Baptista said, a larger faculty, a shared laboratory infrastructure and new educational programs will raise the department's profile. "The addition of Bill Glaze to our faculty is the first visible example of our ambitious plans to make a significant impact on the national research scene," he said.

Glaze said he is enthusiastic about applying his skills and interests at OGI and in interacting with scientists at OHSU's health affairs departments. "OGI is positioned to achieve leadership in some very significant areas," he said. "I'm excited to be part of OHSU and OGI, and particularly what's happening in the EBS department."

Glaze's diverse research interests include the development and application of analytical methods for the measurement of organic compounds in environmental samples through mass spectrometry and other advanced methods; the formation and control of byproducts in water disinfection practices; ozone and hydroxyl radical chemistry in the aqueous phase; and treatment methods for the removal of organic compounds from water and groundwater. More recently, he has been involved with multidisciplinary efforts to examine new energy and mobility systems that will be more environmentally benign.

In addition to his research, Glaze has maintained an active schedule of service to the environmental community for many years. He currently serves as chairman of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board, on the National Academies/National Research Council's Board of Environmental Studies & Toxicology, and on the board of directors of the American Chemical Society's Green Chemistry Institute.

"Bill Glaze's vision for the integrative study of environmental, biomolecular and societal interactions will be a tremendous asset to our newly restructured department as we pursue our aggressive growth strategies in the coming years," Baptista said.

ABOUT THE OGI SCHOOL OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

 The OGI School of Science & Engineering (formerly the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology) became one of four schools of the Oregon Health & Science University in 2001. The OGI school has more than 100 full-time and adjunct faculty, and more than 300 master's and doctoral students who are seeking degrees in five academic departments. In addition, there are more than 300 students taking for-credit courses but are not seeking degrees at this time. Each year, the school's Center for Professional Development enrolls more than 1,000 working professionals who take not-for-credit classes.

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