SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is accepting applications through January 10, 2025, for the Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards. The Haagen-Smit Award is California’s premier award for recognizing individuals who have made outstanding contributions to improving air quality or addressing climate change.

Highly respected by leading scientists, litigators, policymakers and others fighting air pollution, the Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards are bestowed each year upon individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of clean air in the areas of education, research/science/technology, policy, international work or environmental justice. In recognition that air pollution and climate change are issues that are not confined by borders or geographic boundaries, CARB accepts nominations from across the world for the Haagen-Smit award.

The process for nominations and the nomination form are available on CARB’s website. Award recipients are invited to discuss their work at an event called the “Clean Air Leadership Talks,” in addition to being honored at an in-person reception and Board meeting. The most recent winners included Kofi A. Agyarko of the Ghana Energy Commission; Richard C. Flagan of the California Institute of Technology; Prashant Kumar of the University of surrey, United Kingdom; and Vickie Patton of the Environmental Defense Fund.

“The Haagen-Smit Award is our way of honoring individuals who have championed public health with exceptional and transformative achievements toward improving air quality and/or addressing climate change,” CARB Research Division Chief Elizabeth Scheehle said. “The awards honor dedication, leadership, and innovation – all qualities that Dr. Haagen-Smit embodied. Individual awards can recognize a lifetime of work on a global scale, or the significant contributions that an especially dedicated and promising individual has made resulting in widespread benefits to air quality and health.”

Research Division Chief and host Elizabeth Scheehle presents Kofi Agyarko with an award during the Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards, held during the October 24, 2024, board meeting at CalEPA Headquarters in Sacramento.

California’s premier air quality award is named for the late Dr. Arie Haagen-Smit, known as the “father” of air pollution science and control. Originally from the Netherlands, Dr. Haagen-Smit was a biochemistry professor at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena for 16 years before beginning air pollution research in 1948. Through a series of innovative experiments, he demonstrated that most of California’s smog is the result of motor vehicle exhaust reacting with sunlight to create ground-level ozone. This breakthrough provided the foundation for the development of air pollution control programs in California that later influenced regulations and cleaner vehicle technology worldwide. The Haagen-Smit Awards recognize those who continue Dr. Haagen-Smit’s work and leadership.

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