Invitation for Comment on the 2008 Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards Committee of the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB)


Invitation for Comment on
the

2008 Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards Committee

of the

EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB)

May 1, 2008

Each year, the SAB's Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards (STAA)
Subcommittee reviews papers by EPA scientists published in the peer-reviewed literature that have
been nominated by EPA managers for EPA's Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards.
The Committee makes recommendations, through the chartered SAB, to the EPA Administrator
for these high-level awards. Background on the details of this advisory activity is available at the
SAB website at (http://www.epa.gov/sab/).

The current Roster for the STAA Committee is found by clicking the following link:
http://vosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabpeople.nsf/WebCommitteesSubcommittees/Scientific%20and%20T
echnological%20Achievement%20Awards%20Subcommittee%20FY2006-2009

Additional scientific expertise in the areas of human health and analytical methods is
needed to supplement the current scope of the Committee. The SAB Staff Office has identified
three additional experts to serve on the STAA Committee who currently serve on other SAB
subcommittees. Brief biographical sketches of these individuals are listed below. We invite
comments from the public on the membership of the STAA Committee.

Please provide any comments by email no later than May 21, 2008 to the attention of Ms.
Vivian Turner, Designated Federal Officer, (turner.vivian@epa. gov).

-------
Harris, Cynthia

Florida A & M University

Dr. Cynthia Harris attended the University of Kansas, where she received a B.A. (Honors'
degree) in biology (1978) and a M.A. in genetics (1981). She received her Ph.D. in the
biomedical sciences from Meharry Medical College in 1985, with concentration in the areas
of nutritional biochemistry and toxicology. Dr. Harris was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship
in the Interdisciplinary Programs in Health of the Harvard School of Public Health, where she
conducted research regarding the effects of heavy metals on pulmonary function and
environmental risk assessment. She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Toxicology
(DABT). From 1990-1996, Dr. Harris served as a staff toxicologist and branch chief with the
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a sister agency of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, in Atlanta, Georgia. As branch chief of the Community Health
Branch, she was responsible for the administration and management of staff who conducted
environmental health assessments, at the request of individual citizens and community groups
across the nation.

In 1996, Dr. Harris accepted the position of Director of the Institute of Public Health at
Florida A&M University. Since her tenure, she has been actively engaged in the general
planning and development of the MPH program. The 1997 Florida State Legislature
approved and appropriated funding to support the MPH program and the MPH program
received full, maximum accreditation for its' initial review (2000-2005). Dr. Harris has
served on numerous committees and panels, which includes membership on the Board of
Directors for the Florida Public Health Association, Chair of the Florida Public Health
Partnership Council on Stroke, member of the Pregnancy Mortality Review Board, member
of the Florida Sickle Cell Task Force, member of the American Public Health Association,
member of the editorial board of the Harvard Journal of Public Health, reviewer for the
Journal of Environmental Health, and board member for the Panhandle Chapter of the Florida
March of Dimes. She has also provided a review for the Food and Nutrition Board of the
National Academy of Sciences. She is a Full Member of the Society of Toxicology and was
appointed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Board of Scientific Counselors. In
addition, she has served on numerous grant reviews for several federal agencies such as CDC,
NIOSH, NIEHS and HRSA. She was also a panel member for the IOM Committee on the
Gulf War and Health and was recently appointed by Congresswoman Donna Christensen to
the Congressional Black Caucus Homeland Security Advisory Board. In December of 2004,
Dr. Harris was appointed to the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) Board of
Councilors for a three year term. CEPH is the national accrediting agency for all public health
programs and schools of public health. Dr. Harris is a current member of the SAB's
Exposure and Human Health Committee.

-------
Ito, Kazuhiko

New York University School of Medicine

Dr. Kazuhiko Ito is Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine at Nelson Institute of
Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine. He received his M.S.
and Ph.D. in environmental health sciences from New York University in 1985 and 1990,
respectively. Dr. Ito received his B.S. in applied chemistry from Yokohama National
University, Japan in 1982.

Dr. Ito's main area of expertise is human health effects and exposure assessment of ambient
air pollutants. His current research interests include: (1) the roles of particulate matter (PM)
components on human heath effects; (2) source-oriented evaluation of PM health effects
using the PM2.5 chemical speciation network data; (3) the exposure error associated with
ambient air pollution monitoring network and its implication on observed health effects; and
(4) identification of sensitive sub-populations to ambient air pollution. Dr. Ito has published
many articles on the mortality and morbidity effects of PM and gaseous pollutants. He has
also published research papers on spatial/temporal variations of air pollution as well as
source-apportionment.

Currently, Dr. Ito is a contributing author to EPA's Air Quality Criteria Document on Ozone
(short-term mortality effects), and has been a contributing author to the current and past EPA
Criteria Document on Particulate Matter (short-term mortality effects). Dr. Ito is also a
member of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Ambient Air Monitoring
and Methods (AAMM) Subcommittee.

-------
external peer reviewer for EPA Region 6 Regional Air Impact Modeling Initiative (RAIMI)
Pilot Study, a regional modeling initiative for toxic air pollutants.

Dr. Zeng received his B.S. degree in Analytical Chemistry from Sichuan University (China)
in 1982, M.S. degree in Environmental Chemistry from Nankai University (China) in 1985,
Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign in 1990, and MBA degree from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1998. He is
a Professional Engineer (PE) registered in five states. As an adjunct professor at Southern
Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas for six academic years, Dr. Zeng taught two graduate
level courses, "Air Pollution Management, Regulations, and Public Policy" and "Air Quality
Modeling". He is the instructor for three workshops on air quality related topics, in which
over 150 professionals have participated. He has co-authored 16 peer-reviewed research
papers published in national and international journals, chapters in five books, and sixteen
papers presented to technical conferences. These publications were in the areas of air
pollution source-receptor relations, air pollutants characterizations, and methods or models
development. Dr. Zeng is also a member of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee
(CASAC) Ambient Air Monitoring and Methods (AAMM) Subcommittee.

-------