Honorary Member

One or more Honorary Member may be selected each year by the Academy's Board of Trustees by affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of its members. The individual so honored possesses one or more of the following characteristics:

• has attained a position of eminence in the environmental engineering profession;
• has made a singular noteworthy contribution, or a sustained contribution, to the advancement of environmental engineering; and
• has performed outstanding service over a relatively long period of time in the advancement of the affairs of the Academy.

For the full list of eligibility criteria and information on how you can submit nominations for a worthy Environmental Engineer, click here.

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2013 Honorary Member: Chair Nancy Sutley

Nancy Sutley is the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). In her role as Chair, she serves as the principal environmental policy adviser to the President. The Council on Environmental Quality coordinates Federal environmental efforts and works closely with agencies and other White House offices in the development of environmental policies and initiatives. In addition, CEQ oversees Federal agency implementation of the environmental impact assessment process and oversees the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, which works to promote sustainable environmental stewardship throughout the Federal Government.

Prior to her appointment, Sutley was the Deputy Mayor for Energy and Environment for the city of Los Angeles, California. She represented Los Angeles on the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and served on the California State Water Resources Control Board from 2003-2005. Sutley also worked for California Governor Gray Davis as Energy Advisor, managing state and federal regulations, legislative affairs, finances and press relations. She served as Deputy Secretary for policy and intergovernmental relations in the California EPA from 1999-2003. She advised on water and air pollution policy, and established budget and legislative priorities. During the administration of President William J. Clinton, Sutley worked for the EPA as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Regional Administrator in San Francisco and special assistant to the Administrator in Washington, D.C. Sutley received her Bachelors degree from Cornell University and her Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.

2013 Honorary Member: Bruce E. Rittman, Ph.D.

Dr. Bruce Rittmann, is the director of the Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University and Regents' Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and Built Environment. He joined ASU in January 2005. Dr. Rittmann earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Washington University and his doctorate in environmental engineering at Stanford University.

Dr. Rittmann has been named a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the International Water Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an ASU Regents' Professor, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has also won the Arizona BioIndustry Association Award for Research Excellence, American Society of Civil Engineers Simon W. Freese and Huber Awards, and the National Water Research Institute's Clarke Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Water Science and Technology.

An international leader in managing microbial communities, Dr. Rittmann's work is leading to new ways to clean up pollution, treat water and wastewater, capture renewable energy, and improve human health. He holds five patents on the technology, which is being commercialized by APTwater, Inc. Dr. Rittmann is at the lead of Arizona State University teams using two innovative approaches to renewable bioenergy: using anaerobic microbes to convert biomass to useful energy forms, such as methane, hydrogen, or electricity; and using photosynthetic bacteria that can capture sunlight to produce new biomass that can be turned into liquid fuels, like diesel or jet fuel.

According to Institute for Scientific Information, Dr. Rittmann is one of the world's most highly cited researchers. He has published over 500 peer-reviewed papers. His textbook, Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Applications, is used by universities around the world to educate students about the ways in which microorganisms can be used to improve environmental quality.

2013 Honorary Member: Lisa Jackson

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Past Winners

2012 -- Robert L. Van Antwerp, Jr.
2011 -- Clifford W. Randall
2010 -- George R. Crombie
2009 -- Perry McCarty
2009 -- Michael Rouse
2008 -- A. "Sek" Sekarajasekaran
2007 -- Daniel J. Gunaratnam
2006 -- James L. Barnard
2005 -- Xie Qingtao
2004 -- Bindu Nath Lohani
2003 -- Earnest F. Gloyna
2002 -- Vincent Bath
2001 -- Norihito Tambo
2000 -- Klaus R. Imhoff
1999 -- Harvey F. Ludwig
1994 -- Donald J. O'Connor
1991 -- Arthur C. Stern
1988 -- Daniel A. Okun
1983 -- Abel Wolman
1982 -- Stanley E. Kappe

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