The California Air Sources Board (CARB) has recognised Professor Prashant Kumar with the celebrated Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award – an honour extensively thought of to be the “Nobel Prize” in air high quality achievement.
Professor Kumar, Founding Director of the College of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE)has been recognised for his contribution to worldwide training. CARB cited Professor Kumar’s “transformative contributions, widespread impacts, novel accomplishments, and exceptional leadership and achievements in this field”.
An announcement from the college stated: “Professor Kumar is one of the most highly cited scientists in his field and is a leading researcher on the impact air pollution has on the health of children and young people. His current focus is on the impact kitchen-based air pollution has on vulnerable communities and the impact green-blue-gray infrastructure (such as trees, lakes and stormwater) has on mitigating air pollution and excessive heat in towns and cities.”
Professor Max Lu, President and Vice-Chancellor of the College of Surrey, stated:
“I have seen first-hand how passionate Prashant is about analysis that addresses indoor and outside air air pollution. He has performed many citizen science initiatives, serving to individuals perceive air high quality requirements of their neighbourhoods and has helped them develop methods to watch and enhance it.
“Prashant lives by GCARE’s ethos – clean air for all. We are proud that his work at Surrey has been recognised with this prestigious Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award.”
Since 2001, CARB has yearly bestowed the distinguished Haagen-Smit Awards to extraordinary people to recognise important profession accomplishments in not less than one in every of these air high quality and local weather change classes: analysis, environmental coverage, local weather change science, science and know-how, public training, neighborhood service and environmental justice, and worldwide management.
The award is known as after Dr Arie J. Haagen-Smit, a Dutch scientist often called the “father” of air air pollution management. In 1948, his analysis discovered that smog in California was brought on by the response of car and industrial emissions with daylight, resulting in the air high quality requirements we use at present. Dr Haagen-Smit was additionally the primary chairman of the California Air Sources Board (CARB).
Professor Kumar stated: “I am really honoured to have acquired the Haagen-Smit Clear Air Award – an honour that might not have been potential with out the assist of my household and my colleagues on the College of Surrey, in addition to my GCARE workforce members and collaborators all world wide.
“It is also a reminder of how much there is yet to do. There are millions of people who lose their lives every year because of the quality of the air they breathe or because their town or city’s heat is too extreme for them to cope with. If our work gets us even a step closer to cleaner air, with cooler temperatures, then it would all have been worthwhile.”
CARB’s mission is to advertise and shield public well being, welfare, and ecological sources by way of the efficient discount of air pollution whereas recognising and contemplating its results on the economic system. CARB is the lead company for local weather change packages and oversees all air air pollution management efforts in California to realize and keep health-based air high quality requirements.
Elizabeth Scheehle, the Analysis Division Chief at CARB, stated: “The Haagen-Smit Award recognise the inspirational work occurring throughout the nation and world to scale back air pollution and battle local weather change.
“Action can come in many forms, whether it’s academic research that leads to innovation, advocacy that drives policy change, or legal defences of environmental laws. This year’s awardees reflect the necessary and diverse work that is needed to achieve clean air.”
