UNH Prof. named to EPA Committee

Lee resident to advise on national environmental policy

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DURHAM – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Mike Leavitt has picked a University of New Hampshire (UNH) professor to advise the agency on environmental engineering issues.

Taylor Eighmy, a research professor in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, will serve a 3-year term on a committee of EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) dealing with issues such as how to evaluate environmental cleanup technology.

“I’m honored. The people currently serving on the board are very high powered advocates for the environment and public health,” said Eighmy, a resident of Lee. “I also think it reflects well on the University of New Hampshire. I got my master’s at UNH, and my PhD, and I’ve been working here my whole professional life.”

Eighmy was chosen from more than 50 nominees to serve on the SAB’s 14-member Environmental Engineering Committee. Director of the Recycled Materials Resource Center, he is an expert in developing risk assessment tools for using materials like coal ash in highway asphalt. Eighmy came to the attention of the committee this summer, when he testified before it on the tests used to determine if harmful substances can leach from such recycled materials.

Established by law in 1978, the SAB is comprised of five standing committees that give independent scientific and technical advice, consultation and recommendations to the EPA administrator on the technical basis for agency positions and regulations. The board also provides scientific advice as requested by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the House committees on Science and Technology, Interstate and Foreign Commerce and Public Works and Transportation.

PHOTO CAPTION

Taylor Eighmy, research professor of civil engineering at the UNH College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, has been appointed to a board advising the EPA on environmental engineering issues.

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