A Desert Research Institute scientist who has worked on air pollution problems from Lake Tahoe to the Egyptian pyramids has been awarded the institute's Alessandro Dandini Medal of Science, DRI President Stephen G. Wells said. The Dandini Medal is the DRI's highest annual recognition for scientific accomplishment by a member of its research faculty.
Gertler, an atmospheric chemist who has been with DRI since 1979, has focused on the environmental impacts of vehicle emissions in actual traffic conditions, on the chemical changes pollutants undergo in the atmosphere, and on atmospheric acid deposition across the North American continental as well as in specific environments such as the Sierra Nevada Range. He is currently examining the contribution of airborne pollutants to the declinig clarity of Lake Tahoe.
In addition to his success in attracting millions of dollars in research funding to DRI, Gertler has been director of the atmospheric sciences graduate program at the University of Nevada, Reno for the past five years. He was recently selected for the 2001 Hope for the Future for a Sustainable World Award, presented every three by the International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations (IUAPPA), and the International Academy of Sciences, which he will formally accept next year in Seoul, Korea.
Wells said Dr. Gertler receives the minted medallion and $1,000 prize from Countess Angela Dandini, the award's sponsor and widow of the medal's namesake, in formal ceremonies at DRI on November 17. Countess Dandini established the award following her husband's death in 1992. The late Dandini had been an inventor, engineer, scientist, educator and visionary who succeeded in establishing what is now the Dandini Research Park in Reno, home to both the northern Nevada campus of DRI and Truckee Meadows Community College.
Based on innovative sampling and analytical methods and technology, Gertler's work has established that major discrepancies exist between predicted motor vehicle emission levels and those observed in actual, on-road performance. These findings are being applied to fuel and engine performance technologies, street and highway design, and a reevaluation of vehicle pollution reduction strategies employed by local and national regulators.
Gertler has presented invited lectures across the United States, in Europe and in the Middle East, and he has been involved in the publications of 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, and 110 papers at national and international conferences.