Professor Rodney J. Weber and Assistant Professor Nga Lee “Sally” Ng, both of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, are the recipients of the 2016 Benjamin Y.H. Liu Award and Kenneth T. Whitby Award, respectively, of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR). Both awards recognize impactful technical contributions to aerosol research. They affirm Georgia Tech’s position as a leading institution for aerosol research.

The Benjamin Y.H. Liu Award recognizes Weber’s outstanding contributions to aerosol instrumentation and experimental techniques. Weber is widely regarded as a major voice in this field.

For more than 20 years, Weber’s research has yielded pioneering techniques in emerging research areas. His group participates in aerosol measurements around the world, focusing on illuminating the health and climate effects of anthropogenic emissions.

Weber’s wide-ranging aerosol research has improved the understanding of the toxicity of aerosols, the radiative impacts of atmospheric brown carbon, and the sources of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). Instruments that he has developed are sold commercially worldwide.

The Kenneth T. Whitby Award recognizes contributions to aerosol science and technology by a young scientist.

Ng, who holds a joint appointment in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been a prolific researcher, publishing more than 55 papers since receiving her Ph.D. in 2007 from California Institute of Technology. Before joining Georgia Tech, she was pivotal in developing aerosol mass spectrometry technologies and data analysis techniques in the private sector. Her work at Aerodyne Research led to instruments that reduced the cost of monitoring and measuring aerosols in the atmosphere. The technology has since been implemented at sites worldwide.

Ng’s work has advanced current understanding of SOA formation mechanisms and their effects on air quality and health. At Tech, Ng has focused on understanding the intricate interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic aerosol emissions, which affect SOA. She has provided some of the first direct observations and mechanistic insights into the roles of anthropogenic pollutants on the formation of SOA from trees. Her research has led to discoveries of aerosol pollution in the southeastern U.S. and insights on the effectiveness of sulfur dioxide scrubbers at power plants and the significance of diurnal transitions on the fate of certain nitrogen-based aerosols.

The Whitby Award, Ng says, “is a tremendous affirmation of my research work. I am very grateful to those who have supported me and my research over the years, including the many great mentors whom I am fortunate to have, my research group, and my colleagues.”  

Weber and Ng received their awards at the annual meeting of the AAAR, on Oct. 17-21, 2016, in Portland, Oregon.

Matt Barr

Science Communications Intern

College of Sciences