2025 Frank A. Chambers Excellence in Air Pollution Control Award

Frank A. Chambers (1885–1951) was a founder of the Smoke Prevention Association of America, a forerunner of the Air & Waste Management Association, and was instrumental in building the foundation for A&WMA. His pioneering ideas for smoke control were employed by many cities across the United States. The Frank A. Chambers Excellence in Air Pollution Control Award is presented annually by the Association for outstanding achievement in the science and art of air pollution control. It requires technical accomplishments considered to be major contributions, the merits of which have been widely recognized by persons in the field. The coverage is intentionally broad, since it recognizes achievement in any line of technical endeavor in air pollution control, from pure research to applied science.

 
A&WMA presents the 2025 Frank A. Chambers Excellence in Air Pollution Control Award to Jeffrey L. Collett, Jr.
 
Jeff Collett grew up on the Oregon coast where he developed a deep appreciation of the natural environment. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout, was a state debate champion, and graduated as valedictorian from Neahkahnie High School in Rockaway, Oregon, before heading to MIT for his undergraduate studies. At MIT, he majored in chemical engineering and received the department’s Roger de Friez Hunneman Prize in recognition of outstanding academic performance. After graduating from MIT (’84), Jeff earned an M.S. (’85) and PhD (’89) at Caltech in Environmental Engineering Science. The focus of his graduate research was precipitation and cloud chemistry. Jeff completed a postdoc at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zurich, 1989-91), where he studied aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions in the Swiss Alps.

Jeff began his faculty career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois (1991-94) in the Institute for Environmental Studies and the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He moved to the Atmospheric Science Department at Colorado State University (CSU) in 1994, where he has spent the past 30 years. Jeff rose through the CSU faculty ranks, serving as Department Head from 2011-2022. He was named University Distinguished Professor in 2024.

During his career, Jeff supervised or co-supervised 34 MS students, 19 PhD students, 21 postdocs, and several research scientists. Group members have gone on to a wide variety of successful careers including faculty positions at small colleges and major universities and positions in federal agencies, at National Laboratories, in state government, and in the private sector.

Jeff is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). He has served since 2022 as Chief Editor of the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. He has served on the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) Board of Directors; as Chair of the AMS Atmospheric Chemistry Committee and Atmospheric Chemistry Conference; as a founding member of the Board of the International Fog and Dew Association and as Chair of the 9th International Conference on Fog, Fog Collection, and Dew; and as a member of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program Executive Committee. Jeff was twice appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to serve on the USDA Agricultural Air Quality Task Force and by Colorado’s Governor to serve on Colorado’s Regional Air Quality Council.

Jeff’s research spans a wide range of topics in the fields of atmospheric chemistry and air quality. From his early career focus on precipitation, cloud, and fog chemistry, Jeff and his team expanded their research into aerosol chemistry, aerosol impacts on visibility, sources and impacts of reactive nitrogen pollution, emissions and atmospheric aging of smoke from prescribed and wildfires, and air quality impacts of oil and gas development. He and his team have conducted more than 50 air quality/atmospheric chemistry field campaigns around the globe, including studies in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, from the ground, on ships, and aboard aircraft. This includes extensive collaborative research in China studying cloud chemistry, nitrogen deposition, and sources of haze-causing pollution. A major theme of Jeff’s work over the past three decades has been the study of air quality issues impacting U.S. National Parks.

Jeff’s work has been funded by numerous federal agencies, state and local governments, private industry, and non-profits. Total funding to date exceeds $37 million. He has published more than 245 papers in leading peer-reviewed journals with an h-index of 78 (Google Scholar) and more than 19,000 citations.

Jeff has taught extensively throughout his career, including lecture and lab-based courses on atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric oxidation processes, air pollution measurement, air quality characterization, responsible conduct of research, and weather and climate. He has received awards/citations for teaching excellence at both the Univ. of Illinois and CSU, including selection by the CSU Atmospheric Science graduate students as Outstanding Professor of the Year.