2025 A&WMA Fellow Membership
The Fellow Grade of Membership was inaugurated in 1986 to recognize professional attainment and accomplishments related to the mission and objectives of A&WMA. A candidate for fellowship has a minimum of 15 years of experience in an area served by the Association and has been a member of the Association for at least 10 continuous years. Fellows are recognized for their professional accomplishments and service to the Association based on a process, product, or regulatory development; project leadership; managerial achievement; the education of specialists; peer-reviewed technical publications; patents; and research or theoretical developments.
A&WMA presents the Fellow Grade of Membership to Richard J. Tropp in 2025.
Richard J. Tropp received his BS degree in physics from the City College of New York in 1965. He obtained a PhD in aerosol physics from The University of Texas at Austin. His PhD and post-doctoral studies included developing a real-time electronic cascade impactor used in aircraft studies to measure particle size distributions and dry deposition velocities.
In 1981, Dr. Tropp joined the Texas Air Control Board (TACB), where he was responsible for regulation development. He developed air pollution regulations to control VOCs for the 1981 Harris County Ozone SIP revision to control lead emissions for El Paso and Dallas for a revised lead SIP and to revise regulations for net ground level SO2. At the TACB, he helped create a new Research Division and served as head of its Atmospheric Sciences Section. Dr. Tropp established programs to assess urban visibility in Texas, including the Dallas Brown Cloud and Year-long Visibility Study. He also established programs looking at ozone trends in Houston, developing a synoptic meteorological classification program and using it to reduce the influence of meteorology on ozone variations. In addition, he developed programs to improve methods to measure particulate matter and programs for the biological monitoring of potentially hazardous air pollution sites using mammalian animals and biological markers.
At Research and Evaluation Associates (1987-1989), Dr. Tropp conducted quality assurance auditing for EPA for its Regional Acid Deposition Model (RADM) Field Study, including aircraft operations, field operator training, site operations, laboratory operations, and data processing.
At TRC Environmental (1989-1998), Dr. Tropp served in a variety of roles. He served as manager of the Chapel Hill Environmental Studies Department, its principal QA officer, and served as manager for many monitoring and QA studies. He assisted EPA in preparing the regulatory packages related to monitoring and quality assurance for EPA’s proposal and promulgation of the first National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM2.5, including reviewing, summarizing, evaluating and providing suggestions and commentary of more than 6,000 comments. He also evaluated the bi-national Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN) which studied the deposition of air toxics into the Great Lakes. He evaluated site and laboratory operations on both sides of the border, conducted a workshop to address issues, and developed a report with recommendations. He also was program manager for EPA’s Eastern Fine Particle and Visibility Network (EFPVN) to provide program and technical tasks including operation and maintenance of field sites, data management, data validation, quality assurance, and data analysis.
In his role as QA manager, Dr. Tropp supervised a wide variety of projects that included health effects research, development of emission inventories and emission factors, regulatory support, ambient monitoring, data analysis, and QA/QC program support. He was also responsible for internal reviews, audits, peer and QC reviews of project deliverables, software acceptance tests, and data validation. In particular, he served as QC officer for EPA’s Human Studies Facility to oversee assessments of data quality control for all environmental, biomedical, gas and aerosol systems. He also supervised software quality assurance and acceptance tests.
At TRC Environmental, he established an 18-month study to measure PM2.5 levels and constituents at 13 site in Houston and four other areas of Texas in anticipation of the upcoming PM2.5 NAAQS. He continued the study when he joined Desert Research Institute (DRI) in 1998 as an Associate Research Professor.
At DRI (1998-2018), Dr. Tropp established laboratory support programs to assist state agencies with PM2.5 Federal Reference Method (FRM) filter gravimetry. The Texas program was expanded to include non-standard PM2.5 chemical speciation sites and was ongoing when he retired from DRI in 2018. From 1999 to 2018, he trained and mentored Texas site operators and central office personnel on how to handle and process their filter samples. Once implemented, data recovery increased from 65% to 85% in a few months.
Dr. Tropp was also the QA Manager for DRI’s Environmental Analysis Facility (EAF) for which he oversaw preparation and review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), internal audits, data reviews, QC assessments, and compliance with various laboratory certifications and external audits. He supervised DRI’s QA/QC work for its analyses that were part of EPA’s Chemical Speciation Network. He also managed several dozen monitoring and QA projects in the US, Africa, and Asia.
In his career, Dr. Tropp has authored or co-authored over a dozen peer reviewed publications, more than 150 conference papers and presentations, and 400 technical reports.
Dr. Tropp joined the Air & Waste Management Association in 1981 and was on several Technical Coordinating Committees (TCCs). He served as Chair of the Central Texas Chapter (1983-1986) and Southwest Section Vice-Chair (1987). He was on A&WMA’s Technical Council for over 30 years in various roles. These included terms as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Measurement Division (1989-1994, 1998-2003); Group Coordinator for Environmental Management (1995-1997) and Air (2003-2005); Vice-Chair, Chair and Past-Chair of Technical Council (2006-2014); and Coordinator for non-ACE Programming (2015-2017). While Chair of Technical Council, he served on the A&WMA Board of Directors from 2009-2011. Dr. Tropp helped reestablish A&WMA’s Symposium on Air Quality Measurement Methods and Technology and served as Co-Chair (2002, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2017) and Co-Vice Chair (2004, 2006, 2008). He also served as Vice-Chair of the Southwest Section (1987), Treasurer of the Eastern Sierra Chapter (2001-2002), and Board Member of the South Atlantic States Section (1989-1991, 2020-2025) and the Eastern Sierra Chapter (2004-2005).
A&WMA presents the Fellow Grade of Membership to Richard J. Tropp in 2025.
Richard J. Tropp received his BS degree in physics from the City College of New York in 1965. He obtained a PhD in aerosol physics from The University of Texas at Austin. His PhD and post-doctoral studies included developing a real-time electronic cascade impactor used in aircraft studies to measure particle size distributions and dry deposition velocities.
In 1981, Dr. Tropp joined the Texas Air Control Board (TACB), where he was responsible for regulation development. He developed air pollution regulations to control VOCs for the 1981 Harris County Ozone SIP revision to control lead emissions for El Paso and Dallas for a revised lead SIP and to revise regulations for net ground level SO2. At the TACB, he helped create a new Research Division and served as head of its Atmospheric Sciences Section. Dr. Tropp established programs to assess urban visibility in Texas, including the Dallas Brown Cloud and Year-long Visibility Study. He also established programs looking at ozone trends in Houston, developing a synoptic meteorological classification program and using it to reduce the influence of meteorology on ozone variations. In addition, he developed programs to improve methods to measure particulate matter and programs for the biological monitoring of potentially hazardous air pollution sites using mammalian animals and biological markers.
At Research and Evaluation Associates (1987-1989), Dr. Tropp conducted quality assurance auditing for EPA for its Regional Acid Deposition Model (RADM) Field Study, including aircraft operations, field operator training, site operations, laboratory operations, and data processing.
At TRC Environmental (1989-1998), Dr. Tropp served in a variety of roles. He served as manager of the Chapel Hill Environmental Studies Department, its principal QA officer, and served as manager for many monitoring and QA studies. He assisted EPA in preparing the regulatory packages related to monitoring and quality assurance for EPA’s proposal and promulgation of the first National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM2.5, including reviewing, summarizing, evaluating and providing suggestions and commentary of more than 6,000 comments. He also evaluated the bi-national Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN) which studied the deposition of air toxics into the Great Lakes. He evaluated site and laboratory operations on both sides of the border, conducted a workshop to address issues, and developed a report with recommendations. He also was program manager for EPA’s Eastern Fine Particle and Visibility Network (EFPVN) to provide program and technical tasks including operation and maintenance of field sites, data management, data validation, quality assurance, and data analysis.
In his role as QA manager, Dr. Tropp supervised a wide variety of projects that included health effects research, development of emission inventories and emission factors, regulatory support, ambient monitoring, data analysis, and QA/QC program support. He was also responsible for internal reviews, audits, peer and QC reviews of project deliverables, software acceptance tests, and data validation. In particular, he served as QC officer for EPA’s Human Studies Facility to oversee assessments of data quality control for all environmental, biomedical, gas and aerosol systems. He also supervised software quality assurance and acceptance tests.
At TRC Environmental, he established an 18-month study to measure PM2.5 levels and constituents at 13 site in Houston and four other areas of Texas in anticipation of the upcoming PM2.5 NAAQS. He continued the study when he joined Desert Research Institute (DRI) in 1998 as an Associate Research Professor.
At DRI (1998-2018), Dr. Tropp established laboratory support programs to assist state agencies with PM2.5 Federal Reference Method (FRM) filter gravimetry. The Texas program was expanded to include non-standard PM2.5 chemical speciation sites and was ongoing when he retired from DRI in 2018. From 1999 to 2018, he trained and mentored Texas site operators and central office personnel on how to handle and process their filter samples. Once implemented, data recovery increased from 65% to 85% in a few months.
Dr. Tropp was also the QA Manager for DRI’s Environmental Analysis Facility (EAF) for which he oversaw preparation and review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), internal audits, data reviews, QC assessments, and compliance with various laboratory certifications and external audits. He supervised DRI’s QA/QC work for its analyses that were part of EPA’s Chemical Speciation Network. He also managed several dozen monitoring and QA projects in the US, Africa, and Asia.
In his career, Dr. Tropp has authored or co-authored over a dozen peer reviewed publications, more than 150 conference papers and presentations, and 400 technical reports.
Dr. Tropp joined the Air & Waste Management Association in 1981 and was on several Technical Coordinating Committees (TCCs). He served as Chair of the Central Texas Chapter (1983-1986) and Southwest Section Vice-Chair (1987). He was on A&WMA’s Technical Council for over 30 years in various roles. These included terms as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Measurement Division (1989-1994, 1998-2003); Group Coordinator for Environmental Management (1995-1997) and Air (2003-2005); Vice-Chair, Chair and Past-Chair of Technical Council (2006-2014); and Coordinator for non-ACE Programming (2015-2017). While Chair of Technical Council, he served on the A&WMA Board of Directors from 2009-2011. Dr. Tropp helped reestablish A&WMA’s Symposium on Air Quality Measurement Methods and Technology and served as Co-Chair (2002, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2017) and Co-Vice Chair (2004, 2006, 2008). He also served as Vice-Chair of the Southwest Section (1987), Treasurer of the Eastern Sierra Chapter (2001-2002), and Board Member of the South Atlantic States Section (1989-1991, 2020-2025) and the Eastern Sierra Chapter (2004-2005).
Richard J. Tropp
