SACRAMENTO - The California Air Resources Board today honored recipients of the 2015 Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards, California’s premier award recognizing individuals who have made outstanding contributions to improving air quality. The contributions of this year’s award winners will have lasting impacts not only for air quality and climate goals in California, but on an international scale.

“These four individuals have championed public health with extraordinary contributions to air pollution research, science and technology throughout their long and distinguished careers,” said CARB Chair Mary D. Nichols. “The Haagen-Smit Award is our way of honoring these individuals, whose transformative work on emissions control strategies and atmospheric chemistry will have scientific impacts for years to come.”

Considered the “Nobel Prize” in air quality achievement, the Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards are given annually to individuals who have made significant lifetime contributions toward improving air quality and climate change science, technology and policy, furthering the protection of public health.


The 2015 Award Recipients:

Dr. Jiming Hao, professor and dean, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing China 
Dr. Jiming Hao is being recognized for his notable work on a suite of emission control strategies to mitigate severe air pollution in China over the past 40 years. His leadership in development and implementation of emission controls for coal power plants, industrial boilers, vehicles, fuels, and even traffic management will be long-standing legacies at both national as well as international levels.

Dr. Kimberly Prather, professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego 
Dr. Kimberly Prather is being recognized for her pioneering work that has transformed our understanding of atmospheric aerosols and their impacts on atmospheric chemistry, climate, and the hydrologic cycle. Her innovations in aerosol measurement techniques, contributions to aerosol science, and her commitment to training the next generation of researchers will have scientific impacts for years to come.

Dr. Michael Prather, professor, Earth System Science Department, University of California, Irvine
Dr. Michael Prather is being recognized for his sustained and innovative contributions to atmospheric chemistry, and the linkages between air quality and climate change in particular. His work has transformed scientific understanding of air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and interactions among them, and has resulted in better policies for controlling greenhouse gases and ozone depletion.  These contributions will be regarded for years to come not only for California air quality and climate goals but on an international scale.

The late Dr. Donald Stedman, professor, University of Denver 
Dr. Donald Stedman is being recognized for his contributions to motor vehicle emissions research and measurement techniques. Dr. Stedman’s invention of an on-road remote sensor for measuring in-use motor vehicle emissions and of a heavy-duty on-road emissions monitoring system have transformed our understanding of vehicle fleet emissions and the role that high-emitting vehicles play in determining urban air quality. The impact of those measurements on mobile source emission inventories will be a long-standing legacy.  


In light of the global connection between air quality and climate change, the scope of the Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards program is now international, with an added focus on climate change science and mitigation.

California’s premier air quality award is named for the late Dr. Arie Haagen-Smit — known as the "father" of air pollution science and control. The award recognizes those who continue his legacy through perseverance, leadership and innovation in the areas of research, environmental policy, science and technology, public education and community service. Dr. Haagen-Smit’s breakthrough research, which became the foundation upon which today's air pollution standards are based, concluded that most of California's smog is the result of photochemistry — the reaction of sunlight with industrial and motor vehicle exhaust to create ozone. The selection committee is comprised of past award winners.

Learn more about the Haagen-Smit award here.

A list of all past award Haagen-Smit winners is available here. 

Photos of the awards ceremony are available here.