Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010, 44, 7171–7174
Bill Glaze: Collaboration and Synergy
WILLIAM H. GLAZE
DARCY J. GENTLEMAN Managing Editor, Environmental Science & Technology, Washington, DC
travelers of ever-diversifying skill sets to best help the adventure. As their picaresque journey unfolded, crysts of knowledge were uncovered, lending insight as to origins and providing new tools to probe further and slowly build a supporting infrastructure. Bill implored that he and his teammates craft stories of their toils, to create maps to let others wend their way as they desired, and archive the knowledge to instruct those to follow. With seniority he took on ever more duties, and Bill continued to push the boundaries of the known outward, forging alliances with other discoverers for insight that would prove mutually beneficial. For the goal was one of sustainability: elucidating the environment’s wonders would ensure its ongoing ability to generate wonder. By having assembled a communicatively savvy tribe of able investigators and innovators, society would then be empowered to best take care of itself. Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of Environmental Science & Technology from 1988 to 2002, Bill saw to reinforcing the chemistry-initiated home for this band of fellow researchers and growing numbers of students. This October 1, 2010 issue of ES&T pays tribute to Bill’s dedication to the fields he loves, and his ensuring that this journal is well postured to showcase all the best feet forward.
Paths Need Not Run Straight To Run True
Brave. Pioneering. Multidisciplinary. Legendary. Champion. Passionate. Visionary. Inspiring. Asking someone who knows William (Bill) H. Glaze to describe the environmental researcher garners many such words. And not upon ponderous reflection, either, but quickly, falling out of the speaker’s mouth (or tapping fingers), only pausing to think of one more synonym for “consummate” or “influential”. Yet regardless of what variants emerge, everyone agrees on a simple couplet: Generous scientist. Bill has interacted with many over the years in many roles: teacher/mentor/supervisor/advisor/administrator, author/ reviewer/editor, collaborator/consultant, colleague, and friend. His curiosity of and concern for the nature drew him into the early days of environmental research when only circuitous trails had been blazed by a few brave explorers. Finding the endeavor to his liking, Bill entreated fellow 10.1021/es102827r
2010 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 09/29/2010
Born in Sherman, TX, in 1934 and moving to Dallas in his seventh year, Bill was the youngest to two sisters. His father was a grocer with a less than complete high school education, while his mother had excelled academically and become a schoolteacher. WWII had her work as a seamstress and she applied this afterward to customizing women’s clothing. Bill remarks that his youthful pursuits set him on a holistic arrival to science, but three influences stand out: He fondly remembers spending a lot of time in the woods; Similar delight on a farm nurtured an appreciation for living things; His boyish curiosity had him emulate his mother’s prolific scholarly ways, tracking what books to read from her stack, and achieving honors in high school. After graduating in 1952, he won an applied-for three year scholarship and attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX. Landing summer jobs at Dow in 1955 and 1956, Bill achieved a B.S. in Chemistry, Magna Cum Laude, in 1956. Learning from others in the field as to the benefits of postgraduate work, he undertook Master’s and Ph.D. studies in physical chemistry far away from Texas, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Buoyed up in those heady postwar developing space-race days, he honed his zeal for kinetics and explored organometallics, following graduate school with a Rice University (Houston, TX) postdoctoral fellowship. Though some implored him to pursue industrial chemistry as it was more lucrative, Bill was attracted to heading a classroom and sating his curiosity in the laboratory. Thus he joined the faculty of the now University of North Texas (UNT), in Denton. When asked what in this time had him “wander” from the fervency of midcentury organometallics/kinetics (ferrocene having been discovered in 1952 and table-top spectroscopy VOL. 44, NO. 19, 2010 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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opening up the molecular world), he feels it was his youthful sylvan experiences coupled with his liberal arts education. Persons taught in the rigorous crucible of a major research institution, Bill remarks, had a sense that traipsing into the backwater fringes like “environmental” or “natural” chemistry was, well, “crazy”, in a career-stifling, if not snuffing, way. Having approached science out of curiosity and less goaloriented intent, Bill felt wandering to be a normal and productive pursuit, though of course often one of strange results that seem to lead nowhere. ... at first. All this was perhaps swirling through Bill’s head in the 1960s as Silent Spring awareness grabbed a foothold. In 1967, the inaugural year of ES&T, a student of UNT limnologist J.K.G. Silvey approached Bill for assistance identifying some “taste and odor compounds” in lake water. Fascinated by this problem, Bill worked with that student, Don E. Henley (now an industry expert on water quality analysis). The two began to contemplate what chemistry was going on in chlorinated water treatment. Drawing on his then decade of organometallics/kinetics insight, Bill grew suspicious as to the concentration of unhealthy byproducts lurking in “treated” drinking water. Surely, he thought, it would be a simple matter of applying the capable new tools of chromatography and spectroscopy, tailored for controlled synthetic chemistry, to isolate the nefarious agents and devise a cleaner method. On one hand, Bill remarks that this presumption was one of pure naı¨vety. Yet as neither he, nor anyone else, had an inkling of just how complicated the chemistry of natural organic matter in the presence of pretty much anythings chlorine, metal, hydroxyl, etc.scould get, he does not regret embarking on his meandering path. In those early days of environmental chemistry, Bill knew that a handful of Prometheans had sparked pilot lights at a few U.S. institutions and others sprinkled around the globe, notably in France (Poitiers), Japan, and Switzerland (e.g., Eawag in Du ¨ bendorf). Encouraged that others had gone before, Bill and his students immersed themselves in teasing out the maddening chemistry of disinfection byproducts (DBPs). Domestically, Bill’s forays into such chemistry was encouraged by Wayne Garrison of the (newfound) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Laboratory in Athens, GA, and Russ Christman of the University of North CarolinaChapel Hill (UNC-CH); internationally he found notable support by Fritz Frimmel at Karlsru ¨he, (then West) Germany. Bill modestly remarks on contributing here and there while his colleagues and students remark as to the high quality and determination of the research. During this period, his and others’ work led to independent development of ozoneperoxide methods of water treatment to avoid chlorinated DBPs, of which some were shown to be mutagenic and/or carcinogenic. His work was gradually supported by a young EPA in addition to state and federal funds, while he pursued some industrial ventures including the prospect of a solarpowered desalination plant in West Texas, again involving Henley. As the research itself developed its ever laterally expanding scope, Bill’s gregarious affinity for collaboration and teaching had him transform departmental structures. He and others morphed UNT’s loosely associated “Institute for Environmental Studies” into the “Institute of Applied Sciences” and housed his burgeoning environmental chemistry there. This continued to evolve through the 1970s. In the 1980s he migrated to the University of Texas-Dallas (UT-D) and later the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) to repeat the multi-/inter-/hyper-/trans-disciplinary reorganization, finding engineers coming to the fore. At UCLA, he was initially “troubled” that the environmental group was seemingly relegated to the School of Public Health. But then it became clear that this was where that institution felt comfortable 7172
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building very interdisciplinary programs. As Bill was, conversely, untroubled by what conventional chemists would advise against regarding new paths of study, he and colleagues like Mel Suffet ensconced the interdisciplinary approach. Their programming spanned research science, engineering application, and health contexts that are now almost taken for granted in environmental departments, schools, and institutions.
Complexes, Mixtures, and Synergy Emboldened with these experiences, and encouraged by his peers, Bill took his career to Apollonian levels in the late 1980s. He was drawn to the Chairship of UNC-CH’s eminent Department of Environmental Science and Engineering. There he found students that were “so good and [have] remained so good”, as he fervently defended and bolstered the science-engineering collaborations, again in a School of Public Health. Simultaneously, Russ Christman, the second EIC of ES&T (following founding EIC Jim Morgan in 1975), convinced Bill to take up the helm of the journal in 1988. Bill credits Morgan and Christman as making the position such a prestigious one, and he continued to evolve the journal’s scope with what by then was an explosively growing field (see the Perspective by ES&T Associate Editor Joe Suflita in this issue, DOI 10.1021/es102573u). Over and above these happily demanding tasks, Bill’s civil nature had him desirous of public service, so he joined the EPA’s Science Advisory Board as Member and later Chair. All the while, his research group continued its meandering arc of discovery, application, and improving public health. Plunging ever deeper into the quixotic stew of water treatment, they added photochemistry to the investigation, probing the photocatalytic cleansing potential of TiO2 and other materials. Perhaps it is just a convenient metaphor that upon encountering untold complexity in his field of study, Bill strove for mixtures of energetic people. As radical as the chlorine, ozone, peroxide, and photolysis products that his students and collaborators chased, Bill found byproducts unexpected by convention. Yet while those of his scientific research were deleterious bits of poisonous shrapnel, his personnel and communicative byproducts seeded a robustly diverse communitysthat tribe festooned on exploring all of nature’s nooks and crannies. His scholarly acumen, collaborative impulse, resolute dedication to effective communication, and altruism had Bill ensure that environmental science, technology, and policy would be orders of magnitude improved from the levels when he first was drawn in by smelly lake chemistry. This Tribute Issue is but a small capture of the work resulting from Bill’s catalytic ability and bravery to mix and stir until synergy erupted.
Retired, But Hardly Resting Although he wound down his academic, editorial, and advisory roles by 2002, Bill found himself still avidly wanting to continue his 40+ years of discovery and collaboration. After a year in Karlsru ¨he and Berlin as a guest of the Humboldt Foundation, Bill joined the Oregon Graduate Institute, which had recently folded into the Oregon Health and Sciences University. While working within Antonio Baptista’s department, he found ever more biologists added to his familiar retinue of chemists, geographers and limnologists, engineers, public health specialists, and policymakers. Simultaneously, he helped review California’s hydrospheric needs, abilities, and concerns with the California Bay-Delta Authority Independent Science Board. In these new pursuits, Bill found himself thinking increasingly about ecosystems and their natural beauty. He has since been drawn back to the State
JOSEPH M. DESIMONE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY, RALEIGH Bill understands the importance of good science and the importance of establishing effective multidisciplinary teams that could address hard problems. It was this context that helped drive the establishment of our [National Science Foundation] Science and Technology Center on Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes. SUSAN D. RICHARDSON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, ATHENS, GA Bill Glaze is legendary for his pioneering work on drinking water disinfection byproducts, particularly for newer disinfectants, such as ozone. I was fortunate enough to collaborate with Bill early in my research career, and while I was never “officially” a student of his (at least at the University of North Carolina), I really was a student in every other sense. Much of what I have learned about disinfection chemistry, I have learned from Bill. I have also learned much about how a scientist should conduct him/herself from Billsincluding not being afraid of presenting “strange” results that you can’t explain (but you know are solid) and also how to treat others with respect and gentility, even if they might be criticizing your own work. GREGORY W. CHARACKLIS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL Bill is truly a “visionary”, someone who not only possesses the ability to see opportunities that others don’t, but [also] one with the confidence and conviction to pursue them successfully. MICHAEL D. AITKEN UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL It’s difficult to alter the culture in any academic unit or institution, but Bill indelibly stamped his broad vision into the consciousness of UNC-Chapel Hill, first as chair of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and then as the creator and inaugural director of the Carolina Environmental Program (now the Institute for the Environment). He was a champion of interdisciplinary approaches and solutions to environmental problems, and he believed intensely in the inseparability of human health and ecological health. These beliefs are now ingrained in the culture at UNC. DEBORAH L. SWACKHAMER UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS (and current Chair of the EPA Science Advisory Board) Bill is a visionary, who sees the big landscape. He is also is a very generous person, who sees promise in people and does what he can to further their opportunities. I will always be grateful to him for involving me in EPA advisory panel work. DIONYSIOS D. DIONYSIOU UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, OH I knew of the work of Dr. Glaze, a legend in Environmental Chemistry, from my early years of my Ph.D. dissertation in 1996. I was very fortunate and grateful for having the opportunity to learn from his pioneering articles... In all my interactions with him, I was amazed by his passion for environmental chemistry and critical insights on emerging topics. While with a smile and good humor, he could always keep high standards in his research work and his feedback to his colleagues and students. Although I had never been his student, I will always consider Dr. Glaze as my great teacher on advanced oxidation technologies. He will always be an inspiration for me in my research, teaching and service in the field of environmental chemistry...
of his youth via the state of his youthsfascination for and genuine regard of nature. Bill’s eyes are now keenly attuned to nature’s complexity. On one hand it delights thoroughly while on the other it causes worry. Bill finds it alarming that when asked questions like “Why are fish dying off in pristine waters?” he is forced to reply “I do not know”, speaking to that complexity. This hardly makes for an optimistic outlook when considering the monsters lurking in the shadows due to societal complacency. Through his consulting and reading, Bill has come to be deeply concerned that the magnitude of coming global change (“of which climate change is one part”) is almost too unbearably massive and poised for devastating rapidity. He advocates that scientific and technological involvement must be optimized by best informing the supporting public. If it is not properly fostered, accuracy will suffersthe ability to acquire the data necessary to solve the problemsswhich could stymie progress and improvement. In this tangle of issues, Bill implores that we need to do a better job as a planetary community than we have in our increasingly fouled domestic nests.
“People Made a Big Difference” For all this possible Sturm und Drang, Bill is optimistic. Academically, he helped create educational institutions that produced stellar researchers who continue to add to the tribe. He cites former students like John Ferry and John Kenneke for continuing to apply environmental chemistry in everspanning abilities. O. David Sparkman, another of Bill’s contacts from UNT, fondly remembers, as a freshman, often walking home with the young professor who lived nearby. Pushing his inspiration to cutting-edge mass spectrometry, Sparkman regards his “[almost] longest continuous friendship” with Bill including associations of teacher, mentor, business partner, friend, and colleague. LUCINDA THOMPSON/MICHAEL D. AITKEN/UNC-CH
On Bill Glaze
Four successive (1955-2005) Chairs of Environmental Science and Engineering at UNCH-CH. From left to right: Russ Christman, Casey Miller, Dan Okun, and Bill Glaze. Those educated away from Bill’s direct influence yet regard him as a mentorsSusan Richardson and Dion Dionysiou being examples (Box ). Bill is glad to have seen Mike Aitken take the reins after him at UNC, with now geographer Larry Band and economist-engineer Greg Characklis also exemplifying the environmental thrust of that vaunted institution. For ES&T, Bill well regards the assistance of Associate Editors and Advisors such as John Seinfeld, Michael Hoffman, Laura Sigg, Walter Giger, Rene´ Schwartzenbach, Charles O’Melia, Joe Suflita, and many others. That the journal evolved with the field, starting in environmental chemistry and now including engineering/technological innovation and VOL. 44, NO. 19, 2010 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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policy analysis greatly delights Bill. He steadfastly and with utter modesty insists that his successful tenure at ES&T was only possible resting on the accomplishments of its first two EICs and now continually strengthened by his successor EIC Jerry Schnoor. Bill’s regard and reverence for the people he has worked with is returned back to him (at least) a hundredfold in tribute. As noted above and obvious in the contained colleagues’ remarks, this initial wanderer and now venerated tribal elder is a most generous scientist and mentor. Perhaps though, that is the mark of any researcher unafraid to bring together previously disparate groups. John Ferry pointed out this similarity at the Tribute Symposium in August 2009 at the ACS Fall National Meeting: Bill’s pedigree reaches back to spectroscopy pioneer Robert Bunsen, of eponymic burner fame. On the requisite Wikipedia entry, Bunsen was one of the most universally admired scientists of his generation. He was a master teacher, devoted to his students, and
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they were equally devoted to him. At a time of vigorous and often caustic scientific debates, Bunsen always conducted himself as a perfect gentleman... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bunsen).
How apt then, is Susan Richardson’s take on this latterday pioneer: In 2008, Bill was selected by the American Chemical Society to be part of an elite group of 15 scientists identified as Legends of Environmental Chemistry. These Legends made presentations at a special two-day symposium at the [F]all 2008 ACS [National Meeting]. A video recording of the Legends Symposium was made for posterity and is archived at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. As evidence of Bill’s gentility, he honored other “Legend” speakers during his presentation by encouraging the audience to call out words to describe them. At the end, before questions were asked, people spontaneously began to call out words to describe Bill. How about: A Legend, a Teacher, and a Gentleman...
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