adds, was intended as “a snapshot from 30,000 feet [that] would allow people on the ground to begin looking at this more closely, to find out for themselves” about the issues that might affect them. What remains unclear is whether the version leaked by CPI is a revised version or an earlier draft. No one ES&T spoke to has attempt-
ed to make that determination. Bernadette Burden, a spokesperson for CDC, says that the final version of the report is currently under review. After much scrutiny and revision, she says, it is a “more scientifically sound” incarnation that will take into account a “number of concerns raised” in earlier reviews. —NAOMI LUBICK
ES&T associate editor Dzombak named to NAE
Research Award from the Pennsylvania Water Environment Association; the Jack Edward McKee Medal from the Water Environment Federation; and the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Dzombak credits his early interest in science to his dad, “who taught me many things about basic and applied science from the time I was very small,” he says. His love of science extends to community projects in and near Pittsburgh, including the Nine Mile Run project to reclaim a brownfield site plagued by 75 years of steel slag and create a greenway connecting a city park and the Monongahela River. “Dave to me is the model engineer—a model of organization, discipline, communication, of interpersonal skills with students and faculty,” explains Deb Lange, executive director of Carnegie Mellon’s Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research, of which Dzombak is the director. At the national level, Dzombak chairs the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board’s Environmental Engineering Committee and the National Research Council’s Committee on the Mississippi River and the Clean Water Act. Dzombak is a runner who hits the streets early in the morning and logs about 25 miles per week. He has completed nine marathons. It was a typical midlife crisis that led him to long-distance running, he says, adding with his usual quiet humor that “running is a lot less expensive than a sports car.” —CATHERINE M. COONEY
David Dzombak began life with a chemistry professor at home: his father, William Dzombak, taught at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., for 35 years. Now the junior Dzombak has achieved one of the highest professional distinctions for an engineer: election into the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE). “Dave has been a leader in fostering multidisciplinary research,” says Pradeep Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering, who asked Dzombak to be his associate dean a year and a half ago. “He is extremely hard-working and very focused, to the point that people might think he is too serious, but believe me, he has a great sense of dry humor.” Dzombak is the Walter J. Blenko Sr. Professor of Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He became an associate editor of ES&T in 2005. ES&T Editor Jerald Schnoor notes his versatility: “He is a true scholar in environmental sciences and engineering, with applications to both the natural and built environment.” NAE named Dzombak’s groundbreaking research on models used in evaluating chemical behavior in water and site remediation as the reason for his election to the academy. Along with the National Academy of Sciences, NAE advises the federal government on questions of policy in science and technology. Dzombak’s interests are wideranging and include aquatic chemistry, especially interactions of
chemicals with mineral surfaces in water; water and wastewater treatment; abandoned-mine drainage remediation; river and watershed restoration; and hazardous-site remediation. Early in his career, Dzombak completed unique work in surface KEN ANDRE YO, CARNEGIE MELLON
and Environmental Medicine from 1991 until he was removed from that position last October. Reasons for his dismissal are under investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology. De Rosa says that the version sent out in February 2007 clearly stated the report’s limitations. The ATSDR report, De Rosa
David Dzombak
complexation modeling, which led to the 1990 book Surface Complexation Modeling: Hydrous Ferric Oxide, considered a classic text. Dzombak is proud of this work, he says, “because it helped bring surface complexation modeling from the research domain into more practical use.” He is also pleased with his work in improving understanding of the role of cyanide speciation in the fate, transport, and treatment of cyanide in water and soil. This research led to a second book, published in 2006, Cyanide in Water and Soil: Chemistry, Risk, and Management. Dzombak has received many awards, including the Professional
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