The Ron Hites Prize in Environmental Science was created in 2021 to honor a person whose work, like the late Distinguished Professor Emeritus Ron Hites’s work, has had a transformative impact on environmental science, broadly defined, and who has contributed to solving complex environmental challenges. The Hites Prize recipient will accept the prize and deliver a lecture at the Indiana University Bloomington campus.
The Hites Prize is open to scientists, educators, public servants, and environmental activists. Emphasis on selection is given to those who have made either sustained contributions or a single, critical contribution toward solving a complex environmental problem. Current and retired employees of Indiana University are not eligible for the Hites Prize.
Nominations are valid for two years. The nomination period will open in fall 2025.
The next Hites Prize will be awarded in 2026.
Sujay Kaushal is a professor in the Department of Geology and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research focuses on analyzing changes in the chemistry of the Earth’s freshwaters and evaluating strategies for improving water quality for ecosystems and humanity.
Ron Hites graduated from Oakland University in 1964 and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1968. He joined the faculty of MIT as an assistant professor of chemical engineering in 1972, and he moved to Indiana University in 1979. He was promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor in 1989. He retired in 2020 and is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.
Hites pioneered a new method of measuring trace levels of potentially toxic persistent organic pollutants in the environment using gas chromatographic mass spectrometry. His research focused on the sources, fates, and effects of trace levels of potentially toxic persistent organic pollutants in the environment. He authored hundreds of papers and several books. He has trained dozens of doctoral students and post-doctoral associates. He was an associate editor of Environmental Science & Technology from 1990-2019. He is a Charter Fellow of the American Chemical Society, a Charter Fellow of the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
With profound sadness, we report that Ron Hites passed away on January 5, 2024.
