Tech builds on excellence with GRA Eminent Scholars

Don Fernandez
Communications
& Marketing

Two internationally renowned experts in sustainability have joined the Georgia Tech faculty as Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholars.

John C. Crittenden, an accomplished expert in waste management, pollution prevention and sustainable and environmental engineering, will join Tech as a GRA Eminent Scholar in Sustainable Systems. Crittenden also will serve as director of Tech’s Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems and is slated to fill the Hightower Chair in Sustainable Systems, pending Board of Regents approval.

Philippe Van Cappellen, an internationally renowned environmental geochemist, is the Georgia Power GRA Eminent Scholar in Global Climate Studies in Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

	John C. Crittenden

Crittenden has received multiple awards for his research in the treatment and removal of hazardous materials from drinking and groundwater. He also has designed and received copyrights on computer software programs that analyze various pollution and absorption methods.

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) Centennial Celebration Committee recently named him as one of the leading 100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era.
Crittenden will hold an appointment in Civil and Environmental Engineering. In this position, he will lead the creation of an integrated initative in Sustainable Urban Systems and conduct research in related nanotechnology and computational science.

“It’s an honor to welcome Dr. Crittenden to Georgia Tech where he joins a leading group of students and faculty members,” said Interim President Gary Schuster. “He is a world-renowned teacher and leader at the forefront of sustainability research. His reputation and leadership in this area will reinforce and enrich our efforts in sustainability, an area of critical importance to the Institute and the state.”

In the private sector, he has served as a consultant to companies, universities and cities in Germany, Japan and across the United States. He is also part owner of Superior Engineering Technologies, a company that he expects to continue growing in Georgia.

“As director of the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, I will build on the enormous momentum that Georgia Tech has developed in this area,” Crittenden said. “I have a long-term goal to engineer the anthrosphere [the part of the environment that is made or modified by humans for use in human activities] to exist within the means of nature. With the intellectual capital that Georgia Tech can use to tackle this problem, we can make substantial progress.”

Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, Crittenden was the Richard Snell Presidential Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Arizona State University.

	Philippe Van Cappellen

Van Cappellen is investigating the connection between human activity, including power generation and global environmental change. In particular, he is studying how the key nutrient elements nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon and iron affect the global carbon cycle on the continents, in coastal areas and in the oceans.

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Van Cappellen at Georgia Tech,” said Paul Houston, dean of the College of Sciences. “He was an assistant professor and an associate professor at Tech between 1991 and 1999, so we welcome him back. I am confident he will be highly successful as the Georgia Power GRA Eminent Scholar in Global Climate Studies.”

Prior to his appointment, Van Cappellen served as the chair of geochemistry at Utrecht University in The Netherlands for nine years. He has earned numerous accolades, including the Pioneer Award from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and the André Dumont Medal from the Belgian Geological Society. He was also the founding director of Utrecht University’s Center for Soil, Water and Coastal Resources.

“I am excited to return to Georgia Tech as the Georgia Power GRA Eminent Scholar in Global Climate Studies,” Van Cappellen said. “A better understanding of what affects the global climate is essential for effective environmental stewardship and energy policy.”
Van Cappellen was associate editor for the American Journal of Science from 1999 to 2003, co-editor-in-chief for the Journal of Hydrology from 1996 to 2004 and currently is associate editor of Geomicrobiology Journal.