News Releases from Region 02

EPA Announces Hiring of Pollution Prevention Expert Dr. Anahita Williamson will Lead EPA Region 2 Science Division

(New York, New York) The U.S Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 announced that it has selected Rochester Institute of Technology engineer Dr. Anahita Williamson to be the Director of EPA Region 2's Division of Environmental Science and Assessment in Edison, NJ. Dr. Williamson is currently director of the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology. In her six years as Director, Dr. Williamson has worked with states and universities to help more than 200 companies reduce waste and make work environments cleaner and safer, at the same time reducing manufacturing costs.

Dr. Williamson will direct EPA Region 2's 65 employee Division of Environmental Science and Assessment in Edison, NJ as they oversee the collection, analysis and evaluation of environmental data in support of EPA monitoring programs. The Division is home to an EPA Laboratory which provides chemical, biological, microbiological and other laboratory support to regional activities for the analysis of soil, sediment, tissue, wipe, drinking and ambient water, and hazardous waste samples.

The Division of Environmental Science and Assessment also conducts field sampling investigations, analyses and surveys to acquire the necessary environmental data to support EPA's work. The Division also includes the Region's Quality Assurance Program, which ensures that data meets stringent quality requirements. In addition, the EPA Regional Citizen Science Program to empower communities to collect quality environmental data is also located in the Division of Environmental Science and Assessment.

"Dr. Williamson is a highly respected engineer who has a strong environmental track record on pollution prevention and other science issues. She has helped scores of businesses reduce the use of toxic chemicals, energy and water," said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. "EPA is thrilled that she will be joining the EPA staff in a leadership position."

Dr. Williamson has a strong background and extensive experience in the field of environmental engineering, including manufacturing process modification for improved material recovery and reuse, design for the environment and life-cycle assessment. Prior to joining NYSP2I, she served as a senior engineer at Xerox Corporation where she assisted in implementing companywide sustainability and pollution prevention processes. Williamson led numerous teams at Xerox Corporation in defining environmental opportunities within processes/products by optimizing complex systems.

In 2012, Dr. Williamson was recognized with the EPA's Environmental Quality Award and in 2013 she won RIT's Principal Investigator Millionaire Award.

Dr. Williamson also has multiple peer-reviewed publications and has presented at numerous international and national conferences on topics including cleaner production, green engineering, the acceleration of green technologies and sustainable supply chain. Dr. Williamson holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental engineering, all from Clarkson University.

For more information about EPA's Region 2, visit www.epa.gov/region2. For more information about EPA's citizen science program, visit http://www.epa.gov/citizenscience/

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