Smith Engineering Chair Named to Two National Posts

Editor's Note: Photos of Grasso are available from the engineering web site www.science.smith.edu/departments/Engin or by contacting the News Office at 413/585-2190 or mhobbes@smith.edu.

In recognition of his expertise in environmental engineering research and education, Domenico Grasso, Rosemary Bradford Hewlett '40 Professor and Chair of the Picker Program in Engineering and Technology at Smith College, has been named to leadership positions in two prominent organizations.

Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol M. Browner has appointed Grasso to a second two-year term as a member of the Agency's Science Advisory Board, a panel comprising many of the top scientific minds in the country. The board provides Browner with objective evaluations of the scientific underpinnings of environmental health issues.

In addition, Grasso was recently elected president of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), an international learned professional society representing faculty members in undergraduate and graduate programs. He replaces Robin Autenrieth, professor of environmental engineering and public health at Texas A&M University, who stepped down as president in October. The mission of AEESP is to assist its members in the development and dissemination of knowledge in environmental engineering and science.

Formerly chair of the environmental engineering department at the University of Connecticut, Grasso came to Smith in 1999 as founding chair of the first engineering department at a U.S. women's college. He also serves on the board of directors of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors and on the board of Sea Change, a non-profit environmental advisory group. He is editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Engineering Science. In addition, he is the author of more than 100 technical papers and reports, including four chapters and two books. In 1998, he served on a World Bank-funded international team of scholars that established the first environmental engineering program in Argentina.

Established in February 1999, Smith's engineering program is focused on developing broadly educated, well-rounded engineers capable of assuming leadership roles in corporations, non-profit organizations and technology-related fields. The program's unprecedented linkage of engineering education and the liberal arts is expected to attract -- and graduate -- women not only strong in scientific and technical aptitude but also capable of exceptional creativity and humanistic understanding. The first 20 students in the program entered this fall.

Smith College is consistently ranked among the nation's best liberal arts colleges. Enrolling 2,800 students from every state and 50 other countries, Smith is the largest undergraduate women's college in the United States.

November 28, 2000