- About
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- About
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ACGIH is a 501(c)(3) charitable scientific organization that advances occupational and environmental health.
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- Subscriptions
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Get valuable benefits that are vital to your health and safety as an occupational, environmental, health, and safety worker.
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- Science
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- Science
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This section has been established to help educate industry, government, and the public on what TLVs and BEIs are, and how TLVs and BEIs may best be used.
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- Career Development
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- Career Development
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ACGIH is committed to providing its members and other occupational and environmental health professionals with the training and education they need to excel in their profession.
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- Publications
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- Publications
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ACGIH has publications in many different areas that fit your needs in your field.
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ACGIH Digital Library
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If you have purchased and need to access the Digital Library, click here.
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The Meritorious Achievement Award is given to members of ACGIH who have made outstanding, long-term contributions to the field of occupational health and environmental hygiene.
The recipient of the 2026 Meritorious Achievement Award is Rick Neitzel, PhD, CIH, FAIHA.
Rick is a Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Global Public Health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where he directs the Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering as well as UM’s industrial hygiene program. He has published more than 160 peer-reviewed manuscripts focused on exposures to, and impacts of, noise and other occupational and environmental hazards. He is the principal investigator of the nationwide Apple Hearing Study and created a freely-available national job-exposure matrix for occupational noise exposures in the U.S. and Canada. Rick served as Chair of the ACGIH Threshold Limit Values for Physical Agents (TLV-PA) Committee from 2018-24. He is also a Fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist since 2003.
Previous Award Recipients
- 1957 — Members of the Industrial Ventilation Committee (past and present)
- 1958 — Members of the Committee on Threshold Limits (past and present)
- 1959 — Lester M. Petrie, MD
- 1960 — Thomas F. Mancuso, MD
- 1961 — Hervey B. Elkins, PhD, CIH
- 1962 — No award presented
- 1963 — George Hama
- 1964 — Victoria Trasko
- 1965 — Herbert E. Stokinger, PhD
- 1966 — John C. Soet
- 1967 — Andrew D. Hosey, CIH
- 1968 — William G. Fredrick, ScD
- 1969 — John J. Bloomfield
- 1970 — Catherine Chambers, RN
- 1971 — E. Lynn Schall
- 1972 — Marcus M. Key, MD
- 1973 — Warren A. Cook
- 1974 — U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency
- 1975 — Edward Baier, CIH
- 1976 — Henry N. Doyle, CIH
- 1977 — Members of the Threshold Limit Values for Physical Agents (TLV-PA) Committee (past and present)
- 1978 — James C. Barrett
- 1979 — Charles D. “Pete” Yaffe, CIH
- 1980 — Duncan A. Holaday, CIH
- 1981 — Christine Einert, MD
- 1982 — Dohrman H. Byers, CIH
- 1983 — Mary Louise Brown
- 1984 — Irving H. Davis, CIH
- 1985 — Harry J. Ettinger, CIH
- 1986 — Herbert H. Jones, CIH
- 1987 — William D. Wagner
- 1988 — William D. Kelley
- 1989 — Vera Fiserova-Bergerova Thomas, PhD
- 1990 — Vernon E. Rose, DrPH, CIH
- 1991 — Robert L. Harris, PhD
- 1992 — Charles E. Adkins, CIH
- 1993 — Jeffrey S. Lee, PhD, CIH
- 1994 — R. Jerry Sherwood, SM, CIH, CEng (UK)
- 1995 — Howard E. Ayer, CIH
- 1996 — John Doull, PhD, MD
- 1997 — William D. Wagner
- 1998 — Sidney Case Soderholm, PhD, and James H. Vincent, PhD, DSc
- 1999 — Dave K. Verma, PhD, CIH, ROH
- 2000 — William Burgess
- 2001 — Morton Corn, Ph.D., CSP
- 2002 — Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances (TLV-CS) Committee (past and present members) and the Industrial Hygiene Section of the Hazard Evaluations and Technical Assistance Branch (HETAB) of NIOSH (past and present members)
- 2003 — Scott E. Merkle, CIH
- 2004 — Morton Lippmann, PhD, CIH
- 2005 — Robert T. Hughes, MSME, PE
- 2006 — Patrick N. Breysse, PhD, CIH
- 2007 — Lisa M. Brosseau, ScD, CIH
- 2008 — Michael S. Morgan, ScD, CIH
- 2009 — Gyan S. Rajhans, ROH, CIH, PE
- 2010 — Patricia Stewart, PhD, CIH
- 2011 — Jimmy L. Perkins, PhD, CIH
- 2012 — John M. Dement, PhD, CIH
- 2013 — Carol Rice, PhD, CIH
- 2014 — Beverly S. Cohen, PhD
- 2015 — D. Jeff Burton, MS, PE
- 2016 — Stephen J. Reynolds, PhD, CIH, FAIHA
- 2017 — J. Torey Nalbone, PhD, CIH, FAIHA
- 2018 — Robert F. Herrick, ScD, CIH
- 2019 — Lynn C. O’Donnell, CIH
- 2020 — Thomas J. Armstrong, PhD, CIH
- 2021 — Mary V. O’Reilly, PhD, CIH, CPE
- 2022 — Jonathan F. Hale, MPA
- 2023 — Dr. Lauralynn Taylor McKernan, Sc.D., CIH
- 2024 — Nancy Wilk, HBSc, MHSc, CIH
- 2025 — COL(Ret.) Mary S. Lopez, PhD, CPE