April 12, 2007 — Constantinos Sioutas, a professor of civil and environment engineering in the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering, has been named the first holder of the Fred Champion Professorship in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
The five-year appointment was given to recognize Sioutas’ exceptional distinction, according to Viterbi School Dean Yannis C. Yortsos. The professorship, which begins July 1, 2007, was created from the Fred Champion endowment, which also supports the Fred Champion endowed chair.
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Constantinos Sioutas peers out at his favorite laboratory, downtown Los Angeles, with its smog-filled skies.
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“Sioutas has distinguished himself in the field of air pollution for developing cutting-edge technologies that allow us to measure the physical, chemical and toxicological characteristics of ultrafine particles, typically defined as less than 0.1 micrometers in diameter,” Yortsos said. “That research, combined with his leadership role in the Southern California Particle Center (SCPC), has helped scientists better understand the relationship between public health and exposure to environmental pollutants.”
Sioutas continues to co-direct the Southern California Particle Center, which was established in late 1999 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and represents one of the largest air pollution centers in the EPA’s history.
The environmental engineer holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, a master’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of Minnesota, and a doctorate in environmental science and engineering from Harvard University. He started his academic career at the Harvard School of Public Heath in 1995, and joined the faculty of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 1998.
Sioutas's research focuses on developing technologies for measuring the physico-chemical characteristics of air pollutants, with an emphasis on particulate matter, and determining toxic properties. Findings from his work have been extensively used in legislation, including the revision of U.S. EPA National Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) on particulate matter (PM), and also by the state of California.
Sioutas has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal publications, and holds 14 U.S. patents in the field of aerosol instrumentation. He is a Fulbright Fellow (1986), a recipient of the 3M Circle of Technical Excellence Award (1991), and a recipient of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Outstanding Junior Faculty Research Award (2000). In 2001, he also became a member of the Air Quality Advisory Committee on PM for the state of California.
