Celebrating the 2025 Winners of the Outstanding Achievements in Environmental Science & Technology Award and the James J. Morgan Early Career Award

Abstract

Our shared home is stressed. The challenges facing people and the planet are unparalleled in their complexity, scope, and urgency. From climate change and biodiversity loss to the intersections of environmental justice and human health, these issues are global in reach, intricate in their interconnections, and deeply entrenched in social, economic, and political systems. We need sustainable solutions. When the Outstanding Achievements in Environmental Science & Technology Award program was launched, we envisioned winners of this award to be agents of change in realizing those sustainable solutions. The winners of the 2025 Outstanding Achievements Award have certainly been change agents, routinely engaging topics from chemical contaminants of emerging concern and water resources and environmental chemistry mechanisms influencing long-range fate and transport in the atmosphere to innovative nature-based solutions and environmental surveillance technologies. From “spreading (scientific) heresy” to predicting multimedia disposition, these scholars have been decided game changers within the environmental science and technology community. Please join us in warmly congratulating the winners of the 2025 Outstanding Achievements in Environmental Science & Technology Award, Professor David Sedlak from the University of California, Berkeley, United States of America, and Professor Frank Wania from the University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada. Professors Sedlak and Wania are richly deserving of this recognition; the story of our community cannot be told without including the outstanding contributions by these colleagues. Professor David L. Sedlak, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America. For his basic and translational research, leadership, and service to advance aquatic chemistry of contaminants of emerging concern, water reuse, and nature-based technologies for sustainable water resource management. Professor David Sedlak is a global leader in environmental chemistry and engineering. His foundational basic and applied contributions have routinely examined aquatic contaminants of emerging concern, including transformation products, and treatment technologies in urban water and wastewater systems. Considering the palpable water resource scarcity issues facing many parts of the world, Prof. Sedlak’s pioneering work demonstrated decided foresight by embracing a One Water concept, which must be sustainably advanced at the global scale. His research has accelerated the scientific enterprise and improved the practice for water reuse. Within this broader context, Prof. Sedlak has made fundamentally important contributions to understanding the environmental chemistry of disinfection byproducts, particularly carcinogenic nitrosamines, which present diverse challenges for drinking water quality. His research on nature-based solutions, including constructed treatment and open water wetlands and horizontal levee systems, has similarly been important and continues to integrate within urban water infrastructure as part of a multiple-barrier approach and to treat reverse osmosis concentrates produced by potable reuse systems. To convey historic trajectories and emerging water challenges to a broad readership, Prof. Sedlak published Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World’s Most Vital Resource (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300212679/water-4-0/), which has also become a common resource in university classes. Professor Frank Wania, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada. For his basic and translational research, leadership, and service to advance sampling techniques, multimedia contaminant fate and transport modeling, and long-range transport of persistent organic pollutants at the global scale. Professor Frank Wania is a global leader in environmental chemistry and contaminant fate and transport modeling. He has provided foundational contributions to understanding, assessing, and measuring long-range atmospheric transport and accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in remote regions. Prof. Wania has formulated conceptual models of contaminant transport, developed numerical tools for long-range transport assessment, and further developed and applied novel air sampling techniques for measuring the global atmospheric dispersion of organic contaminants. He has also developed, characterized, tested, and applied air sampling techniques for organic trace chemicals that are inexpensive and simple and require no electricity. Beyond these important contributions, Prof. Wania’s modeling tools, concepts, and metrics have been commonly translated for regulatory application to improve the practice. For example, his metrics are now used to characterize the long-range transport behavior of a chemical, including during nomination of substances for the Stockholm Convention. He has made significant progress in translating his findings and approaches within the global chemical regulatory community, which is using the concepts, numerical tools, and sampling techniques he developed to reduce the impacts of POPs in the environment. Such contributions are particularly important as we aim to design less hazardous substances and replace organic chemicals that are persistent and likely to be transported at the global scale. As the problems facing humanity evolve, so too must the communities of scholars tasked with addressing them. Recognizing and nurturing the next generation of environmental science and engineering scholars is not just an act of celebration; it is an investment in the future of our planet and its people. This year, as we honor emerging leaders with awards that spotlight their contributions, we must also reflect on the profound transformations happening in our field. Environmental science and technology has evolved from more localized problem-solving and reductionist methodologies into a discipline that embraces systems thinking, interdisciplinary approaches, and a global perspective. The scholars rising to prominence today embody this shift. Their research is as likely to tackle chronic issues like persistent chemicals and water scarcity as it is to address acute disasters such as the impacts of wildfires and hurricanes. Their work often moves beyond laboratory and field experiments to engage directly with communities, policy makers, and stakeholders, integrating diverse voices into the process of discovery and solution building. This evolution in focus and approach demands a corresponding diversification in who we recognize and support as leaders. It is no longer sufficient, or sustainable, to rely on a narrow definition of excellence or impact. Perspectives from the Global South must stand alongside those from historically dominant academic centers. Indigenous knowledge systems must inform and complement cutting-edge technological innovations. A multiplicity of training, perspectives, and experiences is not merely a goal; it is a prerequisite for addressing the layered, dynamic, and existential environmental challenges we face. This implies celebrating the richness of thought, creativity, and innovation that arises from diverse experiences and viewpoints. It ensures that the solutions we devise are as inclusive and multifaceted as the problems we aim to solve. As we celebrate the recipients of this year’s James Morgan awards, let us also reaffirm our commitment to actively addressing inequities in funding, mentorship, publication opportunities, and award nomination processes, as well as ensuring that award criteria evolve to reflect the values of our disciplines increasingly centered on collaboration, systems thinking, and social impact. Let this moment of celebration inspire us all to continue evolving, in not only how we solve environmental challenges but also how we support and strengthen those who are solving them. Together, we can ensure that our community not only meets the needs of today but also anticipates and adapts our science, and our community of scientists, to meet the demands of tomorrow. Please join us in celebrating the winners of the 2025 James J. Morgan Early Career Award. Razi Epsztein, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel Dr. Epsztein has significantly engaged research associated with the water–energy nexus, including advances in enhancing solute–solute separations in dense membranes, such as nanofiltration and ion-exchange membranes. His research group investigates the fundamentals of molecular transport and selectivity in membranes, aiming to develop new membranes and processes for water treatment, resource recovery, and energy production. Naresh Kumar, Wageningen University, The Netherlands Dr. Kumar has made significant contributions to environmental geochemistry, focusing on biogeochemical processes at the solid–aqueous interface, influencing the fate of contaminants. His work emphasizes understanding redox processes at the solid–water interface, using advanced analytical techniques such as synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy and isotope fingerprinting. His research has elucidated mechanisms such as zerovalent iron oxidation and the role of sulfur in the fate of arsenic in aquatic systems. Philiswa Nomngongo, University of Johannesburg, South Africa Prof. Nomngongo has embraced research efforts with a “detect, analyze, and remove (DAR)” strategy to address recalcitrant pollutants. Her research is driven by the threats climate change and human activities pose to water sources, impacting the sustainability of urban and rural communities in South Africa. Prof. Nomngongo has designed advanced nanomaterials for developing analytical methods to monitor pollutants and adsorption technologies to remove aquatic contaminants. Her research integration of analytical chemistry, environmental chemical engineering, and nanotechnology aims to address water challenges. Case van Genuchten, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Denmark Dr. van Genuchten’s groundbreaking work focuses on transforming carcinogenic arsenic (As) in groundwater into a valuable material essential for the transition to clean energy systems. He identified the molecular pathways of arsenic treatment, enhancing the design and operation of centralized and decentralized treatment plants in diverse economic settings. Dr. van Genuchten has also developed a chemical process for converting arsenic-rich sludge into solid metallic arsenic [As(0)] that can be used in semiconductors, which aligns with his vision of water treatment as a provider of clean water and Critical Raw Materials. Zongsu Wei, Aarhus University, Denmark Dr. Wei is significantly contributing to advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), particularly in addressing PFAS degradation. His research focuses on radical-based AOPs to treat persistent organic pollutants. Dr. Wei was among the first to test ultrasound-enhanced AOPs in pilot-scale applications, has developed novel strategies for promoting surface reactions in Fenton processes, and opened a new research direction by developing adsorptive photocatalysts for PFAS remediation. His recent breakthrough in photocatalytic treatment of PFAS includes a single-step ultrafiltration membrane reactor. James J. Morgan Award: Honorable Mentions Again this year, we recognize a number of researchers with Honorable Mentions for creative and important contributions to environmental science and technology, due to the high number of high-quality nominees for the 2025 Morgan Early Career Award. Michael Bertram, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden Hendryk Czech, University of Rostock/Helmholtz Centre Munich, Germany Mohamed Mahmoud, Galala University, Egypt Vhahangwele Masindi, University of South Africa, South Africa On behalf of ES&T, ES&T Letters, and ACS ENVR Division, we thank you for your nominations, and we extend special thanks to the award committee members for reviewing so many impressive nominees and selecting the winners. Later this year, we will welcome nominations for the 2026 Outstanding Achievements in Environmental Science & Technology Award and the James J. Morgan Early Career Award from the Asia-Pacific region. This article has not yet been cited by other publications.