ES&T’s editor to step down
after 15 years

At the end of August, William H. Glaze formally announced his intention to retire from his position as Editor of Environmental Science & Technology. Glaze plans to complete his term at the end of 2002.

Glaze became a member of ES&T’s editorial advisory board in 1980, and he was appointed as the publication’s third Editor in 1988. “It was time for a man with enormous vision, [who] would set [the] path to a more internationally oriented research journal of the highest quality,” recalls Russ Christman, Editor of ES&T from 1975 through 1987. Then chair of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s (UNC-CH) Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Christman recommended Glaze—who at that time was the director of the Environmental Science and Engineering Program at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA)—for the job.

In his inaugural editorial, Glaze vowed to “continue to press for more rapid turnaround of manuscripts,” and to “be receptive to papers from any field of environmental science and technology if a component of the work is of a chemical nature and the quality of the paper is high.”

During Glaze’s tenure, the publication’s average manuscript processing time has dropped from 40 weeks to 24 weeks. As the volume of published papers mushroomed from 149 in 1987 to last year’s 798, the spectrum of topics has expanded to embrace new areas, including microbiology, environmental policy, and green chemistry. And the publication has remained the most prestigious in its field, with a current “impact factor” of 3.5, according to the Institute of Scientific Information, which calculates the impact of peer-reviewed journals.

To cover this broader range of research topics, the size of the Editorial Advisory Board has grown since Glaze took the helm. The number of associate editors grew from 2 to 10, while the ranks of board members rose from 12 to 26. Glaze presided over the opening of the publication’s European office in 2000, and he inaugurated the Magazine Advisory Board for the A-page section this year.

Glaze has a genius for inspiring loyalty among his colleagues, says Tom Lehman, who has been an assistant editor for the publication’s manuscript processing office in Chapel Hill since 1997. A number of leading scientists have served on the Editorial Advisory Board for more than a decade, Lehman notes.

“Bill knows how to listen carefully to advice and to build consensus. He is a very thoughtful man who has a talent for being critical without being abrasive,” attests Joseph Suflita, director of the University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Energy and the Environment, and the MAPCO Professor of Environmental Quality. Suflita has been an Associate Editor since 1990.

“Bill’s efforts in launching important new directions for the journal have combined great vision with hard work and patience.... He has recognized what is needed to address the new generation of environmental problems and in so doing promoted and stimulated the work that can meet this challenge,” says Mitchell Small, Heinz Professor of Environmental Engineering at Carnegie-Mellon University and an ES&T Associate Editor since 1996. Glaze’s many changes to the publication have served the needs of both the authors and readers well, adds Ron Hites, distinguished professor of environmental and analytical chemistry at Indiana University and an ES&T Associate Editor since 1990.

In addition to serving as ES&T’s Editor, Glaze is currently the director of the UNC-CH’s Carolina Environmental Program, an interdisciplinary science program that draws faculty from departments throughout the university, including art, anthropology, business, geography, policy, mathematics, and medicine. He is also a professor in the school’s Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, a department he previously chaired. Glaze’s research specialty is oxidation processes in water treatment, and he is author of nearly 200 publications in a range of disciplines. Currently the chair of the U.S. EPA’s Science Advisory Board, Glaze has also chaired the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Drinking Water Additives. He has also earned numerous awards, including the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Senior Science Research Award.

To find a replacement for Glaze, the American Chemical Society will form a search committee to canvas the community for nominations, says ACS Special Publications Director Mary Warner. She says the new editor is expected to be announced in mid-2002. –KELLYN S. BETTS