Honoring Professor Emeritus William Hinds
- First EHS Department Chair, William Hinds
William C. Hinds, 82, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Health Sciences, died peacefully of pulmonary fibrosis at his Alamo, California home in the Bay Area on May 14, 2021. His survivors include his wife Lynda and his children and their families.
He was the Department of Environmental Health Sciences’ first Chair after the School of Public Health’s departmentalization in 1989 and served until 1991. He then in 2000 became Principal Investigator and Director of the NIOSH Southern California Education and Research Center (succeeding John Peters of the University of Southern California) until retirement in 2009. He was the Program Director of the UCLA Industrial Hygiene Program from 1982 before SPH departmentalization through to his retirement. He was Deputy Director of the NIOSH Southern California Educational Resource Center 1993-2000. He was also co-director along with his close EHS colleague John Froines of the UCLA component of the NIEHS Southern California Environmental Health Center until his retirement. He also was a member of the UCLA EPA Particle Center headed by John Froines 1999-2009.
His primary research area in the Department was fundamental and applied research related to aerosols and industrial hygiene controls of airborne contaminants including respiratory protection. He mentored 16 PhD students among whom were Yifang Zhu (now Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs at FSPH) and former EHS Faculty member Nola Kennedy (now Chair, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, California State University-Northridge). His 33 MPH and MS advisees in Industrial Hygiene were grateful for his mentorship, three also going on to doctoral degrees in EHS and Environmental Science and Engineering. He also hosted a Korean Visiting Scholar. He published 75 papers in peer-review journals, 25 peer-reviewed chapters and proceedings, and organized many sessions at the annual American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exhibition, International Aerosol Conferences, and the annual conference of the American Association for Aerosol Research. He was an invited speaker to other aerosol conferences in Europe and Asia. Perhaps his most known contribution was the seminal textbook Aerosol Technology: Properties, Behavior and Measurement of Airborne Particles, the first such text in the field. The 1st edition came out in 1982, the 2nd in 1999, and the 3rd will be soon published with the co-authorship of Professor Yifang Zhu. A Japanese edition appeared in 1985.
He was born in Waterville Maine on May 3 1939. He graduated with his Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering in 1962 from Cornell University, obtained his Master of Science in Hygiene from Harvard University in 1969, his doctorate in Environmental Health from Harvard University in 1972 (Aerosol Measurement by Laser Doppler Spectroscopy), and a Certificate of Advanced Engineering Study from Cornell University in 1988. In the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Harvard University School of Public Health, he held the following positions: Research Associate in Industrial Hygiene Engineering, 1972-73; Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Engineering 1973-80; and Associate Professor of Environmental Health Engineering 1980-82. He then transferred to the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health filling a UCLA Center for Occupational Health FTE within the UCLA School of Public Health as an Associate Professor starting in 1982 (also founding the UCLA Industrial Hygiene Program), and became full Professor in 1986. He was Affiliated Faculty of the UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science 1984-88.
He was honored as Fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association in 1994; the American Industrial Hygiene Association Donald E Cummings Memorial Award in 2009; and the American Association for Aerosol Research David Sinclair Award in 2009. He won many FSPH and EHS awards and was in demand as a Committee member for students and faculty.
He was a board certified full diplomate of the American Board of Industrial Hygiene Comprehensive Practice (CIH) from 1975, and a Registered Environmental Assessor (REA) of the State of California 1992-96.
A UCLA memorial will be held at a date to be announced.
Shane Que Hee, EHS Interim Chair, May 16 2021