News

Four Decades of Service

March 15, 2007

In a ceremony on June 28, 2007, Environmental Engineering Professor Emeritus Harold Cota will receive the Charles W. Gruber Association Leadership Award for his outstanding service to the Air & Waste Management Association.

Established by the Board of Directors in 2003, the award recognizes an individual who has contributed to the A&WMA in leadership positions at national, international, and local levels. Cota's peers nominated him, saying, "Dr. Hal Cota has been an active member of the A&WMA for 38 years and has provided outstanding service to the Association at all levels."

Most notably, Cota has been an inspiration to hundreds of Cal Poly Environmental Engineering students who have joined the profession, and many of whom have continued as A&WMA members. "The West Coast Section (WCS) has found that his steadfast support of the Student Chapter at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the entire WCS student/scholarship program has been a major key to our success," said Sara J. Head, Regional Program Manager and Director of the West Coast Section for A&WMA.

Under Cota's leadership, the Cal Poly Chapter of A&WMA has received the award for Best Student Chapter (Midsize University) consecutively for the past six years.