DR. SAM LUOMA NAMED 2008 BROWN-NICHOLS SCIENCE AWARD WINNER
Dr. Samuel N. Luoma was honored by his peers as the first recipient of the Brown-Nichols Science Award, presented at the 5th Biennial CALFED Science Conference (now called the Bay-Delta Science Conference). He received this award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science in the San Francisco Estuary and watershed.
Luoma was recognized for his contributions to California as the first Lead Scientist of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, a role he served in for three years beginning in 2000. Additionally, he was hailed for his work in unraveling some difficult contamination issues in the Delta, particularly those related to mercury and selenium, shedding light on their important implications for policy makers.
Luoma retired from the U.S. Geological Survey after 34 years as a research scientist. Luoma currently leads science policy coordination for the John Muir Institute of the Environment at the University of California, Davis, and is editor-in-chief of the on-line journal San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science. He is also a scientific associate with the National History Museum in London, UK. His specific research interests are in the bioavailability and effects of metals in aquatic environments, as well as coordination of water policy with science. Luoma has served as a scientific advisor on many issues at the interface of science and environmental management, including in areas of environmental monitoring design, science for water management, sediment quality criteria and bioavailability of contaminants in soils and sediments.
He is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, many of which dealt with water quality issues in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. With Dr. Philip Rainbow, Dr. Luoma co-authored, Metal Contamination in Aquatic Environments: Science and Lateral Management in 2008. Dr. Luoma is a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was a W. J. Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in the UK in 2004, and received the rank of Meritorious Senior Government Employee from the U.S. President in 2006.