PULLMAN, Wash. — Eugene A. Rosa, Washington State University professor and chair of
sociology, has received this year’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Sociology of
the Environment and Technology from the Environment and Technology Section of the
American Sociological Association.
The award recognizes individuals for outstanding service, innovation or publication in
environmental sociology or sociology of technology, and it is an expression of appreciation to
individuals deemed to be extraordinarily meritorious. Rosa was cited for the range of his
contributions, including service to the profession, research innovations and publications in both
areas.
Rosa is presently the Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor of Natural Resource and
Environmental Policy in the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy, an adjunct professor of
Environmental Science and Regional Planning, and a faculty associate in the Social and
Economic Sciences Research Center at WSU.
A 1967 graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rosa completed his graduate
studies at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, earning a master’s degree in 1975 and a
doctorate in 1976. After postdoctoral studies at Stanford University, he joined the WSU faculty
in 1978 as an assistant professor and coordinator of the Public Opinion Laboratory. He has made
extensive research contributions to environmental sociology; interdisciplinary studies of human
ecology; environmental and technological risks; and natural resource and energy policy. Rosa
has served as a visiting scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he contributed to
methodologies for assessing human risks in nuclear power plants, and as a visiting professor at
the London School of Economics and the University of Klagenfurt (Austria).
Governor Booth Gardner twice appointed Rosa to the Nuclear Waste Advisory Council. He
served two terms as a member of the Advisory Board of the Pritchard Gallery of Art at the
University of Idaho and has filled editorships on a variety of journals. Rosa has held elected
office in a variety of organizations, including his current position as Secretary of Section K of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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