Jane E. Rothert, quality assurance chemist at the Illinois State Water Survey, Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Ill., has received an ASTM International Award of Merit and the accompanying title of fellow, the highest organizational recognition for individual contributions to standards activities.

Rothert was honored for her outstanding service in developing standard test methods for Committee D22 on Air Quality.

A member of ASTM International since 1986, Rothert is vice chair (membership) of Committee D22 and is secretary of Subcommittee D22.03 on Ambient Atmospheres and Source Emissions. She has contributed to the development of several new standards that are used nationally and internationally by federal and state regulatory authorities for the monitoring of acid rain deposition.  The committee recognized her work with an award of appreciation in 1998.  In addition to D22, she also participates on Committees D19 on Water and F32 on Search and Rescue.

A noted expert on methods for atmospheric deposition analysis, Rothert has extensive expertise in directing quality assurance programs for a high production laboratory processing more than 13,000 samples a year. She has been instrumental in developing the procedures used for sample preservation, collection and analysis of atmospheric precipitation. Before assuming her position with the Illinois State Water Survey in 1985, she worked as a chemist at the Battelle Memorial Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash.

In addition to ASTM International, Rothert is a member of the American Chemical Society and works with the National Atmospheric Deposition Program. She has contributed to more than 20 reports and publications in her field. 

A graduate of Butler University, Indianapolis, Ind., where she received a B.S. in chemistry, Rothert holds an M.S. in analytical chemistry from Washington State University, Pullman, Wash.

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