2022 SETAC Founders Award Bestowed to Frank Wania

Amila De Silva and Derek Muir, Environment and Climate Change Canada; Robert Batey, University of Toronto; and Michael McLachlin, Stockholm University

The SETAC Founders Award is the society’s highest honor. It recognizes outstanding career-spanning contributions to environmental science. The 2022 recipient for the Founders Award is Frank Wania, Full Professor at the University of Toronto. Originally from Germany, Wania completed a B.Sc. at the University of Bayreuth before moving to Canada, where he completed a Ph.D. under the guidance of Don McKay at the University of Toronto.

Wania is well known for his outstanding discoveries in global modeling and assessment of chemical fate. One of his earliest publications, “Global fractionation and cold condensation of low volatility organochlorine compounds in polar regions,” published in 1993, introduced the earliest models that explained the mechanism for transport and deposition of persistent organic pollutants to the Arctic. It has amassed more than a thousand citations to date. Building on that work, Wania has linked chemical architecture to physical–chemical properties and their disposition in complex environments. A highly productive and impactful scientist, Wania has published more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles of which 70 have more than 100 citations.

Wania is dedicated to improving society by delivering strong research products with ease of use and applicability. He pioneered the use of two-dimensional chemical space plots that are routinely used by the regulatory community to identify preferential partitioning of chemicals between environmental compartments. His chemical models are available online for public download. He developed simple field sampling protocols to allow citizen science, facilitating contaminant monitoring in areas in the world where economic and/or logistical challenges prevent discovery. Very much a global scientist, Wania has studied contaminants in remote environments including the High Arctic and Tibetan Plateau, in contaminated hot spots such as the Alberta Oil Sands mining region, mercury mining industry in Italy, and in under-studied regions such as Botswana, Tanzania, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Argentina.

Many environmental researchers achieve excellence by deepening expertise in a particular focus area and working with a few select collaborators. Conversely, Wania has continuously expanded his research endeavors and his collaborative network, deftly moving from abiotic to biotic spheres, combining field and modeling experiments, and moving from organic substances to inorganics. Wania’s science demonstrates his natural curiosity and openness to new ideas. Related, his commitment to diversity is commended. His research group has consistently captured the diversity represented in Toronto, a city that is widely regarded as a benchmark for multiculturalism. Much of his alumni have remained in science and are now leading their own research endeavors with gusto. As a community of environmental scientists, we are pleased to see Wania’s career-spanning excellence recognized by SETAC.

Author’s contact information: Amila De Silva, [email protected]