Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz receives Walter L. Huber Research Prize

Courtney Sakry

22 Jul 2025

Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz in Ecuador as a Fulbright scholar. Photo courtesy of Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz.

In a world where the biggest health threats often go unseen, Gabriel Isaacman‑VanWertz is building tools to make them visible.

Isaacman-VanWertz, associate professor in civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, is working to give communities the power to understand the air people breathe and more importantly, to do something about it. That mission has earned him one of the highest honors in civil engineering.

He has been named a recipient of the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ top research award for mid-career professionals. The Huber Prize honors up to five U.S.-based engineers each year for research that has substantially advanced their field and has the potential to shape civil engineering for decades to come.

For Isaacman-VanWertz, it’s a recognition of work that blends chemistry, engineering, and public health.

A mission rooted in impact

Air pollution is often discussed in numbers like parts per billion, annual averages, or regulatory thresholds. But Isaacman-VanWertz’s research makes it personal. He focuses on detecting hazardous air pollutants and reactive gases that have real health consequences, especially in neighborhoods that are often overlooked. His research on air pollution — including measuring it in communities, developing new tools to monitor it, and studying its behavior — has been cited over 5,500 times and has attracted more than $9 million in funding as a principal or co-principal investigator.

“Air pollution comes in a lot of forms, and often we don’t have the tools to measure what we are concerned about,” Isaacman-VanWertz said. “Our research tries to develop those tools, bring them to the communities that need them, and understand better how pollution forms and changes in the air. I am honored to be recognized for this work and by the support that the Virginia Tech community has given me.”

For example, with support from an $800,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant, his team developed and deployed low-cost, field-ready sensors that make air quality monitoring possible outside of traditional, resource-intensive networks. These compact, affordable instruments can detect a wide range of pollutants.

That same technology has traveled far beyond Virginia. As a 2023 Fulbright U.S. Scholar in Ecuador, Isaacman-VanWertz worked at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Amazon, investigating how biogenic emissions from dense tropical forests shape atmospheric chemistry around the globe. His group also collected filters in Simiatug, a small high-altitude community on the slope of the tallest volcano in Ecuador, to measure the impact of improved cooking stoves.

Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz in boat — The trip from Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz's home to the sampling station was almost 10 hours and included rides in a plane, a bus, and two boats to reach the field site in Ecuador. Photo courtesy of Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz.

Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz collecting samples — While in Ecuador on a Fulbright scholarship, Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz placed air samplers throughout the different ecosystems in the Amazon rainforest to collect gas to be taken back to the lab for analysis. Photo courtesy of Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz.

Turning data into action

Isaacman-VanWertz has developed new approaches to analyze data used directly in a number of ways by regulatory and scientific agencies, from improved emission inventories of wood smoke to better understanding of air monitoring instruments and better estimation of chemical properties in regional models.

He also has focused on his role as an educator and mentor. He and his group have presented at over 100 academic and professional meetings and developed a public air quality exhibit at the Science Museum of Western Virginia. To train the next generation of civil and environmental engineers, he developed a hands-on course that teaches students how to build and use environmental sensors in practice.

About the Walter L. Huber Prize

Named for former American Society of Civil Engineers president Walter L. Huber, the Huber Prize was established in 1946 and is widely recognized as one of the highest honors for early to mid-career civil engineering researchers. Recipients are selected for work that not only breaks scientific ground but also shows potential to shape civil engineering practice on a national or global scale.

“Gabe is highly deserving of this prestigious award,” said Mark Widdowson, head of the Charles E. Via, Jr. Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. “His research is advancing how we understand and monitor air quality in real-world settings. At the same time, he remains a dedicated educator and mentor, inspiring students and colleagues alike through his commitment to meaningful change.”

Research as service

While the Huber Prize marks a major milestone, Isaacman-VanWertz’s work is far from over. His team continues to expand sensor deployments, refine analytical models, and train students to think beyond the lab. His goal is to demonstrate that research is not just an academic pursuit, but a service to communities and the planet.