California Air Resources Board (ARB) member John S. Lagarias is the recipient of the Air and Waste Management Association's 1995 Richard Beatty Mellon Award for his outstanding contributions to the environmental field. The association is an international, non-profit scientific, technical and educational organization of environmental professionals. The award was presented on June 22, 1995 at the association's 88th Annual Meeting and Exhibition in San Antonio, Texas.

As a nine-year veteran of the ARB, Lagarias has been vital tothe development and promotion of some of the world's most advanced emission reduction programs, resulting in substantial improvements in California's air quality. Believing that effective air-pollution control strategies must have a solid scientific basis, he has advocated strong ARB research and technical programs that resulted in new developments like cleaner fuels and engines, and zero-emission vehicles. In addition, Lagarias' guidance was instrumental in ARB's development of an air toxics program, cost-effective emission-reduction options for businesses, the State Implementation Plan for Ozone and the San Joaquin Valley ozone research project.

Before his appointment to the ARB in 1986 by Governor Deukmejian, Lagarias served on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's Advisory Board, where he developed a model Air Quality Element for community planning that has been adopted and copied nation-wide. A registered professional chemical engineer, he holds a bachelor's degree in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In addition, he has designed and built air pollution control equipment and instrumentation, and holds six U.S. patents. Lagarias has also directed a monitoring and field sampling consulting organization and belongs to several engineering and air pollution control organizations.