Jayanty Receives Southern Chemist Award

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – R.K.M. Jayanty, Ph.D., senior fellow at  RTI International received the 2012 Southern Chemist Award. 

For the past 50 years, the award, sponsored by the Memphis Local Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS), has acknowledged outstanding achievements in chemistry and contributions to the field that have brought recognition to the South.  Jayanty was presented the award Nov. 27.

Jayanty has more than 40 years of experience in the field of environmental analytical chemistry and is an internationally-recognized leader. His research has yielded advances in complex, multimedia sampling/analysis and method development/evaluation programs. 

The monitoring methodologies which he has developed are currently used worldwide for compliance verification, enforcement, and pollution-control decisions, including more than 20 methods adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency.  The measurements of volatile organic compounds and other species have been instrumental in improving the scientific basis for assessing human exposure and greatly advancing this area of public health.  

Jayanty’s current research work includes the monitoring of fine particulate matter in ambient air.  In support of the EPA’s national PM 2.5 chemical speciation network, his laboratory analyzes ambient air samples from over 180 collection sites across the United States including speciation of organic and inorganic compounds.   This fine particulate matter (<2.5 microns in diameter) has been linked to some of the adverse health effects and reductions in the atmospheric visibility.

During his 32 years at RTI, Jayanty has received several national and international awards from professional societies, including the American Chemical Society and Air and Waste Management Association. He was named a senior fellow in the RTI Fellows program in 2005.

Jayanty also is an adjunct professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University.

Jayanty earned a doctorate degree in physical chemistry from the University of Bradford, a graduate degree in  environmental pollution control from Pennsylvania State University, and both a master's degree and bachelor's degree in chemistry from Andhra University in Waltair, India.

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