Frosch Receives Society Prize for Industrial Ecology Contributions

On June 14th, the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE) presented the Belfer Center's Robert Frosch with the Society Prize for Outstanding Research in Industrial Ecology, its highest award for professional achievement. The award was presented to Frosch, a senior research associate in the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, during a special ceremony at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Frosch, who is considered the "father of industrial ecology," is credited with launching the field in 1989 with a series of articles, the first of which was published in Scientific American and entitled "Strategies for Manufacturing." That article, co-authored with NicholasGallopoulos, suggested the need for "an industrial ecosystem" in which "the use of energies and materials is optimized, wastes and pollution are minimized, and there is an economically viable role for every product of a manufacturing process." The articles he wrote in the late 1980s and early 1990s drew attention to the importance of managing industrial processes and waste in an environmentally acceptable manner.

Frosch was awarded the National Academy of Engineering's prestigious Arthur M. Bueche Award in 2003 "for a career of advances in aerospace and automotive technology and ‘industrial ecology' and for administration of research and development in industry, government, and academia."

Bob Frosch is internationally recognized for his contributions to the development of environmentally-friendly technologies. When he was in charge of General Motors research, the group pioneered major developments in vehicle emissions control, cleaner automotive fuels, and safety. He also used systems engineering skills that he developed in his early research in the Navy and at NASA to found and guide Project Trilby, which led to the incorporation of unprecedented levels of computerized system-control in General Motors cars and plants.

The ISIE promotes industrial ecology as a way of finding innovative solutions to complicated environmental problems and facilitates communication among scientists, engineers, policymakers, managers, and advocates who are interested in how environmental concerns and economic activities can be better integrated.

The article co-authored by Frosch that started the field of industrial ecology can be read at: http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/articles/stratman.shtml.