School of Health Sciences - Dennis J. Paustenbach
2000 Distinguished Alumnus

Dr. Paustenbach received a bachelor of science in chemical engineering at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1974. He then earned two M.S. degrees, the first in industrial hygiene at Michigan in 1977, and the second in counseling psychology at Indiana State in 1978. He completed his formal education in 1982 with a Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from Purdue.

A board certified toxicologist with 20 years of experience in risk assessment, environmental engineering, ecotoxicology, and occupational health, he is currently corporate vice president of Exponent, Inc., an engineering and scientific consulting firm with a full-time staff of 650 employees in 50 scientific and engineering disciplines located in 18 offices throughout the nation. The company is noted for its investigations of major disasters such as the grounding of the Exxon Valdez, the walkway collapse at the Kansas City Hyatt, and the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Dr. Paustenbach previously was president and chief executive officer of McLaren-Hart Environmental, a nationwide firm of 600 employees, and was the founder of ChemRisk, formerly the nation’s largest human and ecological risk assessment group.

He specializes in industrial and environmental toxicology, pharmacokinetics, air pollution, and historical state-of-knowledge regarding environmental issues, and has investigated the health effects of exposure to, as well as the remediation of, carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic chemicals, including dioxins, benzenes, furans, PCB’s, petroleum products, asbestos, glycol ethers, chlorinated hydrocarbons, lead, methylene chloride, PCE, and chromium. His human risk assessment involve evaluation of the safety of various chemicals in medical devices and consumer products, such as the hazards posed by flame retardants in curtains and wallpaper; chemical in hair dyes; silcones in breast implants; and trace contaminants in pharmaceutical drugs. Other risk assessments involved chemicals in specific foods and beverages, and include plasticizers in milk and meat products, ethanol in orange juice, pesticides residues in meat and fish, and PCBs in cooking oil.

He has directed the scientific aspects of toxic tort cases and has provided advice on air toxics and industrial hygiene issues as well as on RI/FSs. He also has given expert testimony in public meetings and court hearings concerning the health effects of waste discharges and chemicals in sediments, air, soil, and groundwater. Such forums have involved community concern over resuspended soil from contaminated waste sites, water from contaminated streams and lakes, potential exposure to combustion products following fires, and airborne emissions from incinerators.

Some of the many high-profile environmental projects that he has worked on include the assessment of contaminated soils at Times Beach, Love Canal, and The Meadowlands and the assessments of contaminated sediments in the Hudson, Passaic, Rouge, Grasse, and Hackensack rivers.

Internationally known for his expertise, Dr. Paustenbach has been an invited technical reviewer for prominent journals, industries, and regulatory agencies. He has published approximately 150 peer-reviewed articles and written more than 40 book chapters in the fields of industrial hygiene, human and aquatic toxicology, engineering, and risk assessment. His book, The Risk Assessment of Environmental and Human Health Hazards: A Textbook of Case Studies, is one of the most popular reference and teaching texts in the field of applied toxicology and risk assessment.

He is a member of the American Board of Toxicology, The New York Academy of Science, the American Board of Industrial Hygiene, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Alpha Chi Omega, and Omega Chi Epsilon. He serves on many science advisory boards/panels, including the Mickey J. Leland National Urban Air Toxics Scientific Advisory Board, the Savannah River Environmental Board of Directors, National Council on Radiation Protection Committee, and has served on the United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Commission and the EPA Science Advisory Board.

Dr. Paustenbach is included in Who’s Who in America (1993-present), American Men and Women in Science (1993-present), and Who’s Who in the Health Sciences. Among his awards are the Society of Toxicology Best Platform Presentation in Risk Assessment Award, Society of Risk Analysis Outstanding Risk Practitioner Award, and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Distinguished Alumni Award.