Tufts alum named ASCE Fellow

Tufts alumnus Doug Leaffer, EG98, EG24, was recently elected a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The prestigious honor recognizes Leaffer’s career in environmental health, including his mentorship and contributions to the field. Only 3% of ASCE members are elected as Fellows, and the title is the highest honor within the organization.

Leaffer is a double Jumbo. He earned his master’s in civil and environmental engineering and his PhD in environmental health from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Tufts. His doctoral research focused on biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental toxicology, and risk/exposure assessment. Professor David Gute advised Leaffer on his PhD thesis, “Concurrent Measurement of Transportation Noise and Ultrafine Particle Emissions: Implications for Environmental Health Studies,” which measured the impact of environmental noise and air pollution on public health.

Since 2017, Leaffer has been an engineering professor at Northern Essex Community College, where he worked full-time throughout the completion of his PhD. His research interests mirror those of his PhD research and include environmental/transportation noise and air quality impacts to population health. He has lectured on various topics including, sensor technologies, air pollution, and climate change at conferences and universities internationally. He is also a licensed Professional Engineer (PE, civil). 

During his time at Tufts, Leaffer received the Graduate Student Research Award and the Earle F. Littleton Award, which is awarded to seniors and graduate students in the CEE program who are active in professional, community or department affairs and show promise of becoming active and loyal alumni.

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is the nation’s oldest civil engineering society. Today the professional organization has more than 160,000 members and nine specialty institutes. ASCE is a leading provider of technical and professional conferences and continuing education, the world’s largest publisher of civil engineering content, and an authoritative source for codes and standards that protect the public.