International expert wins Snyder Award.

The Walter F. Snyder Award for Achievement in Attaining Environmental Quality, jointly presented by NEHA and NSF International, is named for Walter F. Snyder, who established the National Sanitation Foundation, now NSF International, at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health, in 1944. He served as NSF's executive director, pioneering the concept of solving environmental and health problems through cooperation, until his death in 1965. The award consists of a glass-enclosed trophy clock.

Roy Hickman, senior director general for the Canadian government's Environmental Health Directorate, received the Walter F. Snyder Award in recognition of his contributions to improving the quality of life on a worldwide scale.

As a leading expert in irradiation and food safety, and because of his work in developing major environmental legislation in Canada, his expertise and guidance have been sought by organizations around the world. He has advised the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and the United Nations Environment Programme, among others. He served a three-year appointment as the first director of the International Project in the Field of Food Irradiation, cosponsored by the FAO/International Atomic Energy Agency, Division of Atomic Agriculture, and the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Just last year, he was appointed Chair of the Programme Advisory Committee of the International Programme on Chemical Safety. This year, he is president of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety, which brings together senior representatives from government, industry, and environmental nongovernmental organizations from more than 170 countries to provide guidance, develop strategies, and foster understanding of issues in the field of chemical safety.

He has been a member of NSF International's Council of Public Health Consultants since 1983 and served as council chairman in 1995.

In Canada, Mr. Hickman has led federal, provincial, and industrial groups in developing major environmental legislation concerning environmental protection, environmental assessment, drinking water, materials safety, and tobacco control.

His integrity, dedication, common-sense approach to problem solving, and ability to build consensus on many controversial issues are a living testament to the qualities that define the Snyder Award. The result, as one of his colleagues described it, is that his efforts "have increased the quality of life not only for people in North America, but also for the world at large."