President of Indoor Air 2011 - Richard Corsi

Dr. Corsi is the ECH Bantel Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He received his B.S. degree in Environmental Resources Engineering at Humboldt State University in 1983, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering at UC Davis in 1985 and 1989, respectively.

Dr. Corsi’s research focuses on the physics and chemistry of indoor air. He has served as principal investigator on over 60 research projects, ranging from the sorptive interactions between polar/non-polar VOCs and indoor materials, homogeneous indoor air chemistry and secondary aerosol formation, and heterogeneous chemistry at and within indoor materials. Dr. Corsi has also studied a wide range of indoor sources of air pollution, from dishwashers to paint and computers. He recently completed a large study involving building disinfection chemistry in the wake of anthrax attacks in the Fall of 2001.

Dr. Corsi serves as Head of a new interdisciplinary graduate program entitled – Indoor Environmental Science and Engineering at The University of Texas, and funded by the National Science Foundation. He and his research team (students) have published over 220 journal/conference papers and reports, and have been featured on the Canadian television series The Nature of Things, The Economist, Business Week, National Wildlife, Prevention, Men’s Health, the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, and more. In April 2006 Dr. Corsi received both of the major teaching awards in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and was also named a 2006 Distinguished Alumnus of Humboldt State University.

Dr. Corsi enjoys writing, playing (on acoustic guitar) and singing folk music, and performs twice per year for undergraduate students at The University of Texas.