Southern California Particle Center and Supersite (research Center funded by EPA and CARB) Acute Cardiopulmonary Responses to Oxidant Gases and Ambient Particulate Pollution in Los Angeles residents Relationship between ambient PM and heart rate variability and cardiac arrhythmia in elderly populations in the Los Angeles Basin. April 10,2007 — Professor Costas Sioutas of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been appointed as the first holder of the Fred Champion Professorship in Civil and Environmental Engineering, effective July 1, 2007. The appointment recognizes Costas’ exceptional distinction and will be for a term of five years. The professorship was created from the Fred Champion endowment, which also supports the Fred Champion endowed chair. Professor Sioutas, ScD, is the Co-Director of the Southern California Particle Center (SCPC), established in late 1999 by the US EPA. He started his academic career at the Harvard School of Public Heath in 1995, and joined the faculty of the VSOE in 1998. His research is focusing on developing technologies for measuring the physico-chemical characteristics of air pollutants, with an emphasis on particulate matter (PM) and determining their toxic properties. Findings from his work have been extensively used in legislation, including the revision of US EPA National Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) on particulate matter (PM) and also by the state of California. Costas has authored over 250 peer-reviewed journal publications, and holds 14 U.S. patents in the field of aerosol instrumentation. He is a Fulbright Fellow (1986), a recipient of the 3M Circle of Technical Excellence Award (1991), a recipient of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Outstanding Junior Faculty Research Award (2000), and a member of the Air Quality Advisory Committee on PM for the State of California (as of 2001).