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Dr. Allen S. Lefohn, President and Founder of A.S.L. & Associates, received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. under Professor George C. Pimentel, who was a great scientist and a great mentor. Dr. Pimentel encouraged his students to look beyond the obvious. In the spring, summer, and fall, Dr. Lefohn both runs and cycles. In the winter and spring, he is an avid skier - both alpine and cross country. When time permits, he is active on the amateur radio frequency (ham) bands with the call letters KA7M. |
Over the past 39 years, Dr. Lefohn's research has involved the evaluation and assessment of ambient air quality standards, reference levels, and critical levels for several national and international governments; the development of adjustment procedure (i.e., rollback) models for assessing alternative scenarios for the United States and Canadian air pollution rulemaking processes; the analysis of air quality data for developing exposure-response mathematical
| relationships for assessing the effects of air pollutants on vegetation; the development of exposure/dose-response relationships describing the effects of ozone and sulfur dioxide on vegetation; the evaluation of the statistical methodology associated with epidemiological studies relating air pollution to human health effects; the evaluation of alternative forms and levels of human-health standards; the development of hourly exposure regimes for controlled human health laboratory studies; the development and application of spatial interpolation techniques for estimating seasonal ozone cumulative exposures; the characterization of European and North American air quality and wet deposition data for the purpose of assessing possible reasons for forest decline; the development of field surveys to assess the effects of sulfur dioxide on agricultural crops; and the analysis of acidic deposition wetfall and effects data to better assess the potential for biological effects. |
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Dr. Lefohn has focused his research
efforts on understanding (1) the quantification and relationship
between pollutant exposure and naturally occurring processes
and (2) the possible effects of air pollutants on human health
and on the ecosystem. He has extensive international experience
in the evaluation and assessment of ambient air quality 
standards, air quality objectives, and critical
levels. Some of his most recent activities involve developing
a mathematical relationship between ozone exposure and dose and
their effects on vegetation, better understanding the variability
of natural background ozone levels, natural background particulate
matter levels, developing rollback models for assessing alternative
scenarios for the United States and Canadian air pollution rulemaking
processes, developing the scientific rationale for explaining
the "piston" effect, which affects the ability to attain
the 8-hour ozone standard, and evaluating the possible effects
of surface ozone on trees in the southern Appalachian Mountains.
In addition, he has focused his attention on particulate matter
and the strengths and weaknesses of the current scientific database.
In November 1998, he presented his findings on the "piston"
effect in a plenary session at an international air pollution
meeting in Beijing, China. In 1999, a paper that summarizes the
results of his effort in directing an international research
team to develop and apply a protocol for assessing global estimates
of sulfur emissions from 1850 to 1990 was published in the peer-reviewed
journal, Atmospheric Environment. In December 1999, the
sulfur emissions work was featured on the Voice of America. The
sulfur emission estimates are used in global change models. In
January 2000, Dr. Lefohn and his co-authors published a paper
in Atmospheric Environment relating ozone flux measurements
with ozone concentrations and the development of a possible ozone
standard to protect vegetation. In May 2001, Dr. Lefohn and his
co-authors published an important paper discussing background
ozone and the importance of natural processes in the Journal
of Geophysical Research. Another important paper characterizes
the spatial variability of PM-2.5 24-hour average concentrations
across several geographic areas in the United States. The study
results have been published in the Journal of the Air and
Waste Management Association. The study's results will help
investigators define the magnitude of the misclassification error
associated with PM epidemiological studies. In 2006, his papers
focused on surface ozone trands in remote monitoring sites across
the world and a critical review of exposure- and dose-based indices
for assessing ozone vegetation effects. In 2007, Dr. Lefohn's
most recent paper with Dr. Milan Hazucha of the University of
North Carolina describes results from controlled laboratory
exposures of human volunteers that indicate that higher ozone
hourly average concentrations elicit a greater effect on hour-by-hour
physiologic response than lower hourly average values, which
implies a nonlinear dose-response relationship. As indicated
in the paper, the current 8-h average human health ozone standard
is not adequate for describing this nonlinear hour-by-hour pattern
of response.
The biologically based W126 cumulative exposure index developed by Dr. Lefohn in 1985 was recommended by EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) in August 2006 and in January 2007 by EPA Staff to the Administrator as a possible ozone standard to protect vegetation. In June 2007, the EPA Administrator proposed the W126 exposure index as the secondary ozone standard. On March 12, 2008, the EPA Administrator made the final decision to revise the 8-hour "primary" ozone standard, designed to protect public health, to a level of 0.075 parts per million (ppm). The vegetation standard was set at the same level as the human-health related 8-hour ozone standard. A list of Dr. Lefohn's most recent publications can be reviewed by clicking here.
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In 1996, he was the lead author of Chapter 4 (Environmental Concentrations, Patterns, and Exposure Estimates) of the U.S. EPA Air Quality Criteria for Ozone and Other Photochemical Oxidants, as well as a co-author of the exposure-response indices section in Chapter 5 (Environmental Effects of Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants). These documents formed the scientific support for the U.S. EPA's surface ozone standards to protect human health (primary) and vegetation (secondary). In the 2002-06 ozone review process, Dr. Lefohn co-authored sections in the Ozone Criteria Document that focused on vegetation |
exposure-/dose-response, air quality characterization, and background ozone. In 1993, Dr. Lefohn participated in a UN-ECE Workshop on Critical Levels for Ozone held in Bern, Switzerland, where he was invited to be one of the keynote presenters. In November 2005, he was invited to present a keynote paper (co-authored with Dr. Robert Musselman) "The Strengths and Weaknesses of Exposure- and Flux-Based Ozone Indices for Predicting Vegetation Effects" at the Critical Levels of Ozone Workshop held in Obergurgl, Tyrol, Austria.
In 1991, he was chairman of the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Meeting of Experts to evaluate surface-level ozone exposures and trends at remote locations in the world. In 1989, he was the lead author of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) State-of-Science Report No. 7: Air Quality Measurements and Characterizations for Vegetation Effects Research.
His past responsibilities have included his participation as senior researcher for the EPA's National Crop Loss Assessment Network (NCLAN). In this capacity, he was responsible for characterizing ambient air quality data and comparing the information with data collected under experimental conditions.
Dr. Lefohn has published over 150
peer-reviewed papers and technical reports, 
edited four books, presented oral papers, and
participated in a number of television and radio interviews and
international panel presentations. A sampling of his publications is available.
For 11 years, he served as an Executive Editor of the prestigious
scientific journal Atmospheric Environment. While continuing
to actively perform his research, he also serves an Adjunct Instructor
of Environmental Engineering at Montana Tech in Butte, Montana.
He served for several years on the University of California at
Davis' Science Advisory Committee for the Center for Ecological
Health Research. For several years he served as chairman of the
Advisory Committee. Besides focusing on his research activities,
he is actively involved in developing creative
web pages for communicating with the
general public. The focus of his design efforts is on developing
and implementing strategies for the efficient transfer of quality
information over the Internet. His web pages are well known for
their creative appearance and innovative use of streaming audio
and video. In the past, he has served as the volunteer webmaster
for the Myrna
Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts
and Artisan
Dance group.
In May 2002, the Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts in Helena, Montana, awarded the Heart of Myrna Loy Award to Dr. Lefohn. Dr. Lefohn was recognized as a primary volunteer across several years helping the Myrna Loy Center to regain its footing and to renew its many performing arts programs. He did this as a Board member working on helping the organization to do a critical analysis. Most importantly, Dr. Lefohn was acknowledged as providing great service by creating in the Spring of 2000 the Myrna Loy Center web site, www.myrnaloycenter.com. His guidance has turned the web site into a powerful marketing tool and the site has seen an increase in traffic that has dramatically climbed since May of 2000.
Dr. Lefohn has two sons, Kevin and Aaron. Kevin is a professional, performing violinist, who is the Artistic Administrator of the Christchurch Symphony. He and his wife, Milyn, live in New Zealand. Milyn has her Bachelor of Midwifery Programme at Otago Polytechnic and is a practicing midwife. Aaron has a Ph.D. in computer science and is a computer graphics and parallel programming architect and researcher. He is currently a Senior Graphics Architect at Intel. He was previously a Principal Engineer at Neoptica, a computer graphics startup acquired by Intel in October 2007. Prior to that experience, he was a researcher and software engineer at Pixar Animation Studios. He and his wife, Karen, live in the Seattle, Washington area. Karen has a B.S. in apparel design. Dr. Lefohn lives in peaceful Montana with his lovely wife (who teaches Qigong). Both are avid professional photographers who continuously donate their talents to the arts. A sampling of their work can be found in the Multimedia Center web page, photography of ballet contribution, and the Myrna Loy Center's Gallery of Photography. Their photography work has been featured across the United States and New Zealand and their creative efforts are well recognized in both local and national arts communities. Many of their photographs have been published in newspapers and national arts magazines. Dr. Lefohn is the creative arts photographer for the Helena Symphony Orchestra and recently was invited to photograph the Christchurch Symphony in New Zealand. A set of his photographs was recently published in Symphony magazine, a publication produced by the League of American Orchestras. Dr. Lefohn and his wife desire to make the world, through the arts, a much better place in which to live.
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