Robert A. Cary

Robert Cary’s research, development, and commercialization of the first automated instrument for the measurement of carbon aerosol particles has impacted the understanding of health effects, climate change, sources of air pollution and visibility throughout the world. The analyses performed with his designs are of worldwide importance for assessing the quality of the air for areas such as: determining worker exposure to harmful fine particulates in mines and other work environments; exposures of people in polluted cities that create unhealthy living conditions; determining sources of air pollution that influence global climate changes such as the melting of glaciers and icebergs as well as temperature changes of the earth’s surfaces and oceans; and decreased visibility frequently noticeable in such places as national parks and wilderness areas. He has also served as Secretary on the Board of Directors for the Oregon Ronald McDonald House, and Coach and President of a local Youth Soccer Association. During the Vietnam War era he was trained as an infantryman, then assigned to the Fourth Army Laboratory Medical Laboratory at Fort Sam Houston Texas as a Chemical Lab Specialist.