Dr. Daniel B. Oerther, professor of environmental engineering, has been elected a Distinguished Public Policy Fellow of the National Academies of Practice (NAP). He was inducted into the academy in March. View the list of inductees.

Founded in 1981 to advise governmental bodies on the health care system, NAP comprises 17 academies focused on supporting affordable, accessible, coordinated quality health care for all. In 2025, NAP introduced the Public Health Academy, with Oerther elected as an inaugural member and the only engineer included at this time.

“As I explain to my students, the first canon of Professional Engineering is to hold paramount the health, safety and welfare of the public,” Oerther said. “Engineers, and especially environmental engineers, are health care practitioners preventing illness and promoting wellness, local to global.”

Oerther’s public health contributions include humanitarian work to provide clean water and safe food to families and communities globally and in Missouri. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor updated the definition of environmental engineering as solving the problems of planetary health, based in part on Oerther’s policy research.