MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. – Maj. Crystal Brown, 22nd Operational Medical Readiness Squadron bioenvironmental engineering flight commander and certified industrial hygienist, received a national award on Nov. 5, on behalf of a volunteer organization that she co-founded; the Women in Industrial Hygiene.
“The WIH Committee is both thrilled and humbled over being designated as an Outstanding Volunteer Group for 2019 and selected as the year’s American Industrial Hygiene Association Rising Star Award recipient,” said Brown, WIH chair, and Stacy Croghan, WIH past chair.
Projects leading to the award included: the inaugural WIH Leadership Summit, participation at partner organization events, and numerous presentations to AIHA local and student chapter audiences according to Brown.
Out of 51 volunteer committees, the WIH was recognized by the AIHA for being the only one out of 13 outstanding volunteer groups to be selected for the Rising Star Award.
“This young committee is comprised of almost 100 members passionately pursuing projects in collaboration with other AIHA and partner organization committees designed to fulfill our mission statement to, ‘provide a platform for professional women to support career development, promote leadership skills, and to share information relevant to women working in industrial hygiene,’” said Brown and Croghan.
As a founding member, Brown gratefully shared her excitement to receive affirmation from a national organization that their committee is headed in the right direction.
“When we started out, there was a vague sense of ‘this could be a good idea’, now we’re presenting at multiple conferences, and our members are winning awards,” said Brown. “It’s just another example of how the military prepares us for leadership roles that can positively impact the civilian communities we serve.”