Santa Barbara resident Lorne G. Everett has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. Everett is chancellor emeritus at Lakehead University in Canada.

The induction took place Washington, D.C., after a black-tie dinner at the National Cathedral on Oct. 5.

Everett’s citation reads: “For establishing US EPA-endorsed monitoring and cleanup methodologies for contaminated soil and groundwater. Election to the academy is seen as the highest professional distinction for engineers.”

Everett joined General Electric’s Center for Advanced Studies/TEMPO, 816 State St., Santa Barbara, in 1974 and has continued to live in Santa Barbara as a senior vice president/chief scientist and chief scientist for different fortune 500 companies.

He currently is chairman em. for LEA Environmental Inc., in Santa Barbara.

Also in October, Everett was awarded the William T. Cavanaugh Award at the American Society for Testing and Materials/ASTM International’s April 2025 board meeting.

The Cavanaugh Award is the highest recognition given by ASTM International for writing international standards.

Everett was recognized for some 35 years of international voluntary consensus standards development and advocacy for use of vadose zone soil gas monitoring and related standards world-wide.

He has been previously honored by ASTM with the Award of Merit and the A. Ivan Johnson Award (1997).

Everett is an internationally recognized expert on subsurface characterization and remediation. He has authored or co-authored 16 international standards with ASTM’s soil and rock committee (D18), as well as over 150 technical papers and 13 books on the subject.

One such book “Groundwater Monitoring” is recommended by the World Health Organization for all developing countries, and is endorsed by EPA as “Establishing the state-of-the art used by industry today.”

Everett is a Kapitsa Gold Medal recipient and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Gold Medal was awarded for “original contributions to science.” Everett holds several patents used internationally.

For about 36 years Everett has been invited by the science advisor to the Pope to chair panel meetings in Italy on Planetary Emergencies where he is chair of the World Federation of Scientists panel on Pollution and Water Crisis.

More than 124 Nobel laureates have participated in these meetings. The Pope often sends a welcome letter and has given the key note address.

A second meeting has been held in the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican or at CERN, home of the large collider, in Geneva, Switzerland.