Scott E. Merkle has more than 30 years experience in occupational hygiene. He is a Certified Industrial Hygienist and has maintained his certification from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene since 1981. He has a M.S. degree in industrial hygiene from the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health (1976) and a B.S. degree from the Pennsylvania State University (1975). Since 1988, he has been employed as Chief of the Health and Safety Branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Prior to that, he held industrial hygiene positions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1980-1988) and the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1976-1980) in Washington, DC.

Throughout his career, Mr. Merkle has held various volunteer positions with industrial hygiene organizations. He is currently a Director on the American Board of Industrial Hygiene and a Trustee on the Foundation for Occupational Safety and Health. He served on the Board of Directors for the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (2003-2006) and was the Board's first President in 2004. He has served two elected terms on the Board of Directors of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). From 1993 to 1996, he was a Member-at-Large on the ACGIH Board, and an officer on the Board from 1998 to 2002, serving as ACGIH Chair during 2000 - 2001. He is a recipient of the ACGIH Meritorious Achievement Award (2003), the NIH Director's Award (1997) and the ACGIH John J. Bloomfield Award (1985).