James E. Huff

Jim Huff enrolled at Purdue in the fall of 1966 in chemical engineering. During his junior year, Jim started dating his classmate, Linda Patton. Jim enrolled in graduate school in environmental engineering in the summer of 1970, studying under Dr. Etzel. Jim also had the privilege of taking Professor Don Bloodgood's last wastewater treatment design class he taught before retiring. All of his graduate classes were memorable, from collecting storm water samples in pouring rain at a feedlot to surveying at a county landfill to measure the trash collection rate.

In April 1971, Linda and Jim were married in West Lafayette, and they spent their honeymoon checking out the septic systems in several Kentucky state parks.

Upon graduation in 1971 with his M.S.E., Jim worked at the Mobil Joliet Refinery. Jim's responsibilities included construction oversight of the wastewater system, design review, start-up of the wastewater system, and obtaining the first NPDES permit for the refinery. Jim accepted a position at IIT Research Institute in 1973, working on developing ozone/UV technology for treating industrial wastewaters containing TNT, PCBs, and complex refinery cyanides.

In 1976, Jim accepted a position as Manager of Environmental Affairs for Akzo Nobel Chemical from a referral from Dr. Etzel. Jim was responsible for both regulatory compliance and environmental engineering for eight chemical plants in the U.S. and one in Canada.

In late 1979, with the birth of our second child, Linda made Jim an offer he couldn't refuse. Huff & Huff, Inc. was formed on October 29, 1979. The firm currently has 35 employees, with a national remediation practice and a strong environmental presence in the transportation and industrial markets in Illinois. Jim leads the firm's remediation practice, which includes a license from NASA for Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron, a technology for the remediation of chlorinated solvent soil and groundwater impacts. Jim serves on a number of statewide environmental committees, and he served on the ACEC-IL Board of Directors for seven years.

Linda and Jim have two adult children and live in LaGrange, IL. With their season tickets for football at Purdue, they are frequently on campus. Jim enjoys skiing in Tahoe, bike riding, and playing saxophone in the West Suburban Band.