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Chemical engineer Linda L. Huff runs a consulting business with her husband, an environmental engineer. From her earlier work at the Environmental Protection Agency, she had learned an important lesson: environmental laws affect the economic health of entire regions. Huff and Huff, Inc., helps companies and local governments manage everything from air emissions to hazardous waste, making environmentally and economically healthier communities.
"Not many women have their own consulting firms, although it's an area that's ideal for women because the independence allows a mixing of personal and professional goals."
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Photo courtesy Huff and Huff, Inc.
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The Huffs use a lot of chemistry in their work. They use sensitive chemical methods for testing water, soil, and air for pollutants. Once a pollutant has been detected, the Huffs provide advice and solutions for the cleanup. Again, these are often chemical solutions to chemical problems—many cleanup methods involve treating polluting chemicals with other chemicals to remove them or to make them less dangerous. Finally, the Huffs provide ways to prevent pollution in the first place. They have designed systems to help clean up industrial wastewater before it's ever released into the environment. Some of their wastewater treatment systems remove pollutants by treating the wastewater with compounds that react chemically with the pollutants, turning the polluting compounds into harmless ones.
About Her Life
Linda L. Huff was born in 1949 and grew up outside of Columbus, Ohio. In high school she was fascinated by engineering and loved chemistry. This led her to pursue chemical engineering as a major at Purdue University, which had a great reputation in the field. At Purdue, Huff was surprised to find herself the only woman in her class majoring in chemical engineering; however, she was welcomed by her fellow engineering students and "felt like [she] had a hundred brothers."
The industrial world was another story, however. While hunting for jobs as graduation approached, she was told by interviewers that their companies wouldn't hire single women because they were afraid they'd get married, start families, and quit. Nevertheless, she eventually found work at Procter and Gamble and married a man supportive of her career. She later joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). After years of experience in environmental science, she founded her environmental consulting firm, Huff and Huff, with her husband, James.
When she isn’t using chemistry to help keep our environment clean, Huff and her husband are busy parenting two children, a son and a daughter.
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