Assistant Professor of Chemistry
B.S., M.S., University of South Carolina
Profile
Professor Campton has spent 35 years working with various global corporations in assessing and controlling environmental and occupational risk stressors arising from manufacturing activities. His work spanned across multiple organizations, including the U.S. Navy, Exxon, and Schering-Plough (Merck). Throughout this time, he has worked around the world to analyze and resolve a wide variety of stressors such as chemical exposures, radiation, heat stress, noise exposure, biohazards, and pharmaceutical actives. His primary focus was atmospheric chemical monitoring and environmental hazard assessment. Professor Compton has given presentations in China, Singapore and The Netherlands to international audiences on occupational and environmental risk management. He has also spoken on these subjects at international public and private conferences, including American Industrial Hygiene Association conference breakout sessions and Schering-Plough Corporation global EHS conferences.
Professor Compton has retired from his corporate role, but still remains active in teaching chemistry. In the past five years, he has taught as an adjunct professor at Erskine College and a high school chemistry teacher at Greenwood High School. Professor Compton’s faith informs all that he does, and he believes that his Christian worldview should have an important role in his teaching. Introducing others to the wonders of chemical interactions in God’s world has always been a key part of his work in science.
Key Accomplishments
- Created programs that used polarizing light and phase contrast microscopy for petrographic analysis of asbestiform materials (U.S. Navy)
- Developed and implemented a strategy for qualitative risk assessment of occupational health hazards using a risk-based approach. The application of a systematic methodology and task/equipment-based focus allowed a more effective risk analysis process that helped to focus quantitative airborne chemical exposure risk analyses. [Schering-Plough, Air Products and
Chemicals] - Designed laboratory exposure chambers to generate precisely known chemical vapor concentrations and used gas chromatography/FID to analyze uptake/desorption while applying analysis of variance techniques to parse the raw data.
- Published a peer-reviewed study in the Journal of The American Industrial Hygiene Association (The Effect of Square Wave Exposure Profiles Upon the Performance of Passive Organic Vapor Monitoring Badges. 1984. AIHAJ, Vol. 45(7): 446-450).
Certifications and Professional Affiliations
- Certified in the Comprehensive Practice of Industrial Hygiene, Cert. No. 3880, American Board of Industrial Hygiene.
- Served as President of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, Lehigh Valley Chapter,
from 2002 to 2003. - Past Diplomate, American Academy of Industrial Hygiene.
Current Interests
Professor Compton and his wife Valerie live in Hodges with their 6 basset hounds and one labradoodle. They are professional breeders of basset hounds. In his spare time, Professor Compton also enjoys woodworking and riding his tractor (think “Green Acres”)
