The award recognises an outstanding dissertation by an individual who has earned a doctoral degree in any discipline in the physical, biomedical or engineering sciences in a field of aerosol science and technology. The award is usually made a few years after the award of a doctoral degree once the full impact of the research has become apparent.

The citation noted that "Dr. Bzdek’s dissertation is a blend of laboratory and field measurements to understand chemical processes relevant to particle formation and growth in the atmosphere."  His work provides a fundamental understanding of how amines and ammonia contribute to nucleation and new particle formation in the atmosphere and used advanced mass spectrometry techniques to perform time-resolved measurements of nanoparticle chemical composition. His work led to 12 first-author papers.