The Center for Hydrogen Safety (CHS), an AIChE community, announces the 2026 Robert Zalosh Hydrogen Safety Excellence Award winners, honoring significant contributions to global hydrogen safety culture, innovation, and best practices.
Named in honor of Dr. Robert Zalosh, a pioneer in fire and explosion safety, the awards celebrate individuals, organizations, and project teams whose work has had a meaningful and lasting impact on the safe deployment of hydrogen technologies. The 2026 recipients exemplify strong safety culture, broad industry influence, and sustained commitment to hydrogen safety.
The 2026 Robert Zalosh Hydrogen Safety Excellence Award recipients were formally recognized on February 18, 2026, during the 2026 Center for Hydrogen Safety Europe Conference, in Athens, Greece.
Organization Award: Distran AG
Distran AG is recognized for developing the SonicView® fixed acoustic gas leak detection system, a breakthrough technology that enhances hydrogen safety across production, storage, and distribution facilities.
SonicView combines acoustic detection with optical imaging to provide reliable, continuous monitoring and precise localization of hydrogen leaks. By delivering early, actionable warnings—even in outdoor and high-noise environments—the system enables operators to take prompt corrective action before incidents escalate. This capability addresses key limitations of conventional leak detection technologies.
Through extensive real-world validation with industrial partners, Distran’s technology has demonstrated its ability to detect small leaks that traditional systems often miss. The company actively shares findings from sensor deployments at industry conferences and with operational partners, contributing to safer facility design and informing evolving hydrogen leak detection practices across the industry.
Project Award: Hydrogen ProtoHub
The Project Robert Zalosh Hydrogen Safety Excellence Award is awarded to the Hydrogen ProtoHub, a first-of-its-kind research and development facility designed to advance safe hydrogen energy technologies.
The Hydrogen ProtoHub integrates on-site hydrogen generation, storage, distribution, and multiple end-use applications, serving as a real-world proving ground for hydrogen systems. The project team has implemented comprehensive safety assessments, robust change management practices, strict code compliance, and active coordination with local authorities to ensure safe operations.
The facility also supports training and outreach, hosting workshops for industry professionals and fire marshals, while documenting lessons learned to promote transparency and continuous improvement across the hydrogen industry.
Individual Award: Dr. Chitra Rajagopal
The Individual Robert Zalosh Hydrogen Safety Excellence Award is presented to Dr. Chitra Rajagopal for her lifetime contributions to hydrogen safety through scientific innovation, system safety analysis, policy leadership, and global collaboration.
With more than three decades of experience spanning research, regulation, and capacity building, Dr. Rajagopal has played a pivotal role in shaping hydrogen safety frameworks in India and internationally. Her work has advanced quantitative risk assessment, computational modeling, and the integration of human factors and reliability analysis into hydrogen safety decision-making.
Dr. Rajagopal has led the development of hydrogen safety roadmaps, standards gap analyses, and training programs, while establishing advanced facilities for CFD modeling, blast simulation, and hydrogen process safety analysis. Through her leadership in national and international forums, she has influenced policy, strengthened regulatory ecosystems, and fostered global knowledge sharing in hydrogen safety.
About AIChE: AIChE is a professional society of more than 60,000 members in more than 110 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontier of chemical engineering research in such areas as nanotechnology, sustainability, hydrogen fuels, biological and environmental engineering, and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at www.aiche.org.
About the Center for Hydrogen Safety: CHS is a global, non-profit community dedicated to advancing hydrogen safety and best practices worldwide. As the recognized leader in hydrogen safety, CHS provides trusted guidance, education, and collaborative forums to support the safe and successful deployment of hydrogen technologies. Through expert reviews, lessons learned, education and training, incident coordination, and international working groups, CHS serves as the global champion for hydrogen safety—fostering a vibrant community and acting as the premier resource for applied hydrogen safety to help realize hydrogen’s transformative potential.