Alyeska’s Tang earns special recognition for laboratory work
Longtime Alyeska Valdez Marine Terminal laboratory technician Greg Tang recently received the Small System Laboratory Analyst of the Year award from the Alaska Water Wastewater Management Association (AWWMA). In 2022, American Water Works Association (AWWA) recognized Greg with a 30‑year Life Member award.
“I am very grateful and thankful for the nominator, (Alyeska’s) Analytical Laboratory Services leadership, my teammates, and AWWMA Award Committee for this honor,” Greg wrote in an email. “Alyeska has provided the environment and opportunities for its employees to strive for excellence.”
Greg added that while he was spotlighted for the honor, he’s proud to share the award with his lab teammates: “As engraved in the award plaque, ‘Valdez Marine Terminal, Analytical Services Lab,’ the award is a recognition of the whole Analytical Laboratory Services team. … One of the pleasant aspects in my work is that I get to work with extraordinary and talented colleagues. I learn from them every day. An example is that of the VMT lab microbiological analysis project receiving the Atigun Honorable Mention in 2020.”
Greg’s work on TAPS precedes the pipeline’s historic June 20, 1977, start-up, as he was a contractor while in college at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the mid-70s. He then moved to Valdez and the new VMT laboratory, in his words, “just a few days after my college final exams,” and he’s remained there ever since.
The AWWA award nominator noted that longevity, writing, “Greg has demonstrated sustained leadership and an enduring commitment to water quality consistent with the highest values of AWWA through nearly five decades of service as a laboratory analyst, certified water treatment system operator, environmental sampler, and field chemist for the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.”
Greg explained that AWWMA is a combined professional association of the AWWA, Alaska Section; and Water Environment Federation (WEF), Alaska Member Association. Both AWWA and WEF are international, scientific, and educational organizations – AWWA focuses on drinking water, WEF in wastewater, AWWMA covers both fields.
In 2025, Alyeska recognized Greg with the 2024 Atigun Awards President’s Choice Lifetime Achievement honor. Learn more about Greg, his career and work in this Atigun spotlight.