Upcoming Events
Stay Tuned!
TBD
Past 2025 Events
Environmental Justice Webinar Series Part 3
Virtual Event
Wednesday, February 12th, 2024
12:00 - 1:00 PM ET
Join us on Teams*!
Hosted by the Chesapeake Chapter
Title: EJ Considerations for Cumulative Impacts Assessments
Speaker: Chloe Chung, EPRI
Stay tuned for more from our EJ Webinar Series in 2025!
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March: EJ Initiatives at the Federal Level - Kelly Crawford, U.S. DOE (Invited)
Please email the Chesapeake Chapter or SASS for questions and more information.
*Microsoft Teams Meeting
Meeting ID: 358 051 730 827
Passcode: kCm3bS
Webinar Lunch Series
Virtual Event
January 28th, 2025
12:00 - 1:00 PM ET
Hosted by the RTP Chapter
Modeling Spatial Variability in Locomotive Energy Use and Emissions and Quantification of Disease Burdens Attributable to Ambient Air Pollution and Climate Change
Speaker: Dr. Tongchuan Wei
Assistant Research Professor
Environmental Engineering
North Carolina State University
Environmental Justice Webinar Series Part 2: EJ Efforts in DC
Speaker: Joseph Jakuta, DC Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Please email the Chesapeake Chapter or SASS for questions and more information.
2024 Events
49th Annual Air Information Exchange
IN-PERSON EVENT
December 10-11th, 2024
Marriott Raleigh Durham Research Triangle Park
4700 Guardian Drive
Durham, NC 27703
Hosted by the RTP Chapter
Please join us for the 49th Annual Air Information Exchange on December 10th and 11th in Durham, NC! The Keynote Speaker will be Maureen Gwinn, Acting Assistant Administrator, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator and Chief Scientist at the U.S. EPA's Office of Research & Development, speaking on the "Future Research Directions of US EPA’s Office of Research and Development".
Check out the Conference Agenda and learn more at https://www.awma.org/infoexchange.
New this year is a reduced registration rate for student members! ONLY $25!!!
Environmental Justice Webinar Series Part 1: Cheverly, MD Case Study
Virtual Event
Thursday, November 14th, 2024
12:00 - 1:00 PM ET
Join us on Zoom!
Hosted by the Chesapeake Chapter
Speaker: Dr. Vivek Ravichandran; UMD Center of Community Engagement, Environment, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH)
Stay tuned for more from our EJ Webinar Series in 2025!
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January: EJ Efforts in the District of Columbia - Joseph Jakuta, DC DOEE
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February: EJ Considerations for Cumulative Impacts Assessments - Chloe Chung, EPRI
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March: EJ Initiatives at the Federal Level - Kelly Crawford, U.S. DOE (Invited)
Please email the Chesapeake Chapter or SASS for questions and more information.
Speaker: Taylor Hartsfield
In-Person Event
Thursday, October 31st, 2024
12:00 - 1:00 PM ET
North Carolina State University
Fitts-Woolard Hall
Room 3301
915 Partners Way
Raleigh, NC 27606
Hosted by the RTP Chapter
Lunch Will Be Provided!
Overview of North Carolina's Division of Air Quality: Come Work With Us!
The Division of Air Quality (DAQ) works with the state's residents to protect and improve outdoor, or ambient, air quality in North Carolina for the health, benefit, and economic well-being of all. To carry out this mission, the DAQ operates a statewide air quality monitoring network to measure the level of pollutants in the outdoor air, develops and implements plans to meet future air quality initiatives, issues clear and comprehensive permits, assures compliance with air quality rules, and educates, informs, and assists the public regarding air quality issues. The DAQ consists of five sections located in the central office in Raleigh and seven regional offices located across the state. DAQ, which is part of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, also enforces state and federal air pollution regulations. In North Carolina, the General Assembly enacts state air pollution laws, and the Environmental Management Commission adopts most rules dealing with air quality. In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated the DAQ as the lead agency for enforcing federal laws and regulations dealing with air pollution in North Carolina
Speaker: Taylor Hartsfield
Deputy Director
Division of Air Quality
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Please email the RTP Chapter or SASS for questions or more information.
Speakers: Joseph Sherlock and Lyndsay Gavin
IMunicipal Food Waste Collection Reduces Food Waste in Landfill and Promotes Positive Behavioral Spillovers.
Food waste decomposition in landfills produces high amounts of methane, a harmful greenhouse gas. Composting food waste produces less methane than landfill decomposition. However, structural and psychological barriers prevent most people from composting food waste. We address these barriers by developing a user-centered composting program with the City of Durham. We then investigate the program’s capacity to divert food waste from landfills through a randomized control trial. We also investigate the program’s ability to increase pro-environmental identity and pro-environmental “spillover” behaviors beyond composting. We find that the composting program diverts food waste from landfills, and may promote pro-environmental spillover behaviors.
Speakers: Joseph Sherlock Lyndsay Gavin
Principal Behavioral Scientist Manager, Innovation Team
Duke University The City of Durham, North Carolina
Please email the RTP Chapter or SASS to receive the meeting link prior to August 20th.
North Carolina State Univeristy Student Involvement Fair
IN-PERSON EVENT
Friday, August 23rd, 2024
North Carolina State University
Location and Time TBD
Hosted by the RTP Chapter
Come visit the NC State Student Chapter and RTP Chapter at the Annual NC State Student Involvement Fair!
Environmental Professionals Happy Hour
IN-PERSON EVENT
Thursday, August 29th, 2024
5:00 - 7:00 PM ET
Charlotte Beer Garden
1300 S Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28203
Hosted by the RTP Chapter
and CAPCA
The RTP Chapter in collaboration with the Carolina Air Pollution Control Association (CPACA) Young Professionals Group is hosting a Environmental Professionals Happy Hour in Charlotte!
Please contact Lindsay Salvador with any questions about this event!
Past Events
SASS Breakfast Meet-Up at A&WMA ACE
IN-PERSON EVENT
Tuesday, June 25th, 2024
7:00 - 8:30 AM MDT
ONE18 EMPIRE
820 Centre St SE
Calgary, AB, T2G 5J2
Hosted by SASS
South Atlantic States Section (SASS) Breakfast Meet-Up at the Air and Waste Management Association Annual Conference and Exhibition in Calgary, AB
Members of SASS attending the A&WMA ACE 2024 are invited to meet-up for breakfast at One 18 Empire in the conference hotel (Marriott) at 7 AM on Tuesday during the conference. This breakfast is free to SASS members and spouses are also invited to join.
RSVP not required, but is appreciated. Please email SASS or Stephanie Phillips prior to June 25th if you plan to attend.
Speaker: Dr. Yixuan Wang
Improving Life Cycle Assessments for Sustainable Solid Waste Management Decision Making
Dr. Wendy Wang developed a state-of-the science life-cycle assessment (LCA) model for a regulatory compliant municipal solid waste landfill in the US. She found that while landfill gas emissions contribute 50–99% to global warming, ozone depletion, and smog impacts, the production of materials required for construction and operation of the landfill contribute 68–75% to toxicity impacts. This is important because many landfill LCAs do not fully consider the materials used in the landfill, and this result shows that their inclusion is critical for understanding toxicity impacts from landfills. This regulatory compliant landfill LCA model has been implemented to investigate the impact of plastics’ biodegradabilities as disposed in landfills on GHG emissions. Additionally, the first comparison of the effects of using dynamic versus static global warming potentials (GWPs) on estimates of the global warming impacts associated with long-term emissions from landfills. It was found that in general using dynamic 100-year GWPs will not change alternative rankings compared to static GWPs. However, that does not hold when using 20-year GWPs, and the dynamic GWPs show the change in radiative forcing over time in a way that static GWPs inherently cannot. Wendy developed methods for reducing the time, costs, and data required to develop meaningful LCAs of solid waste management systems. This streamlining LCA framework helps facilitate the use of LCAs proactively in the early design and planning stages of solid waste strategy development where most of the decisions related to environmental sustainability occur. The streamlined framework proved to reach similar conclusions to full life-cycle assessments while substantially reducing the time and data requirements of conventional LCAs.
Speaker: Yixuan (Wendy) Wang
Senior Sustainability Expert, Quantis (A BCG Company)
Postdoctoral Fellow, North Carolina State University
Argonne Associate, Argonne National Laboratory
Please email the RTP Chapter or SASS to receive the meeting link prior to May 20th.
Speaker: Dr. James D. East
Interpreting the seasonality of atmospheric methane
The amount of methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 80 times that of CO2 on 20-year time scales, has been growing in Earth’s atmosphere during the last decade, and scientists disagree about which methane sources and sinks are responsible for the growth. One clue into understanding methane’s sources and sinks is their seasonality – their month-to-month cycles that happen every year. Measurements of atmospheric methane taken at the Earth’s surface and using satellite instruments show a steep increase each summer in the Northern Hemisphere that is not replicated when methane is simulated in a global chemical transport model, indicating missing information about source and sink seasonalities. To investigate, we use the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model to simulate 24 representations of methane’s largest source, emissions from wetlands, and 22 representations of its largest sink, chemical loss by the hydroxyl radical (OH). We find that OH is unlikely to cause the summer increase and model bias. Instead, global wetland emissions drive the summer increase through their amount, spatial distribution, and seasonal cycles. We suggest that these characteristics are linked to the underlying mechanisms determining wetland area and methane production in wetland models. The results unveil the role of global wetlands in driving methane’s seasonality and inform analyses of methane’s long-term trends.
Speaker: James D. East
Postdoctoral Fellow
Harvard University
Please email the RTP Chapter or SASS to receive the meeting link prior to April 30th.
D.C., Maryland, and Virginia Air Directors Panel
VIRTUAL EVENT
Thursday, April 18th, 2024
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET
Hosted by the Chesapeake Chapter
This free, virtual event hosted by the A&WMA Chesapeake Chapter will feature a panel of Air Directors from D.C. Maryland, and Virginia. The speakers include:
Hannah Ashenafi, P.E.
Director, Air Quality Division
Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE)
Chris Hoagland
Director, Air and Radiation Administration
Maryland Department of Environment (MDE)
Michael Dowd
Director, Air and Renewable Energy Division
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ)
Please email the Chesapeake Chapter or SASS to receive the meeting link prior to April 18th.
Speaker: Mark Gibson
“Two-Eyed Seeing" investigation of the air quality and health concerns of Pictou Landing First Nation, Nova Scotia, Canada - a story of environmental injustice.
Study indicating impacts of a pulp and paper mill’s effluent dumping into the estuary of Boat Harbor (BH) and Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), near Nova Scotia, Canada. The project in 2013 used a Two-Eyed seeing approach (combination of traditional and Western wisdom and science) to investigate the environmental health concerns of PLFN to demonstrate how air quality around the BH and PLFN were significantly impacted.
Speaker: Mark Gibson
KCI Technologies, Inc.
Senior Project Manager
Speaker: Barbara Turpin, UNC Chapel Hill
HYBRID EVENT
Date September 20, 2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Hosted by RTP Chapter
Speaker: Paul Algu, Carvana
HYBRID EVENT
Date August 15, 2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Hosted by RTP Chapter
A&WMA RTP Chapter ACE Scholarship Winners
HYBRID EVENT
Date July 18, 2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Hosted by RTP Chapter
The Benefits of Utilizing Low-Cost Monitors in Community-Based Exposure Research
VIRTUAL EVENT
Date June 20, 2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Hosted by RTP Chapter
Sara Duncan, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Health at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC. She joined the faculty in August 2019 after earning her Ph.D. in Environmental Exposure Science in 2018 from Rutgers University in New Jersey. At WCU, Dr. Duncan teaches classes on air quality, environmental toxicology, and public health. She is heavily engaged in undergraduate research involving students in a project to better assess air quality impacts from prescribed burns in the region. In addition, she leads a community-based project with local underserved schools to better understand personal air pollution exposures using western science and cultural methods. She is passionate about rural air pollution exposures, citizen science, science education, and environmental justice in Western NC.
Old Dominion University Career Panel
IN PERSON EVENT
Friday May 19, 2023
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Hosted by Chesapeake Chapter
The Chesapeake Chapter of the Air & Waste Management Association Invites you to a career panel discussion in conjunction with the Virginia Beach City Public Schools Environmental Studies Program at the Brock Environmental Center. Panelists will talk about their careers and experiences in government, consulting, law, and the military applying science and engineering to environmental protection. After the Panel discussion there will be small group tours of the Brock Environmental Center.
May Luncheon - PFAS Double Feature
IN PERSON OR VIRTUAL EVENT
Wednesday May 17, 2023
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Hosted by RTP Chapter
Double Feature on Field-Scale Demonstration of PFAS Leachability Following In Situ Soil Stabilization and PFAS in Landfill Leachate and Treatment with Foam Fractionation
Dr. Johnsie Lang serves as a technical expert at Arcadis in Raleigh, NC. Her primary research areas include solid waste, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), and harmful algal blooms (HABs). She has authored over a dozen peer-reviewed publications and participated in research funded by National Science Foundation (NSF), Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC), Hinkley Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, and various industrial sponsors. She received her doctoral degree from North Carolina State University (NCSU) with a dissertation demonstrating a national estimate for PFAS release from U.S. municipal landfills in leachate and PFAS release with time from carpet and clothing in model anaerobic laboratory-scale landfill reactors. Dr. Lang has extensive expertise in assessment and monitoring of PFASs in solid, gas phase, and aqueous samples. Her ORISE postdoctoral fellow at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) resulted in a deep understanding of various analytical methods used to measure emerging contaminates in the environment. She has proficiency in examining the fate and transport of recalcitrant pollutants in the environment. Recently, Dr. Lang has focused her efforts on developing a method for removing residual PFASs from fire suppression systems during foam transition. She regularly assists with interpreting and evaluating data collected from field studies on PFASs. In addition, she serves as a technical advisor on several site investigations for PFAS at US Army installations and assists various industrial and commercial clients to understand PFAS impacts at their facilities.
A&MWA Waste Information Exchange
IN PERSON EVENT
April 11 - April 23, 2023
Hosted by A&WMA/ASME
This interactive event will cover the latest information on a broad range of waste-related topics including regulations and research in an interactive, discussion-focused format. This is an excellent learning and networking opportunity to hear directly from experts at EPA, NGOs, industry, and academia who are working together to develop solutions to create a cleaner and healthier environment. The technical program will cover policy updates and regulatory changes, as well as current and late-breaking research on hot topics.
CLICK HERE FOR THE PROGRAM AGENDA!
Keynote Speaker: Carolyn Hoskinson, Director, EPA Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery
Managers, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers involved in waste management, public works, operations, maintenance, manufacturing, transportation, technology, compliance, collections, and other environmental roles will benefit from the technical content and networking available at this event.
Duke University: Breaking Down the Plastic Problem
IN PERSON EVENT
Tuesday March 21, 2023
Hosted by RTP Chapter
Breaking down the plastic problem: Can we predict how microplastics are fragments and released?
Speaker: Dr. Joana Sipe, Postdoctoral Researcher at Duke University
JMU/Chesapeake Chapter Environmental Career Panel
IN PERSON EVENT
Monday March 20, 2023
Hosted by JMU Student Chapter & Chesapeake Chapter
JMU's Environmental Management Club invites you to an Environmental Career Panel with speakers from the Air & Waste Management Association. Speakers include professionals from the Virgina Department of Environmental Quality, POWER Engineers Inc., Piedmont Lithium, and American Public Power Association.
Weekend Wine Down with A&WMA
IN PERSON EVENT
Sunday August 28, 2022
Hosted by Chesapeake Chapter
We’re excited to host our first in-person event in a very long time on August 28 at The Winery at Bull Run. Catch up with fellow chapter members while enjoying a glass of wine (or your other beverage of choice) and entertainment by local musicians. We’ll be meeting at 2PM in the covered patio area of the winery. The chapter will provide snacks; drinks are on you. If you’re planning to attend, please RSVP to cathek1@gmail.com. Hope to see you there!
JUNE LUNCHEON - CHARACTERIZATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF PER- AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES IN LANDFILL GAS AND ESTIMATE ESMISSION FROM US LANDFILLS
HYBRID EVENT
Virtual via Zoom
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Hosted by RTP Chapter
Dr. Florentino de la Cruz received a B.S. and M.S. (minor in Environmental Science) in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Dr. de la Cruz completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at NC State with a minor in Forest Biomaterials. Dr. de la Cruz is currently a Research Scientist at the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at NC State University. The primary focus of Dr. De la Cruz’s research is Environmental Chemistry and he has expertise in the Solid Waste Management domain. He has conducted research to understand the chemical and biological processes in solid waste treatment and disposal systems. His research interests include understanding the interaction of solid waste management systems such as landfills with natural and other engineered systems by exploring impacts on soil, air, and water quality. On a fundamental level, his research focuses on compound-level characterization of a large subset of chemicals found in leachate and landfill gas which has overarching implications for human health from exposure from contaminated water and air emissions
MAY LUNCHEON - STRATEGIES FOR DECARBONIZING TRANSPORTATION
Virtual via Zoom
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Hosted by RTP Chapter
Chris Porter is a Principal of Cambridge Systematics with 25 years of experience in air quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis, transportation and land use, economic development, transportation equity, and performance measurement. His recent work has mainly focused on strategic planning, research, and evaluation studies for GHG reduction measures for Federal, State, and local agencies. He is currently supporting GHG forecasting, strategy analysis, and policy development for state transportation agencies in Colorado and Virginia, as well as leading a national research study on considering GHG and climate change effects in environmental documentation.
APRIL LUNCHEON - MEET OUR A&WMA RTP ACE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Virtual via Zoom
Tuesday, April 19
Hosted by the RTP Chapter
We heard presentations from our A&WMA - RTP ACE Scholarship recipients and had the opportunity to meet our rising environmental professionals.
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Qian Luo (NCSU): Reducing Power Sector Emissions in China for Climate and Public Health Benefits with Economic Dispatch
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Sailaja Eluri (NCSU): Procedure to Quantify Variability in Air Pollution Infiltration Factors for a Selected Pollutant and Selected Homes
URBAN INFILL BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT TRENDS
Virtual via Zoom
Tuesday, March 15
Hosted by the RTP Chapter
Learn the latest on Brownfields redevelopment trends both at the North Carolina and Federal level. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the Brownfields redevelopment process and associated regulatory requirements to support safe reuse of contaminated properties. Now that a number of the easier less-contaminated properties have been purchased and redeveloped, a trend toward redevelopment of technically challenging urban infill sites has emerged including landfills and highly contaminated sites. These sites have been dormant and underutilized for years, have raised safety concerns and have impacted local communities. Learn how these properties are redeveloped to be protective of human health and the environment and to support economic growth. Case studies will be used to highlight the Brownfields redevelopment process, including how cleanup strategies and technical approaches are developed and implemented to promote safe reuse of Brownfields sites and the regulatory requirements behind the process.
Jeffs Bio
Jeff Tyburski joined Geosyntec’s Raleigh, North Carolina office in August of 2019 as a Principal Geologist. Jeff has over 34 years of experience in the environmental consulting field. Through his career he has worked on a variety of public and private sector projects. He specializes in developing technically defensible and cost effective solutions for environmental assessments to identify and evaluate releases of subsurface contamination and the risk they present to human health and the environment. He is well versed in developing corrective action strategies to manage the risks associated with subsurface contamination including the development and implementation of various groundwater, soil, surface water, sediment and vapor intrusion mitigation engineering controls. His primary area of expertise is supporting the redevelopment of urban infill Brownfields sites. Through his experience, he has the ability to work with property owners, their site design and construction team, legal counsel, investment partners and regulatory agencies to develop an integrated approach to manage environmental risk through site acquisition, redevelopment design, and construction and facility management phases of a project. He has actively been involved with regulatory stakeholder groups and initiative for the development of new regulations and guidelines which has allowed him to develop strong working relationships with various regulatory agencies. Jeff graduated from the University of Rochester with a Bachelors degree in Geology in 1987. With his wife Roz, they own and operate Carolina Morning Stables in Silk Hope NC. In his spare time, Jeff enjoys taking rides with his Quarter horse Mack, bike riding, and spending time with his six children
AIR QUALITY EDUCATION IN THE DMV
Virtual via Microsoft Teams
Thursday, January 27
Hosted by the Chesapeake Chapter (previously Baltimore-Washington Chapter)
Speaker: Elizabeth Spike, Science Teacher, Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia
Elizabeth Spike, current chair of the A&WMA K-12 Education Committee and science teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools, shared science standards that targeted air quality education in the District-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) region. She also shared how the K-12 Education Committee can support an online and in-person air quality curriculum as well as efforts to promote diverse representation in environmental professions.
