Geosyntec's Eric Sager and Alex Warzinski (Florida) were honored with NASA Silver Dollar Awards at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The awards were presented by the environmental division chief Denise Thaller during a surprise ceremony on February 16, 2017. Geosyntec and our subcontractor (FECC, Inc.) received this award for overcoming a large number of logistical and scheduling challenges to successfully fast-track a soil remediation project in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)…
February 23, 2017
Olga Stewart Delivers Presentations at Two Alaska Conferences
Olga Stewart (Alaska) presented at the Alaska Forum on the Environment 2017, at the Dena'ina Center in Achorage, Alsaka on February 8, 2017 and at the 51st Alaska Survey and Mapping Conference at the Hilton Anchorage Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska on February 16, 2017. The presentation at the Alaska Forum on the Environment 2017 was entitled "Creating and Utilizing Spatial Data in Remedial Investigations: From Archives to Desktops to Mobile Devices," and was delivered with…
February 22, 2017
SiREM Hosts Shaily Mahendra for its Upcoming Webinar
SiREM will host a webinar featuring Shaily Mahendra, Ph.D. at 12 p.m. EST on Thursday, February 23, 2017. Dr. Mahendra is an Associate Professor and Samueli Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She will discuss the challenges with current remediation techniques for cleanup of 1,4-dioxane contaminated sites, a culture which can grow using 1,4-dioxane as its only source of carbon and energy, and the…
February 21, 2017
Lelio Mejia Joins Geosyntec’s Geotechnical and Earthquake Engineering Practice in Oakland
Geosyntec is pleased to announce that Lelio Mejia, Ph.D., P.E., G.E. has joined the firm as a Senior Principal in our Oakland, California office. Dr. Mejia will take a leading role in the continued development of the firm’s geotechnical and earthquake engineering practice, with a focus on dams and levees. Dr. Mejia has devoted much of his 35-year career to the challenges of dam and levee engineering. He is a leading international authority in this…
February 21, 2017
Andrea Braga and Ganesh Krishnan Co-Present at 2017 Environmental Connection Conference in Atlanta
Andrea Braga (Massachusetts) and Ganesh Krishnan (Georgia) will be co-presenting at the 2017 Environmental Connection Conference of the International Erosion Control Association (IECA) at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia in Room 113/114 at 9:10 a.m. on February 22, 2017. Andrea and Ganesh will co-present with Mark Goldsmith, Director of EHS Compliance at Walmart. Their presentation, entitled "Establishing a Compliance Audit Program for Your Company" will provide an overview of how to setup a…
February 20, 2017
Lance Fontenot and Valerie Mayhall at the Louisiana Solid Waste Association Annual Conference
Lance Fontenot (Louisiana) will deliver a presentation entitled "Safety of Dietary Supplements: A Toxicological Perspective," during the Louisiana Environmental Health Association track, at the 2017 Louisiana Solid Waste Association (LSWA) Annual Conference in Lafayette, Louisiana on March 15 - 17, 2017. Valerie Mayhall (Louisiana), as part of the LSWA Conference Steering Committee, has been actively involved in the planning and execution of the annual conference. She is a Senior Scientist based in Louisiana with more…
February 16, 2017
Geosyntec at the SGA Technical Conference on Environmental Permitting and Construction
Thom Bristol and Brian Cole (South Carolina), Spencer Varnado and Anica Haynes (Louisiana) will attend the Southern Gas Association Technical Conference on Environmental Permitting and Construction at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina in Tampa, Florida on February 22-24, 2017. The SGA Technical Conference on Environmental Permitting & Construction is designed to provide professionals in the pipeline design and construction industry a better understanding of the requirements associated with permitting complex projects and ensuring…
February 15, 2017
Valerie Mayhall to Serve on Women’s Energy Network Board
Valerie Mayhall is honored to be serving on the Board of Directors of the Women's Energy Network, South Louisiana Chapter for 2017. Valerie is a Senior Scientist based in Louisiana with more than 20 years of experience focused on environmental permitting and compliance. She has extensive experience in project management for entities in the industrial, municipal, and utility sectors. A diverse mix of companies, Valerie's clients include sugar mills, refineries, railroads, and petrochemical companies. Her…
February 15, 2017
Ron Arcuri and Neal Durant Present at the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Environment and Energy Law Section Council
Ron Arcuri (Pennsylvania) and Neal Durant (Washington, D.C.) presented at the Allegheny County Bar Association's (ACBA) Environment and Energy Law Section Council meeting in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on January 26, 2017. They were invited to present to the ACBA's Environment and Energy Law Section Council on the topic of "Applications of Environmental Forensics in Legal Matters." Their presentation incorporated information from one given by Silvia Mancini (Toronto) at the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy,…
February 9, 2017
Geosyntec Green Infrastructure Project Wins 2017 Award of Excellence
The Maryland Quality Initiative (MdQI) named the stormwater management project at Conowingo Elementary School in Conowingo, Maryland as the winner of the 2017 Award of Excellence in the Green/Sustainability/Environmental Award category during the annual awards banquet at the Baltimore Convention Center on January 26, 2017. The project included the design and construction of multiple stormwater management facilities using Environmental Site Design (ESD) practices on the school campus. The ESD practices were designed to capture and…
The Hydrocarbon Passive Fire Protection Network (PFPNet) will be hosting an introductory meeting at the Texas Training and Conference Centers in Houston, Texas from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday February 15, 2017. The event is free of charge, lunch will be provided, and a reception will conclude the afternoon. Examples of companies registered include BP, CB&I, Fluor, Shell, Chevron, International Paint and NACE International. All attendees will have the opportunity to offer their…
January 31, 2017
Majdi Othman Named Co-Editor of ASTM Geotechnical Testing Journal
Majdi Othman, Ph.D., P.E., (Georgia) has accepted an invitation to be co-editor of the ASTM Geotechnical Testing Journal starting in January 2018. A Senior Principal Engineer with more than 25 years of engineering experience focused on geotechnical, environmental, and civil engineering projects, Majdi said "I am excited about serving in this role, as it will help me be more connected with geotechnical research and will give me and Geosyntec more interaction with our colleagues in…
January 30, 2017
Ravi Arulanantham to Present on Environmental Law for The Orange County Bar Association
Ravi Arulanantham (California) will present at the Orange County Bar Association (OCBA) Environmental Law Meeting on February 2, 2017. Ravi will present alongside Norman A. Dupont, Esq. (Ring Bender LLLP) and Debbie Soukup, Ph.D. (Partner Engineering and Science, Inc.). The series, titled "You've Got the Lab Data, Now What?" will discuss how to navigate lab reports and increasingly diverse regulatory action levels. This program is useful for both experienced and newer environmental lawyers whose cases…
Logan Brant (Texas) was recently elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Houston Branch of the Society for Underwater Technology (SUT), and was promoted to Full Member status within the society's Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics (OSIG) Committee. Through his involvement with SUT Houston, Logan regularly volunteers with the School Touring Program as a presenter to Middle School Science Classes on the topics of "Geology Rocks" and "Seeing with Sound: Exploring Oceans and…
January 26, 2017
Geosyntec Awarded Geotechnical Instrumentation Monitoring and Data Management at Chickamauga Lock
Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. was awarded a 2-year contract for the Geotechnical Instrumentation Monitoring and Data Management as a subcontractor to the general contractor, Heeter Geotechnical Construction, for the US Army Corps of Engineers Chickamauga Lock Replacement project. Project background: Chickamauga Navigation Lock, seven miles upstream of Chattanooga, Tenn., at river mile 471, is owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Upstream of Chickamauga Lock are 318 miles…
Geosyntec's Thomas Bristol, Brandon Mogan, Melissa Setz, Robert Bachus, Glenn Rix, and Njoroge Wainaina were among the contributors to the report, entitled "The Hydraulic and Geotechnical Aspects of the South Carolina Floods of October 1-5, 2015 Related to Offshore Hurricane Joaquin." The other contributors to the report were Hermann M. Fritz (Team Leader), Ronald Andrus, Alejandro Martinez, Fikret Atalay, Barnabas Bwambale, and Jeremy Varner. The report presents the field observations the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance…
![Regulatory Update: U.S. EPA Updates Toxicity Values for Benzo[a]pyrene](/media/k2/items/cache/ca8a8af3931a821b4cde4c35f3194ee4_M.jpg)
On January 19, 2017 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program released its final assessment of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), the last step in process that required about six years to complete. BaP is a member of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) family of chemicals, which are naturally present in crude oil and other petroleum products and are also generated during the combustion of many common materials (e.g., wood, oil, and…
January 23, 2017
Geosyntec to Sponsor Minnesota State Bar Association Program Event
Geosyntec will sponsor a Minnesota State Bar Association program event entitled "Environmental and Energy Law and Policy under a Trump Administration," a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) event for the Minnesota State Bar Association at the Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. on January 19, 2017. Change and uncertainty appear to be two of the outcomes of the recent presidential election. This may be especially true for the area…
Dan Bourdeau (New Hampshire) is presenting in Session 2, "Watershed Management," at the 2017 New England Water Environment Association (NEWEA) Annual Conference and Exhibit at the Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts at 8:30-10:30 a.m. on January 23, 2017. His presentation is entitled "Use of a Nutrient Control Plan by the City of Rochester, New Hampshire to Develop a Long-term Plan to Reduce Nutrient Loads to Receiving Waters." Dan has extensive experience in…
Rula Deeb (California) will deliver a presentation on the Development and Testing of an Analytical Method for Real Time Measurements of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in a webinar hosted by the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) on February 1, 2017. Focused on educating remediation practitioners, this webinar will outline the latest developments and current efforts to detect, measure, and remove this emerging contaminant from the environment. Presentations will address new developments in field screening methods;…
January 17, 2017
Geosyntec Partners with Tooth Fairy for Innovative Help with Fluoride Contamination
Geosyntec, a thought leader among environmental science and engineering firms, recently devised an innovative approach to rescue a client from a long-standing site condition where dissolved fluoride impacted groundwater at high enough levels to impair water quality and require cleanup. Fluoride releases are uncommon, but when this does occur the solubility of fluoride often results in groundwater contamination. Led by Chris Herin, the Geosyntec project team recognized that soil excavation was too disruptive to site…
January 12, 2017
What Was Old is New Again: Monitoring and the Clean Air Act
In the early decades of Clean Air Act implementation, it was common for permitting agencies to require facilities seeking Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits to conduct pre-construction ambient air quality monitoring prior to permit issuance. While less common, it was not unprecedented to require facilities to conduct post-construction ambient air quality monitoring to confirm that the new or modified facility would not cause a violation of a National Ambient Air Quality Standard or consume…
January 10, 2017
Geosyntec Practitioners Publish Alternative Water Use Paper for Journal of American Water Works Association
Geosyntec practitioners Dr. Zita L.T. Yu, P.E., Dr. Mark Hanna, P.E., and Ken Susilo, P.E., DWRE, CPSWQ co-authored an article with Joan Oppenheimer, BCEE and Dr. Allegra Da Silva, P.E. from MWH-Stantec entitled "Capturing Alternative Water Resources in Supplement Drinking Water Supply." The article is featured in the Total Water Solutions Column in the Journal of American Water Works Association (AWWA) January 2017, Volume 109, Number 1. The article discusses the latest trends, opportunities, and…
January 9, 2017
Yazen Khasawneh Published in Computers and Geotechnics Journal
Yazen Khasawneh (Michigan) co-authored a paper entitled "A simple soil model for low frequency cyclic loading" that will appear in Science Direct's Computers and Geotechnics journal, Volume 84, April 2017, Pages 225-237. Abstract A three-dimensional elastoplastic soil constitutive model capable of capturing the response of granular soils under low-frequency cyclic loading is introduced and verified. The model is piecewise linear with a hyperbolic stress-strain relationship. The size of the hysteresis loop is controlled using different…
January 9, 2017
Geosyntec at the 2017 Gas Storage Outlook Conference
Anica Haynes and Mike Mckibben will attend the 15th Annual Gas Storage Outlook Conference at the Omni Houston Hotel in Houston, Texas on January 12-13, 2017. The conference features gas storage experts discussing liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas-electric integration, the outlook of Mexico's gas storage needs, and additional demand drivers. Gas storage developers, investors, end-users, and thought leaders will be in attendance. Anica Haynes is a Senior Environmental Engineer based in Louisiana with more than…
January 4, 2017
Green Harbor Energy Secures 2016 Energy STAR CHP Award for University of Massachusetts Medical School
The Green Harbor Energy team, including Darrell Sandlin, Tom Flynn, Paul MacGregor, and Tim Graham, working in partnership with U.S. EPA, secured the 2016 Energy STAR CHP Award for the University of Massachusetts Medical School. EPA presents the Energy STAR CHP Award to leaders who increase the nation's electric generation efficiency through the development of highly-efficient combined heat and power (CHP) systems. The Award recognizes the importance of CHP as a way to reduce emissions…
January 4, 2017
ENR New England Best Project Awarded to Geosyntec
The Sutton Brook Disposal Area Superfund Project in Tewksbury, Massachusetts was named 2016's Best Project in the Water/Environment Category by Engineering News-Record (ENR) New England on December 8, 2016. The award was presented at a breakfast banquet at the Hyatt Regency in Boston, Massachusetts. Geosyntec's Scott Luettich, Steven Poirier, and Michael Paonessa joined representatives from Charter to accept the award. This year's panel of industry judges reviewed and discussed 20 projects located throughout New England…
January 3, 2017
Man Zhang Published in Journal of Hazardous Materials
Man Zhang (Minnesota) co-authored a paper entitled, "Transport of stabilized iron nanoparticles in porous media: Effects of surface and solution chemistry and role of adsorption." The paper is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials' Special Issue for Environmental Nanotechnology in Volume 322, Part A, pages 284-291 in January 2017. The paper discusses the results of a study to investigate the effects of iron oxide and aluminum oxide on retention and transport of carboxymethyl cellulose…
December 20, 2016
Tom Wurzinger Elected Vice Chair of AWMA Georgia Chapter
Tom Wurzinger (Georgia) was elected Vice Chair of the Air & Waste Management Association's (A&WMA) Georgia Chapter on December 9, 2016. The A&WMA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan professional organization that enhances knowledge and expertise by providing a neutral forum for information exchange, professional development, networking opportunities, and public education. A&WMA promotes environmental responsibility and increases the effectiveness of organizations to make critical decisions that benefit society. The A&WMA's Georgia Chapter's mission is to promote a…
December 19, 2016
Lee Mullon and Mike Hardin Present at Florida Stormwater Association Winter Conference
Lee Mullon and Mike Hardin (Florida) presented at the Florida Stormwater Association's (FSA) Winter 2016 conference in on December 7, 2016. Lee presented on a case study of a 2.5 year stormwater best management practice (BMP) monitoring project for Orange County, Florida and Mike presented on a street sweeping optimization project recently completed for the City of Lakeland, Florida. The Florida Stormwater Conference is a municipal stormwater conference which helps organize stormwater-related research, advocacy, and…
Melissa Grover, Jennifer Arblaster, and Jason Conder of California were part of the project team honored with Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) 2016 Project-of-the-Year Award for Environmental Restoration on November 28, 2016. Dr. Bart Chadwick from SPAWAR Systems Center led the project team for an ESTCP-funded project that aimed to demonstrate and validate the placement, stability, and performance of reactive amendments for treatment of contaminated sediments in active DOD harbor settings. The project was…
December 12, 2016
Morteza Khorshidi Published in Vadose Zone Journal
Morteza Khorshidi (North Carolina) co-authored an article entitled "Intrinsic Relationship Between Matric Potential and Cation Hydration," published in the Vadose Zone Journal on November 22, 2016. Vadose Zone Journal is a publication outlet for interdisciplinary research and assessment of the Critical Zone, which comprises the Earth's critical living surface down to groundwater. Vadose Zone Journal is a peer-reviewed, international journal that publishes reviews, original research, and special sections across a wide range of disciplines. Morteza…
Melissa Grover and Jason Conder of California will have two of their projects as the focal point of the next webinar hosted by SERDP and ESTCP. The webinar, entitled "Advances in the Assessment and In Situ Treatment of Contaminated Sediments," will take place at noon Eastern time, 9am Pacific, on December 15, 2016. The two projects to be highlighted during the webinar involve the effectiveness of reactive amendments at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in…
