ATEEC News Online–Spring 2001

After many years of faithful service, the old ATEEC web site is being retired. We decided it was time to update the site both in terms of its content and its look. Our goals for the new web site are easy access to information, fast downloads, a clean professional look, and a fresh new graphical interface. We have added a "portal page" that uses the ATEEC logo of the earth over a column and serves as a central entry page into the new ATEEC web site. As you pass over the subject areas beside the globe with your cursor, scenic pictures will appear on the globe with additional links that take you further into the web site. Further down on the "portal page" you will find links to current environmental news-links that are refreshed every few minutes and refer you to articles from major national and international news services.

Once you are further into the site, a newly designed menu bar with a rotating globe will appear. This menu bar will allow easy and consistent access to the rest of the ATEEC site. With only a few "clicks" you will be able to move quickly and easily to wherever you want to go. The subject areas with the fading background on the menu bar will take you to the main areas of our site. Passing your cursor over the dots below the subject areas will bring up sub-menus that will take you to more specific areas. We will soon be adding a site map and a search engine to make it even easier to find what you need. The search engine will allow one to search for specific words or phrases (including Boolean searches) throughout the entire site including the contents of Adobe Acrobat files. Some sounds have been added to the site and soon music will be added as well. Our hope is to provide a rich multimedia experience without interfering with smooth access to the information. Remember to turn your speakers on when you visit us.

Creating a Dynamic Information Conduit among Research, Education, and Business and Industry

The Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center (ATEEC) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Environmental Initiatives (CEI) held a Critical Issues Forum in Dedham, Massachusetts on April 27-29, 2001. Business and industry representatives, community college instructors, and research scientists from across the nation gathered to recommend strategies for improving their information exchange.

The Critical Issues Forum resulted from a partnership between MIT and ATEEC and was funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The broad goals of this grant are to 1) develop curriculum and educational materials that focus on emerging knowledge and technologies in the environmental field and 2) to establish a faculty exchange and professional development program, which will create connections between research and applied education as well as the workplace.

The Forum examined the needs of the participating groups and focused on formulating solutions to overcome the existing barriers that have hampered a connectedness between research and the classroom. All of the participants agreed that improved communication between these groups will result in:

• Better prepared students
• More informed and better trained workforce
• More focused and applicable research
• Researchers having access to the end users of research output
• More robust environmental education and outreach efforts

"The truly innovative aspect of this project is that it includes perspectives from all stakeholders in environmental education, from research to field implementation," said Victoria M. Bragin, program director, division of undergraduate education, NSF. "Those involved in other technical fields should benefit from the lessons learned in this partnership."

The synergy of researchers, educators, and business and industry working together will produce much greater results than if each group works separately. "Many people are convinced that environmental concerns and how to use our resources will be the defining issues of the 21st century, and MIT has undertaken a commitment to understand what that means," noted Jeffrey Steinfeld, Chemistry professor at MIT and co-Principal Investigator for the grant. "We must take every opportunity to get knowledge into the hands of the people who can use it, and this project is an excellent start to doing just that. Doing nothing is not an option."

The Environmental Compliance and Technology (ECAT) program offered by the Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD) has always had far-reaching effects. Since 1992 the program has been popular for its delivery by correspondence to military personnel stationed as far away as Japan. Beginning in the fall, the program will use the latest technology to offer two of its courses via the Internet. Look for more courses in the future.

"The reason we decided to go Internet," said Instructor Sally Gaines, "is that the people we serve are busy adults who wanted to commit time to getting an education but couldn't attend traditional class meetings. They can log on when they have time from anywhere. The deadlines are still there, but there is more flexibility." Internet courses are popular among shift workers, especially those who work swing shifts.

"Using the Internet also allows us to use online government resources: EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), DOT (Department of Transportation), OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) or NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health)," Gaines said. "The agencies update material constantly; textbooks can be outdated. Anyone not using the Internet already is missing a great resource."

As far as instructor accessibility goes, Gaines believes Internet students may have the benefit. "I check my email on weekends and every day," she said. "In a face-to-face class, you might have to wait until the next class meets."

Creating an Internet course is challenging, especially in courses like these that may have detailed information. Gaines employs textbooks, video, or CD-ROM, whatever media is the best delivery mode, and devises activities and *threaded discussions designed to emulate classroom discussion. Exams and quizzes are taken on line but timed. Gaines feels Internet delivery is an improvement in the program's delivery system. "Correspondence is a pretty solitary experience," she said. "Students tend to put things off. In the end, it's a big rush. Online is paced."

Gaines said the goal of the ECAT program is to prepare people for entry-level jobs in the field of environmental compliance and technology. "Assignments are hands-on and practical. One assignment might be to prepare a manifest for shipping hazardous waste," she said. "Another may be to locate a business, study its processes and write up a report. The question they should address is, "Has the company been able to reduce waste?" Overall, the goal of the program is to give students a good education.

The two courses for fall delivery will be OSHA Regulations and EPA Regulations/Air and Water Quality. In the spring of 2002 two more courses will be added. Courses for the entire program cover basic environment and safety; U.S. regulations for safety; general industrial safety; EPA regulations; characteristics of Hazardous Materials; DOT regulations; and core supporting courses. The college district expects to expand the program across the U.S.

The ECAT program is an Associate in Applied Science degree or certificate program (formerly known as Hazardous Materials Technology). It originated in 1987 as part of an alliance between EICCD and Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This partnership established the Hazardous Materials Training and Research Institute, which designs and disseminates community education training programs related to environmental safety and requirements for business and industry.

This spring ATEEC conducted a national workshop titled Redefining Environmental Technology 2001. The goal of the workshop was to validate and update occupational information contained in ATEEC's 1996 report Defining Environmental Technology. The workshop was held March 14 -15, 2001, at the Westin St. Louis hotel in St. Louis, Missouri.

The objectives of the workshop were to validate and update:

1. the definition of the environmental technology field
2. the environmental technology occupational categories
3. technician-level occupations in each of the occupational categories
4. job functions/tasks typically performed in the field.

ATEEC invited practitioners and educators who are experienced in the environmental technology field and who have a broad perspective of the various occupational areas included in this field. The 19 participants from across the country who attended the workshop included business, industry, and government agency representatives, as well as two- and four-year college environmental technology instructors and administrators.

Occupational Categories

The participants identified eleven occupational categories in the environmental technology field. For each occupational category, the participants identified technician-level occupations and broad job functions typically performed. The occupational categories are listed below.

Occupational Categories

• Air Quality
• Emergency Preparedness – Response
• Energy
• Field Services
• Information Management
• Laboratory Services
• Natural Resources Management
• Safety – Health
• Site Management
• Waste Management
• Water – Wastewater

The participants also identified eight areas that cut across all the occupational categories.

• Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC)
• Regulatory Affairs
• Sampling and Monitoring
• Instrumentation
• Pollution Prevention
• Emergency Planning
• Preventive Maintenance
• Biotechnology

Top Environmental Technology Occupations

• Safety & Health Trainer (industrial)
• Redevelopment Technician
• GIS Technician (Information Management)
• GIS Technician (Natural Resources Management)
• Environmental Technician/Emergency Response Technician (Emergency Preparedness & Response)
• Source Sampling Technician
• Environmental Site Assessor
• Environmental Technician/Specialist (Waste Management)
• Hazardous Materials Technician
• Energy Technician

Twenty high school and community college science, math, and environmental technology teachers will gather June 18-28 at the University of Northern Iowa for the seventh ATEEC Fellows Institute. The teachers, ATEEC staff, and researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will study issues and concepts associated with additives used to oxygenate gasoline. While the gasoline additives, MTBE, and "gasohol" are supposed to make fuel burn cleaner, they are not without controversy.

The Fellows will attend UNI and MIT seminars on fuel technologies, participate in a field trip to a gasohol plant in the middle of Iowa corn country, and develop contextual teaching and learning activities that will interpret the clean fuels topic for colleagues and students. The Fellows will also provide feedback on environmental teaching resource units under development through an ATEEC and MIT grant from NSF.

Northwest PETE

Western PETE

North Central PETE

Northeast PETE

Southeast PETE

Hello Western PETE Members and Friends! Western and Northwestern PETE have teamed up to provide a great conference including Pre-Conference Training of an HTMRI Instructors' Refresher and Competitive Environmental Business Practices Train the Trainer.

Main Conference, August 2-4:

• Compliance in the Academic Setting
• The Role of the Chemical Hygiene Officer
• Earthquake 101
• Marketing Your Health & Safety Program
• ATEEC's ATEEL Workshop
• Lake Ecology (includes a field trip)
• Poster Session & Networking Opportunities
• And MORE!

Conference Fun:

• Trips to Hot August Nights
• Silent Auction
• Hiking
• Fishing
• Horseback riding
• Golf

2001 ATEEC Fellows Summer Institute

Heidi H. Lyman, Todd Amundson, and Robin Ritter will have the privilege of attending this National Science Foundation funded project. Each ATTEC Fellow will receive a $1000 stipend .

Changes in NW PETE Administration

Steve Fenton, Highline Community College was appointed as the new Executive Director of NW PETE. Judy Gobert, the former Executive Director will return as a board member for NW PETE.

The NW PETE staff at Salish Kootenai College are busily transferring materials to Highline Community College and wish Steve Fenton and his staff the best.

Western and Northwestern PETE will co-host the PETE conference on August 2-3, 2001 in Lake Tahoe, NV. The pre-conference training will begin on August 2, 2001 and the conference workshops will begin on August 3, 2001. A variety of workshops being offered to actively engage participants. Workshops include: Marketing Safety in the Academic Setting, The Role of the Chemical Hygiene Office, ATEEL (ATEEC's Advanced Technology Environmental Education Library), Earthquake 101, Safety in Academia, and Lake Tahoe Ecology.

May 2001

It was a pleasure hosting the 2001 Instructor Conference with North Central, South Central, and Southeast PETE Regions on March 15-17, 2001 in St. Louis, MO. The conference was an overwhelming success and an excellent opportunity for faculty members to network with peers from the other PETE Regions. Perhaps a future National PETE conference could result from a collaboration among all regions.

NE PETE continues to work with EPA Region I on a College and University Compliance initiative. This initiative provides training and outreach opportunities in EPA Region I and efforts to assist other EPA regions.

NE PETE, through the National PETE Office, will again work on "Youth-in-the-Environment Initiative" projects with EPA Region I and II. In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Labor Summer Youth Employment Program, this project provides summer work and environmental education awareness opportunities for youth ages 16-20.

May 2001

NC PETE's annual conference turned into a PETE National Conference held in St. Louis, MO. The Conference opened on March 15. Michael Holmes, St. Louis Community College, did an excellent job moderating. Dr. Henry Shannon, Chancellor St. Louis CC; Dr. Ron Smith, President of St. Louis CC Forest Park; and Dean Hattie Jackson, Dean of Academic Support, Forest Park welcomed us to St. Louis.

May 2001

January 2001 marked the first anniversary since the PETE national office relocated to its host site on the campus of Southern Maine Technical College in South Portland, Maine. It also marked the end of a year of change within SC PETE. In November 2000 the hard drive on the SC PETE computer died a sudden and traumatic death. In addition to leaving the region without computer processing ability, the expired hard drive also took with it the most recently updated data file of SC PETE contacts, a portion of the SC web site and a number of downloaded software packages. Despite the best efforts of the hard drive manufacturer, it was not possible to retrieve any of the data.

Southeast PETE participated in the Joint NE, SE, SC and NC Instructors' conference on March 15 and 16 in St. Louis Missouri. Dr. Bill Engel, SE PETE Executive Director, was one of the conference speakers. His topic was "An Environmental Management Systems Overview." Also speaking at the conference was former SE PETE Chair and current National PETE Chair, Dr. Randy Parker. Dr. Parker is in Washington DC on an IPA with the Department of Labor. He introduced his current boss, Dr. Roland Droitsch, Assistant Secretary for Policy, U. S. Dept of Labor who gave the keynote address.

EPA's National Enforcement, Training Institute and National PETE conducted a survey of Environment Programs. ATEEC created the format and method of gathering and displaying the data. All PETE Colleges were invited to participate. Ten SE PETE colleges responded taking advantage of an excellent opportunity for the colleges, both credit and noncredit to market their programs.

SE PETE participated in ATEEC's Re-Defining Environmental Technology Workshop, held in St. Louis March 14-15, 2001. SE PETE was represented by National PETE Chair, Dr. Randy Parker and SE PETE Executive Director, Dr. Bill Engel.

The Hazardous Materials Training and Research Institute (HMTRI), under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is sponsoring a Strategies for Job Development and Training in Brownfields Communities workshop. This is an invitational workshop involving stakeholders that are located in or near Brownfields Assessment Demonstration pilot sites. These workshops are designed to provide knowledge and tools necessary to undertake activities that will maximize job development and employment opportunities for residents living in Brownfields communities. The workshop will be held in San Francisco, California, on August 1-3, 2001.

For questions, contact:

ATEEC is forging ahead with plans to integrate the interactive CD-ROM "Brownfields in a Box" into the nation's classrooms as well as corporate boardrooms. What's the connection? Actually, it's quite simple. ATEEC plans to appeal to the philanthropic efforts of our nation's corporations, who set aside foundation dollars to support education and the environment.

Since ATEEC began in 1994, the staff has assisted teachers and administrators across the nation with hundreds of inquiries related to starting or improving an environmental technology credit program. The best practices developed by successful environmental technology educators, shaped by the experience of the ATEEEC instructional design group, resulted in a manual called "Best Practices: A Guidebook for Environmental Technology."

Simply called Best Practices, the 400+ pages of the Guidebook are on CD ROM. The PDF format allows flexibility in reading and printing. The Chapters include:

• Administration
• Curriculum & Instruction
• Student Services
• Alliances
• Professional Development
• Learning Resources
• Facilities, Equipment, and Supplies
• and Program Assessment

In addition, hundreds of hotlinks take you to the World Wide Web for additional resources. "If I'd had Best Practices before planning my program, I'd have saved six months on my program start-up," Drannon Buskirk, Ph.D., Harrisburg Community College.

Over one hundred educators have been directly involved with developing and reviewing Best Practices.

D. Richard Cobb is in his first 6 months as an ATEEC Board Member. Richard comes to ATEEC with an industry background, having worked at Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York, for 32 years. He is a Senior Research and Development Technician in the Image Capture Platform at Kodak. Richard also fills the position of Division Safety Representative, as he develops and carries out the health, safety, and environmental program for Image Capture as well as offering safety training. He has also been appointed to the Research HSE Advisory Council who reports directly to the head of R&D at Kodak. The combination of these two work experiences made Richard a natural fit for ATEEC.

Richard is also involved in many other activities to, in his words "keep me out of trouble." He is a member of the American Chemical Society serving as a Councilor for the Rochester Section, as Chair of the national Committee on Technician Affairs, a member of the ACS Admissions Committee and an active member of the Division of Chemical Technicians (where he served as Chair). He also serves on the Chemical Technology Program Approval Service (CTPAS), dealing with 2-year Chem Tech programs. He is also Chair of the 2004 ACS Northeast Regional Meeting which will beheld in Rochester and is looking for ways to involve ATEEC and PETE in that meeting.

Richard also spends any free time as an outside travel agent for a major Rochester travel agency, is the "official scorer" for both the professional hockey and soccer teams in Rochester and has served on his Church Council.

In his words:

"In every faction of life now, there is less and less emphasis on responsibility, including individual, corporate and organizational. We hear of 'rights' continually, but little of 'responsibility'. They need to go hand-in-hand as rights alone cannot stand for long. So it is with the environment. Many blame corporate America, while they damage their surroundings in their own little way. Having worked in industry, I do know of the many regulations the companies have to deal with, including the inability to discard materials that families think nothing of throwing out into a dumpster or leaving at a curb.

I am excited about the programs and the people at ATEEC. They can open the eyes of many people and I want to make sure that their word is carried out through all of the avenues I am involved with, especially the American Chemical Society. Technicians are the bench top chemists of today, and it is vital that the ATEEC and ACS education programs make these new chemists aware of their role in making this a better place to live."

Married to an environmental engineer, Tonya wants to keep the family work emphasis on environmental concerns. Tonya has earned a B.S. in Biology (emphasis in environmental science) from Erskine College and is working on an Associates Degree in Hazardous Materials Technology from Greenville Technical College.

Eventually Tonya would like to work in the textile, pharmaceutical or chemical industries. Her goal after she gains more experience and insight into those processes is to work with a consulting firm. More immediately (in the next two years) she seeks to be a Certified Safety Professional and a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager.

Late August will bring a new dynamic to her life. She and her husband are expecting their first child. I am sure she will share her love of hiking, camping, fishing, and gardening with this new member of the Rogers' family.

Tonya's Hobbies: "Pretty much anything outdoors! I am learning to play golf and to fly fish. I am not very good at either, but I enjoy the challege."