UA SRP Researcher Eric Betterton Invited Speaker at NARPM Annual Training

Dr. Eric Betterton of the University of Arizona Superfund Research Program (UA SRP) was recently invited to give two presentations at the National Association of Regional Project Managers (NARPM) 21st Annual Training Program. The Training Program was held May 16-20, 2011 in Kansas City, Missouri, and brought together RPMs from all U.S. EPA regional offices, to obtain relevant training and exchange information about policies, technologies, clean-up strategies, and lessons learned.

Dr. Betterton’s first presentation, “Characterizing Atmospheric Aerosols from Mining Operations,” related to his research group’s work at two Superfund sites, the Asarco Hayden Plant in Hayden and Winkelman, AZ, and the Iron King Mine Humboldt Smelter Superfund site in Dewey-Humboldt, AZ. He described the relevance of dust and the implications of different sizes of dust particles, and provided technical details on measuring particle sizes and building dust forecasting models. His presentation was well-received and earned him an invitation to present the data for EPA personnel at Region 9 headquarters in San Francisco. This work has also been recently published: http://www.springerlink.com/content/v51382427h158700/.

Dr. Betterton’s second presentation was entitled, “Superfund-Related Partnerships,” and included Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta, UA SRP graduate trainee, as a co-author. Dr. Betterton described a model for increasing interactions to improve site assessment, remediation, and community involvement, by highlighting specific interactive activities between the UA SRP and agencies ranging from federal, to state, city, county, and school level, and working with professionals from the academic, government, private sector, and not-for-profit fields, as well as with members of the community.