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Webinar: CWEA-CASA COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance, Update 2 (Free)

October 27, 2020
Contact Hours:
Estimated 1.8
Description:
Members: Free
Non-Members: Free
 
CWEA Hours: 1.8 towards ALL CWEA Certifications
 
The CWEA-CASA free COVID-19 webinar series continues with an in-depth discussion from four prominent experts and moderated by CASA’s Greg Kester.

 

Speakers and their topics include:

Dr. Rose Kantor, with the University of California, Berkeley speaking on their project to conduct wastewater Based Epidemiology (WBE) for the San Francisco Bay Area including an update on analytical method development.

Dr. Colleen Naughton, with the University of California, Merced, to discuss the WBE Database developed at UC Merced and its utility for the wastewater sector

Maitreyi Nagarkar, with the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development to provide an update on efforts to develop analytical methods and protocols for WBE, and

Dr. John Albert with the Water Research Foundation (WRF) to offer an update on the WBE international summit held by WRF and on their comparative evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 analytical methods in wastewater and primary sludge.

Please join us to hear from those who are on the frontline leading research in wastewater-based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2.

The webinar is free but registration is required at the link above.

SPEAKER BIOS: 
 
Introducer: Wendy Wert, PE, BCEE, Environmental Engineer, CWEA President, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts
 
Wendy Wert, PE, BCEE is a Board Certified Environmental Engineer with the Sanitation Districts. For the past 20 years she has been working on programs that rely on public participation to integrate water supply, water reuse with wastewater facilities planning. She received a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and an M.S. in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Central Florida (UCF). Her studies gave her opportunities to collaborate with others. It was during this time that Wendy developed an interest in effectively communicating math and science to diverse groups. Today, she uses her position as an engineer to support outreach and education programs that explain how the work of the Sanitation Districts identifies community needs then applies engineering and scientific principles to meet them.
 
 
 
Moderator: Greg Kester, Director of Renewable Resource Programs, California Association of Sanitation Agencies
 
Greg serves as both the technical and programmatic contact for CASA members and conduit for emerging issues on state and federal level on all biosolids, renewable energy, recycled water, and related issues. Prior to joining CASA, Greg served as the state biosolids coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He represented all states in the nation, by their election, to USEPA on all biosolids issues. He served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee which evaluated federal biosolids regulations and produced the 2002 report: Biosolids Applied to Land: Advancing Standards and Practices. Greg holds a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and is a registered PE in Wisconsin.
 
 
 
Speaker Panelist: Rose Kantor, Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, Berkeley
 
Rose Kantor is a postdoctoral scholar with Kara Nelson at University of California, Berkeley. She leads research in wastewater-based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 in the SF Bay Area. Prior to the pandemic, she studied microbial communities potable reuse using meta-omics techniques. She is interested in changes to the drinking water distribution system microbial community with the introduction of advanced treated wastewater. More broadly, she is passionate about the microbiology of engineered environments and microbial biotechnologies that improve environmental and human health. Rose earned her B.A. in Biology from Carleton College (2010), and her Ph.D. in Microbiology from UC Berkeley (2016). 
 
  
 
Speaker Panelist: Colleen Naughton, Assistant Professor, UC Merced
 
Dr. Colleen C. Naughton is an Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Merced. Her lab designs sustainable and culturally sensitive food-energy-water systems. In 2017-2018, Dr. Naughton was an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow in Washington D.C. at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Dr. Naughton obtained her doctorate at the University of South Florida in Civil and Environmental Engineering. She served in Mali, West Africa from 2009-2012 as a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Engineer in the U.S. Peace Corps. She obtained her B.S. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University.
 
 
 
Speaker Panelist: Maitreyi Nagarkar, US Environmental Protection Agency
 
Maitreyi Nagarkar is a recent post-doc at the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, in the Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response. Her background is in microbial ecology; she completed her PhD at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. For her thesis, she used environmental sequencing to study temporal dynamics of marine plankton communities. She joined EPA to work on projects characterizing pathogens of concern for wastewater reuse applications, but her team has currently shifted focus to wastewater-based epidemiology and monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in the greater Cincinnati area.
 
 
 
Speaker Panelist: John Albert, Chief Research Officer, The Water Research Foundation
 
John Albert is the Chief Research Officer of The Water Research Foundation (WRF). WRF is the world’s leading water research cooperative, with a mission to advance the science of water. John has over 20 years of experience directing research and applied solutions to the critical needs in the water sector. John joined the Water Research Foundation in January 2005. He holds a Masters of Public Administration from University of Colorado Denver, a Masters of Science and Engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines, and a bachelor’s in biology from Saint Anselm College, Manchester.
 
 
 
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