Speakers

Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT, Grade: 11
Madelyn Di Iorio, Inverness, IL, Grade: 11
Maya Mitckess, Boiling Brook, IL, Grade: 11
Evan Michael, Parker CO, 10th Grade

Jen is a geologist and the lead data manager for DGGS. She is involved in multiple data management projects from business process efficiency and planning to data compilation projects to construction of online data delivery applications. Jen is very passionate about geoscience education & outreach and is committed to making DGGS's work more accessible to the general public and schools. She is also a past Principal Investigator for four of DGGS's STATEMAP geologic mapping projects and has mapped throughout Alaska.

Nathaniel L. Burden attended Carnegie-Mellon University as a physics major with graduate studies in nuclear engineering. He is a former nuclear operator at the decommissioned Shipping port LWBR Atomic Power Station and Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Pennsylvania, a former radiation decontamination/health physics foreman for Applied Health Physics with special personal protective equipment, and a former OSHA certified training instructor.

He has over 30 years of experience in radon testing using short-term, long-term passive radon devices, along with several continuous radon and work level monitors. His is a special consultant of radon testing and mitigation for the DOD American Army facilities in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Augsburg, Germany and Livorno, Italy-US Army Camp Darby and a special instructor for the Army and German engineering/environmental companies on technical training on radon testing and mitigation.

Tobie Bernstein is a Senior Attorney at the Environmental Law Institute. As Director of ELI’s Indoor Environments Program, Tobie’s work focuses on strengthening policies and programs to reduce indoor air risks and create healthy, high performance buildings. She has done extensive research, writing and education on state and local policy approaches to improving indoor environmental quality in schools, child care facilities, and homes. Before joining ELI, Tobie was a staff attorney at Maryland Legal Aid, where she represented clients in housing, consumer, public benefits, and child welfare matters. Tobie received her JD from Harvard Law School and her BA from Washington University.

Jonathan Edwards became Director of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA) in August 2016. Prior to that he served as Director of the Radiation Protection Division in ORIA, beginning in December 2008. As Division Director, Jon was responsible for several programs including EPA’s radiological emergency response program, environmental oversight of the US Department of Energy’s deep geological repository known as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, NM, scientific and technical radiation risk assessments, and other radiation protection activities and programs.

Mr. Edwards graduated from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, in 1985, completed two years of post-graduate nuclear engineering instruction and training, and served on the fast attack submarine USS SPADEFISH (SSN-668) as Main Propulsion Assistant and Assistant Engineer.

Upon leaving the Navy in 1993, Jon began work with the EPA as a health physicist in the radiation program, going on to work with the Office of Science Policy in the EPA Office of Research and Development. In early 2003, at about the time of the creation of the US Department of Homeland Security, Jon served in the Administrator’s Office (AO) working on homeland security issues. Jon served with the AO until his assignment as Director, Radiation Protection Division.

Ashley Falco is the Operations Manager at RAdata, Inc. She entered the radon industry in 2007 and first attended an AARST Symposium in 2008. She is a State of New Jersey certified radon mitigation specialist and an NRPP Certified Radon Mitigation Professional. Ashley has been instructing radon continuing education courses in New Jersey since 2014 and she is also the current Secretary of the recently formed NJ-AARST Chapter.

Aaron L. Fisher is past President of SWAT Environmental of Pennsylvania, the state’s largest radon test and mitigation company. He is currently Director of Industry Relations for SWAT Group, Inc. as well as a member of the AARST/ANSI Mitigation Standards Committee. He serves on the PA DEP’s Radiation Protection Advisory Committee, advising the department on future regulatory actions.

Lauren Freelander has been an Epidemiologist at the Washington State Department of Health for the past four years and has extensive professional experience in spatial epidemiology. Her main areas of focus are environmental justice, climate change, emergency response, and health equity. She also serves as the WA State Radon Program Director and Program Manager; leading projects around increasing the awareness of radon and in reducing radon throughout Washington State. Lauren holds a Master of Science degree in Health Geography from Virginia Tech.

David Gillay is a partner with Barnes & Thornburg. He heads the Remediation, Redevelopment, and Environmental Transactional Practice Groups and provides environmental counseling in connection with assessing environmentally challenged properties. He also represents an influential multi-state environmental consultants’ association and works closely with leading technical experts on a wide array of environmental matters, including rapidly evolving vapor intrusion guidance.

Brian Hanson is currently the Radon Program Coordinator for the National Radon Program Services and the Kansas Radon Program. Mr. Hanson has been providing technical assistance and training related to radon for approximately seven years, both for public and professional audiences. Additionally, Mr. Hanson as been involved with a number of supplemental radon projects, such as radon resistant new construction housing research and online course development projects with the Regional Radon Training Centers. Mr. Hanson manages the KSU Radon Chamber, providing QA/QC services to the radon industry

Mr. Hanson has three academic degrees; a Bachelors of Science in Biopsychology, a Masters of Science in Biology, and a Masters of Arts in Environmental Planning and Management.

Chrystine Kelley has been an Environmental Protection Specialist with the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment for the past 29 years and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Health from Colorado State University. She has been the Radon Program Manager for the state of Colorado for 17 years and serves on the Executive Stakeholders Committee of the AARST Consortium on National Radon Standards and is the CRCPD E-25 Committee Chair.

 

Dan Hylland is a radon specialist for the Minnesota Department of Health handling licensing and enforcement of radon professionals. He joined MDH after 12 years of owning and operating a radon business in southeastern Minnesota. He has tested and mitigated thousands of structures including homes, multifamily buildings, and schools. He entered the radon industry after his father was diagnosed with lung cancer and high radon levels were found in his home.

Mr. Hanson has three academic degrees; a Bachelors of Science in Biopsychology, a Masters of Science in Biology, and a Masters of Arts in Environmental Planning and Management.

Dallas Jones is the Executive Director of AARST. With 24 years of radon-related experience in device manufacturing, radon chamber operations, measurement and mitigation services, quality control administration and public policy pursuits, Dallas drafted the original Radon Awareness Act that Gloria Linnertz convinced the Illinois Legislature to pass in 2008, conceived of the American Radon Policy Coalition and co-founded CanSAR.

Sidoine Kamgang joined the Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) in the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice (DEHSP) at CDC in August 2019. As an Informatics fellow, she oversees the surveillance system utilization data reporting from all the partners and has developed a modern tool to automatically aggregate, visualizes and sees trends across the Network to allow system evaluation. Sidoine also contributes to the development of scripts to automate the validation of the data of the Tracking Network data explorer and provide her expertise to diverse projects undertaken by Tracking with other branches including data analysis, information system evaluation, dashboard and data visualization tool development. Sidoine has been deployed to multiple COVID-19 responses as Health Scientist to bring her expertise for data quality control, data analysis, electronic health record data evaluation and contributed to the development of a data pipeline to reduce the COVID-19 data backlog at state level. Sidoine previously presented ot the CDC new Data Science Upskilling program and graduated from the CDC Public Health Informatics Fellowship program.

Prior to the EPH Tracking, Sidoine worked with the Asthma and Community Health Branch at CDC for 4 years providing guidance in using information technology to streamline asthma data reporting and to enhance the asthma surveillance program and as software developer with diverse private companies for 5 years.

Sidoine earned a master’s degree in Computer Science from Georgia State University and a master’s degree in Management of Information Systems from the University of Picardie Jules Verne, France.

Joshua Kerber is an Environmental Research Scientist for the Minnesota Department of Health. He has worked in the indoor air quality and radon field since 2000 and the home construction industry prior to that time. He has a Master’s Degree in Atmospheric Science and has worked and trained in two state radon programs: Minnesota and Ohio. More recently Joshua has worked on the implementation of RRNC in residential structures, radon testing in Minnesota schools, the Minnesota Radon Awareness Act and the Minnesota Radon Licensing Act. He assists Minnesota contractors with radon and vapor intrusion mitigation assistance, along with providing research, information, and outreach to Minnesota and national constituents. He serves on many national radon standard workgroups including the Conference of Radiation Control Program Director’s E-25 committee on radon and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s committee on Radon Prevention and Mitigation in Buildings committee.

Michael Kitto is a retired research scientist from the New York State Health Laboratories and an assistant professor for the State University at Albany. Most of his research focused on the occurrence of radon and other radionuclides in air and water, resulting in 50 journal publications and 60 speaker presentations. Dr. Kitto is a 30 year member of AARST and a former AARST Board member.

Paul Locke, an environmental health scientist and attorney, is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He holds an MPH from Yale University School of Medicine, a DrPH from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and a JD degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law.

Dr. Locke is an international expert on radiation science and policy. He has been involved in radon research, practice and law for more than three decades. He maintains an active radon research program, and has published papers on radon risk communication, radon disclosure in real estate transactions, radon resistant new construction and radon’s health risks. In addition, he has studied, designed and researched other radiation protection policies, especially in the areas of low dose radiation science, safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste, and uranium mining and processing.

Dr. Locke was a member of the US National Academy of Sciences Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board from 2003 to 2009 and has served on seven National Academy committees including the Committee on Uranium Mining in Virginia (which he chaired) and the Committee on Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving the Safety of U.S. Nuclear Plants. He also served on the Board of Directors of the NCRP from 2008 to 2013. He is admitted to practice law in the state of New York and the District of Columbia, and before the bar of the United States Supreme Court.

Crystal is the Radon Sales Manager for Fantech, Immediate Past President of the AARST Board, and the recently appointed Chairperson of the AARST Foundation. In May, she conquered the Fight for Climb in Denver for the American Lung Association to raise radon awareness. Proudly, she was instrumental in the legislative efforts in Colorado, which has led to the success of the passing of HB21-1195; Licensure of Radon Professionals.

AARST’s National Policy Director Jane Malone leads efforts to support state and local radon policy advocacy, strengthen radon-related building codes and requirements, and obtain Congressional and federal agency support to expand radon risk reduction. She provides technical support, training, and policy advice to radon professionals, state radon programs, and other advocates in support of their initiatives. She joined the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists as National Policy Director in 2015. Over the prior four decades, she conducted advocacy to advance decent, safe, and affordable housing at the local, state, and national levels. She edited the National Healthy Housing Standard and Building Blocks for Primary Prevention of Lead Poisoning, co-authored Evaluating and Assessing Radon Testing in Housing, and has produced numerous other materials to address indoor environmental health risks.

Brianne Martin resides from Atlanta, Georgia where she received my Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Georgia State University. Ms. Martin currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland where she is pursuing her Masters of Science degree in Environmental Health at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research uses an environmental justice perspective to characterize radon testing patterns in schools in Pennsylvania and examines the effectiveness of current mitigation techniques in schools that are in environmental justice communities. Ms. Martin is hopeful that her research will serve as a catalyst for policy change, protect the health of all Pennsylvanians, and provide a framework for future initiatives.

Janet McCabe has a career history rich in health and environmental advocacy, dedicated to reducing environmental health risks, specifically to improve indoor air quality. McCabe was sworn in as the 16th Deputy Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on April 29, 2021. Prior to rejoining EPA, she was a Professor of Practice at the Indiana University and Director of the IU Environmental Resilience Institute. Over the course of her career, McCabe has spent time working for EPA’s air office, state environmental agencies, and at a children’s environmental health advocacy organization based in Indianapolis.

Michele Monti is an epidemiologist for the CDC National Center for Environmental Health, Environmental Health Tracking Section with responsibilities for national surveillance of environmental contaminants associated with chronic diseases, especially drinking water contaminants, pesticides and radon. She has a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Master of Science in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia.

As Associate Professor of Energy (University of Alaska, Fairbanks), Art has worked with housing and energy projects concurrent with providing educational services in Alaska’s Interior tribal villages, southcentral and coastal areas since moving to the state in the early 90s. Art works closely with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center on Healthy Homes. His teaching expertise includes home energy/cost efficiency, remote cabin and camp(ing) off-grid energy production, indoor air quality and Universal Building Design for disabled and aging residents. For almost a decade Art has been the Alaska lead for the National Extension Healthy Homes Partnership and manned the Alaska Radon Hotline under Alaska's SIRG grant.

Katherine Pruitt is National Senior Director for Policy at the American Lung Association. Katherine has worn many hats since she joined The Lung Association’s national staff over 25 years ago. She started her career with the organization working on environmental health programs in the Health Education department. Since that time, she has overseen a wide range of national health education, policy, and systems change initiatives on healthy air, asthma, chronic lung disease, and tobacco control.

Ms. Pruitt currently directs national policy initiatives on outdoor and indoor air quality and serves as the project lead for the Lung Association’s seminal annual report State of the Air. She also heads the multi-sectoral National Radon Action Plan Leadership Council. In addition to her work on environmental health and lung disease, Ms. Pruitt has extensive experience with strategic planning, partnership building, health equity, and risk communication. She holds a B.A. in biology from Earlham College.

Mary Kay Rayens, PhD, is a Biostatistician and Professor in the University of Kentucky Colleges of Nursing and Public Health. She is also Co-Director of UK BREATHE (Bridging Research Efforts and Advocacy Toward Healthy Environments) and has collaborated on a variety of projects related to smoke-free policy and radon testing and mitigation in this capacity.

Adam Salam, from Georgia, is an undergraduate at Kennesaw State University, finishing a Bachelor of Science in Computer Game Design and Development. He’s also a Tutor for the College of Computing and Software Engineering in the field of Computer Science. He specializes in the Unity Game Engine, which primarily uses the C# (C Sharp) programing language.

Dr. Salame-Alfie is a Senior Service Fellow in the Radiation Studies Section, Emergency Management, Radiation and Chemical Branch, in the Center for Environmental Health at CDC. Previously, she worked for 22 years at the New York State Department of Health in various capacities including Chief of the Environmental/Radon Section, Director for the Bureau of Environmental Radiation Protection and Director of the Division of Environmental Health Investigations. Additionally, she served as the Center for Environmental Health Preparedness Director. She is a council member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). She is a Lifetime member of the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) and served as Chair and member of the Board of Directors, chaired several committees and received the 2014 Gerald S. Parker Award. She is a Fellow member of the Health Physics Society.

Dr. Salame-Alfie has extensive experience in radiological emergency preparedness and has published and co-authored many publications on the subject, including the “Handbook for Responding to a Radiological Dispersal Device – First Responder Guide”, and most recently the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Report 179 and Commentary 28 on Emergency Worker Dosimetry. She co-chaired the 2017 NCRP Annual Meeting “Assessment of National Efforts in Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Terrorism: Is There a Need for Realignment to Close Remaining Gaps?”

Dr. Salame-Alfie obtained her Master’s and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. She obtained her Bachelor’s in Energy Engineering from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City.

Gary G Schwartz, PhD, MPH, PhD is Professor and Chair of the Department of Population Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences. He has 30 years of experience in the study of radiation and cancer, much of it in the area of vitamin D/calcium and cancer. He has a PhD in neuroscience as well as an MPH and PhD in cancer epidemiology and is active in the areas of chronic disease etiology and prevention.

King Simpson is the director of the Logan County Public Library in rural southwestern Kentucky. He has been with the library for 19 years in various capacities. King holds an MSLS from the University of Kentucky. His professional passion is meeting community needs with the library’s unique resources.

Bruce Snead is Director of Engineering Extension at Kansas State University and has conducted radon industry training since 1989. Bruce has also led K-State’s role in the Kansas Radon Program for twenty-eight years, and directs the National Radon Program Services effort for EPA since 2009, which provides technical assistance through toll free phone lines and online at sosradon.org.

Kevin Stewart is director of environmental health for advocacy and public policy for the American Lung Association. He assists in the work of the NRAP leadership group. He has managed radon grants under Pennsylvania DEP, for which he was named CRCPD’s 2008 Radon Hero. In association with AARST, Stewart has served on its Board of Directors, and currently on several technical committees, including the CNRS’s ESC and NRPP standards committees.

Michelle Thompson is the Public Health Industrial Hygienist at the Vermont Department of Health. She has been the program manager for the Radon Program and the Envision Program (school environmental health) for over five years. Michelle has a BS in Environmental Engineering from Clarkson University and an MPH in Occupational and Environmental Health from Tulane University.

Angela Tin is an environmental policy and regulatory compliance professional. She has bachelor and master degrees in Physiology and Cell Biology. She began her career doing pharmacological research at Southern Illinois University. She then worked at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on permitting and compliance of air and water emissions, land contamination, and emergency response. As the current National Senior Director for Clean Air Initiatives at the American Lung Association, and Co-Coordinator for the Chicago Area Clean Cities, Angela is primarily responsible for managing and prioritizing environmental projects. In this role, she has partnered with private, state, and federal agencies in the promotion of outdoor and indoor air quality programs for the past 16 years.

As Environmental Technician for Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s (PBPN) Air Program, Billie Toledo continues efforts to raise awareness on radon testing and reduction through community engagement and partnership practices. Billie created criteria and a database to track radon levels and identify homes for additional assistance and/or radon reduction through mitigation. She also continues efforts on local policy to improve radon reduction within the PBPN community.

Amber M. Vaughn, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., is a Senior Professional Research Assistant at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Vaughn is a recent doctoral graduate from the Colorado School of Public Health in Environmental and Occupation Health.

Yiguang Zhu, ScM, is a Ph.D. student at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering in Baltimore, MD. He has a background in environmental engineering and public health. His Master’s thesis evaluated the lung cancer risk reduction associated with an ordinance that required Radon-Resistant New Construction in all new homes at Manheim Township, PA.

Dr Carolina L. Zilli Vieira is a Research Associate in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, with interest in the impact of periodically oscillations of solar activity and environmental radiation on air pollution and human health. She has dedicated her career over the past 12 years to investigate the impact of solar activity and related parameters on human health. Since 2015, Petros Koutrakis and Dr Zilli Vieira have investigated the interaction between solar activity-driven extra-terrestrial and terrestrial radiation with air pollutants and their impacts on the development and progression of chronic diseases in different populations worldwide. Her research uses accurate epidemiological methods to estimate (1) the impact of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial radiation on physiological responses and human health outcomes over time; (2) the interaction between terrestrial and extra-terrestrial radiation with aerosols activity and its effects on physicochemical and toxicological properties of aerosols; (3) the effect modification of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial radiation on air pollution-related health outcomes. Over the last several years, I have co-designed, analyzed and trained master and graduate students at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health to investigate the impact of solar and geomagnetic activity, environmental radiation and aerosols on national populations and cohort studies.