PFAS/PFOA Workshop!
Join us for a virtual workshop in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Region of Environmental Professionals (MAREP) on the "forever chemicals" PFOS/PFOA on 21 April from 12 to 2PM.
Many provisions of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act addressing perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) present challenges to the Department of Defense. The challenges are compounded by an ever changing legal and policy environment as well as a dynamic public space. Speakers include:
Moderator and Introduction - William K. Burris, P.G. Environmental Restoration Program Manager, Air Force Civil Engineer Center
Changing and Challenging PFOS/PFOA Policy - Jeffrey Rose, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Battelle Memorial Institute
PFAS Analytical Update and Associated Challenges - Jim Occhialini, Vice President, Alpha Analytical
PFOS/PFOA and US Air Force Public Outreach - Mark Kinkade, Installation Support Public Affairs, Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center
Thanks to EA Engineering, Science, and Technology for serving as our technology provider!
To register, click HERE!
Get outside for networking and Golf!
Join us for our annual Presidential Open Golf Outing at Rocky Point in conjunction with the Chesapeake Post to support our Education & Mentoring Funds. The Post promotes the engineer, scientist, and architect career fields at colleges and universities through scholarships. Through the Education & Mentoring Fund, we are also able to provide outreach to middle and high school students interested in engineering and the sciences (engineering contests, summer camps, etc.). The Golf Tournament is our premier fundraising event to support these efforts. Situated along the Chesapeake Bay, Rocky Point combines a groomed championship golf course with panoramic views of the Northern Chesapeake Bay. Help us make this worthy cause a success while having a great day of networking and fun!
When: Thursday 3 June 2021, 7AM to 3PM
Where: Rocky Point Golf Course
Check out our flyer HERE!
To sponsor, contact Eric Spillman
To volunteer to help out at the Open, contact either Michael Galante or Art Lee.
To Register your or your foursome, Click HERE!
Anirban Basu and the Chamber of Data
We had an informative discussion of economics on 10 March with Anirban Basu, CEO and chairman of the Sage Policy Group. He spoke on the economic data related to the pandemic and forecasted what he thinks is to come related to labor markets, financial markets, real estate, construction, consumer spending, business investment, international trade and government finances. Everyone had a great time with Anirban's humor making economic data interesting.
Post sponsors Future Cities Competition!
During this STEM- focused month, the Post sponsors the Mid-Atlantic Regional Future Cities Competition held on 13 February, virtually of course! If you didn't know, its an engineering competition for middle school students to design and engineer a city. They provide a physical model, essay, video, and do a live Q&A session. This year's challenge was to design a city on the moon. Check out this great video from one of the teams describing their model and innovations to live and work on the moon! The engineering profession is in good hands with these guys! Take a look at one of the presentation videos HERE.
Thanks to Post members who helped judge the competition: Ree Miskimmon, Ola Awosika, Bernie Rabe, and Rob Scrafford!
What a Wine Tasting!
Good riddance, 2020! We kicked off the New Year with a wine and hard cider tasting and networking extravaganza on January 20, 2021. Over 50 people attended the event, virtually of course!
Our host—Harvest Ridge Winery’s Chief Winemaker Jason Hopwood introduced three of their most popular wines including a Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Red Sangria, as well as their signature Rebel Seed hard cider. Each participant had been mailed samples of each beverage.
Jason answered everyone's questions like "why aren't wines stored for long periods in the barrels like whiskeys are?". (The answer is oxidation.) We even got a cooking lesson.
To honor our continued commitment to veterans, a portion of the proceeds from each tasting kit were donated to the Hero-Hunt Foundation on behalf of the SAME Baltimore Post and in thanks to Harvest Ridge Winery.
This event was so successful that we will definitely have another in the future. Thanks to Mindy Hinsley for coordinating the event!
FY21 Federal Program Briefings Draw a Crowd!
About 300 people joined us virtually for our annual Federal Program Briefings program on 16 December. Excellent presentations were given by participating agencies: the Department of Veteran's Affairs, Coast Guard, USACE Baltimore District, NAVFAC, and USAF. Speakers included:
Col. John Litz, Commander, USACE Baltimore District
David Morrow, USACE Baltimore District
Ms. Cynthia Mason-Posey, Department of the Veterans Affairs, Deputy Director, OSDBU
CPT Patrick Dugan, US Coast Guard, Chief, Office of Civil Engineering
CPT Greg Vinci, US Navy, Naval Facilities Command Washington Regional Engineer, Naval District Washington
MAJ Joseph Birkhold, US Air Force Civil Engineering Center
Thanks go to Ted Wheeler of Leebcor Services and Randy Westfall of NSA for emceeing the event! We also need to recognize our Programs Director, Bill Burris of Andrews Air Force Base for leading coordination of this very successful event.
To download the USACE Baltimore District presentation, click HERE!
To download the VA presentation, click HERE!
To download the USCG presentation, click HERE!
To download the NAVFAC presentation, click HERE!
To download the AFCEC presentation, click HERE!
Holiday Wreath placing at cemeteries
It was a solemn day laying wreaths at two local cemeteries on December 19, 2020 volunteering for Wreaths Across America.
We had crews at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery and Baltimore National Cemetery putting. The Post ended up sponsoring 57 wreaths! We also volunteer at these cemeteries on Memorial Day weekend putting out flags. Thanks to Andy Parker and the Philanthropy Committee for coordinating this event! The Post had about 10 members participate across the two cemeteries.
Fellows and Young Professionals hold Trivia Night!
The Young Members and Fellows for an evening of virtual trivia hosted by Charm City Trivia on October 27. Teams were made up randomly to encourage networking. Everyone had a ton of fun.
Post Hosts Inaugural Sporting Clays Networking Event!
On 23 September the Post hosted its first annual Sporting Clays Shoot and Networking Event at Schrader’s Outdoors, LLC in Henderson, Maryland. 22 members and guests organized in 5 teams participated in a guided target shoot. Teams completed a series of shooting challenges at 10 stations and learned new skills by Certified Instructors. Squads of new, novice and experienced shooters were organized to encourage networking. With an outdoor box lunch that provided an opportunity for members to share stories and connect. The day was topped off with an awards ceremony recognizing 1st & 2nd place teams and 1st & 2nd place individual shooter. A good time was had by all!
Congratulations to the first place team of: Greg Botteon, Elaine Guarriello, and Manda Simon of Whiting-Turner, and Nick Pannunzio (Viega)!
Thank you to our sponsors:
- TAI Engineering
- Froehling and Robertson
- KCI Technologies
- Bold Concepts
- Phoenix Engineering
- Whiting-Turner
To view photos from the event, click HERE!
Thanks for Attending Industry Day with USACE Baltimore District!
Approximately 250 people joined us virtually on 16 September for a virtual industry day with the Baltimore District. Speakers included:
Steven W. Lehmann, PE, LEED-AP Acting Deputy Chief, Programs & Project Management Division, US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District
Paula Beck- Chief of Contracting, US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District
David Morrow, Deputy District Engineer, US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District
The format included 1 hour of USACE presentation on upcoming solicitations and doing business with USACE followed by 1 hour of questions and answers from industry. USACE spoke about their upcoming $500M design-build solicitation. Participants were able to ask questions live via chat.
Click HERE to view the presentation slides!
Check out our July Webinar Series!
The Baltimore Post hosted a three-part discussion/webinar related to returning to the office and field post COVID-19 Shutdowns in July. There are many aspects to our collective return and therefore we are offering our members opportunity to interact with others in industry to discuss key relevant topics relevant to members of the AEC community and clients confronted with challenges related to return, including considerations, tools, techniques case studies. If you missed them, check out the recordings of the webinars on youtube!
Part 1: DetectWise™: Monitoring Health Status of Individuals in High Throughput Environments
Presenter: Jason Cunningham, Parsons Senior Director of Operations and Strategic Growth
As the world adjusts to life amongst the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic’s impact will forever be a reminder on the importance of safe, healthy practices. In order to minimize the disease’s resurgence, all segments of society must adapt their processes to safely reopen and provide peace of mind to consumers, travelers, and the general public. Parsons has launched DetectWise™ to address that challenge and provide health screening in high-traffic environments to monitor individual’s health status at any given time. DetectWise™ is a scalable suite of three products that can be deployed as the point or integrated solutions depending on end requirement: Touchless screening kiosks, Modular lab infrastructure and software.
To view the webinar recording, click HERE!
Part 2: Risk Management Following COVID-19
Presenters: Anne Jackson, Risk Consultant and Paul O’Connor, CHCM, HEM, CHSP, Risk Control Consultant, RCM&D
Businesses across the country are considering how best to return employees to the workplace and resume operations once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. How and when organizations and their employees get back to business will vary significantly based on the industry, operational needs and employee population— but a comprehensive risk management approach is essential to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of your employee population.
To view the recording, click HERE!
Part 3: Construction Impacts and Disputes: Preparing to Resolve Claims and Resume Work after COVID-19
Presenters: Eric Schatz PE, PSP, LEED AP, Vice President, and Roy Cooper, PE, Senior Vice President, Arcadis U.S. Inc.
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are incalculable and continuing. This webinar discusses the possible consequences to affected construction projects and what owners and contractors may face when work can finally resume. We’ll explore the issues and approaches to enable project participants to resolve the construction impacts as effectively as possible – including steps you can take now to prepare. This webinar will apply to both owners (general contractors, private, municipal and federal clients) and construction contractors.
To view the recording, click HERE!