People & places

Neil Murphy: next president of SUNY ESF

Cornelius B. Murphy, Ph.D., currently chairman of the board at O'Brien & Gere Engineers, was selected unanimously by the SUNY Board of Trustees to take the helm on May 15 as president of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse. The Trustees cited Murphy's exceptional leadership and communication skills.

Murphy, who joined O'Brien & Gere in 1970, holds several other leadership positions at O'Brien & Gere affiliates. He was the driving force in establishing the company as a dominant player in hazardous waste management and remediation. After this successful career in private business—during which he helped to transform O'Brien & Gere from a local to an international firm—Murphy is turning his attention to his passion for academics. Murphy takes over at ESF at a time when the college will begin to implement a new general education program that will combine a state-of-the-art education in science with well-rounded preparation for professional life.

Dvirka and Bartilucci recognize talent

Joseph H. Baier, PE

Joe Baier is the new Director of Special Projects for Dvirka and Bartilucci Consulting Engineers of Woodbury, NY. Baier has over 35 years of experience in water supply and wastewater with a regulatory background and experience in ground water and water quality issues. He has designed and operated ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and GAC adsorption systems. Baier has published many professional papers and is active in professional associations.

Thomas V. Whiteside, Jr., PE

Tom Whiteside is now a senior design engineer. He has 47 years of water supply engineering experience specializing in ground water sources, pumping, storage, and treatment. Whiteside formerly managed the engineering and production departments of a large private water company and has expertise in the design of water pumping stations, controls, telemetering systems, and instrumentation.

People moves at Blasland, Bouck & Lee

Joseph J. Corrado, PE

Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc. has promoted Joe Corrado to vice president in its White Plains office. Corrado has a background of 20 years in the design, application, and construction of large wastewater treatment and hazardous waste systems. Active professionally, he is president of the NYS Society of Professional Engineers (Westchester/Putnam Chapter), a member of the Water Environment Federation's Program Committee, and a Director of NYWEA's Lower Hudson Chapter.

James C. DeLaura, PE

Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc. has chosen James C. DeLaura, PE to assume responsibility for the firm's municipal group. DeLaura is a former branch chief of the USEPA Region 2. He will apply his experience in the planning, design, and construction of water and wastewater treatment facilities. He has previously acted as project director for several large wastewater projects for the NYCDEP and several municipalities in New Jersey. DeLaura is active in NYWEA and its New Jersey counterpart, in WEF, and in AWWA.

www.crossroads.nsc.org

The National Safety Council has launched a new web site for safety, health, and environmental professionals. The site provides information on injury statistics, hazardous chemical profiles, safety data sheets, topical articles, expert questions and answers. It has a special section for users of CAMEOŽ and ALOHAŽ chemical emergency planning software.

Mercury, yes, but tourism?

The independent research organization Resources For the Future has teamed with USEPA to issue three fact-packed P2 documents: Environmental Implications of the Tourism Industry, Environmental Implications of Health Care Service Sector, and Environmental Implications of the Foodservice and Food Retail Industries.

The documents are available from Resources For the Future.

O'Brien & Gere nets CEC awards, new staff, new contract

The Consulting Engineers Council of NYS awarded its highest recognition to O'Brien & Gere Engineers for a study of eutrophication of Jamaica Bay, a water feature located south of Brooklyn and Queens. The $4.4 million study was conducted for the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) and was a major initiative to quantify the environmental conditions and characteristics of the Bay.

O'Brien & Gere also received CEC's Silver Metal Award for its work on the $13.5 million Gates-Chili-Ogden Pump Station and Force Main project in Monroe County. The facilities include a 36-mgd pump station and 18,000 lf of 54-inch force main and have eliminated a major discharge to the Genesee River.

Greene joins OBG

Mark Greene, Ph.D. is a new senior technical associate at O'Brien & Gere. Recent accomplishments are demonstrations of biological treatment of wastewater and contaminated ground water, full-scale startup of a biological fluidized bed reactor for a pump-and-treat system, and a computer simulation to study cell-cell aggregation in fluid flow. In his new position, Greene will serve as a company-wide resource in biological water treatment and separation processes.

NYC watershed assessment

The NYCDEP has selected O'Brien & Gere to conduct a 3-year program of site assessments on watersheds in anticipation of property acquisition. The firm's involvement in this landmark watershed protection program will identify issues that may affect water quality or result in an environmental liability after the property is purchased.

NYSERDA tests UV disinfection

The NYS Energy and Research Development Authority is participating in a $141,000-study of disinfection of drinking water at the Geneva Water Treatment Plant using ultraviolet lamps, the first study of its kind in New York. UV is often seen as an alternative to chlorine in the search for effective disinfection. The disadvantage of chlorine is that it can combine with natural organic matter and form trihalomethanes, compounds that may be carcinogenic. According to Gordon Eddington, Director of the Geneva facility, the study should give the city the information it needs to consider a permanent switch to UV disinfection.

Recognition at SUNY ESF

Wetlands council

Richard C. Smardon, chair of the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, has been appointed to the International Wetlands Coordinating Council for 2000. The council works to advance wetland conservation. Smardon is also director of ESF's Randolph G. Pack Environmental Institute and a member of the Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council.

Fellowship

Chosen for his academic performance and recognized potential, Frederick Johnson has been awarded ESF's John A. Meyer Graduate Fellowship for 1999-2000. Johnson is studying forest chemistry.