2016 Annual Quality Assurance Conference Agenda

Note: The session papers and presentations accessible via this site are posted for conference purposes only. They have not been endorsed by EPA management and thus do not represent an official statement of EPA's views or policy. They are not intended to be used to formulate or support any EPA decision or position. Posting these materials does not indicate EPA adoption or endorsement of the information contained therein. Presentations are added as they are received (or added as the permission from the author is received).

The 26th Annual QA Conference was be held in the 12th floor conference center located at 1445 Ross Ave., Dallas, TX 75202 Exit which is located at the corner of Ross Avenue and Field Street in downtown Dallas.

Monday - October 17, 2016

Time Topic
8:30 am Registration
12:30 pm

Opening Remarks
James McDonald
Assistant Regional Administrator for Management
U.S. EPA, Region 6

12:45 pm

Vincia Holloman
Acting Director, Enterprise Quality Management Division
Office of Environmental Information
U.S. EPA, Headquarters

1:45 pm

Green Chemistry: Principles, Practice, and Economics
Mary Kirchhoff
American Chemical Society
[Abstract]

2:45 pm Break
3:00 pm
Trends and Development in Food Waste Valorization
Nadia Plata
EPTES
4:00 pm An Update on Mosquitoes and Mosquito Borne Diseases
Michael Merchant
Texas A&M University
5:00 pm Adjourn

Tuesday - October 18, 2016

Time Session A Session B Session C Session D
8:30 AM
Get in the Ozone
 Donna McChristian
CH2M HILL
Project-Level Collaboration and Cooperation Across Multiple Agencies to Address Quality Assurance  for Ecological Restoration
Louis Blume
U.S. EPA, Region 5
 

Overarching, Multi-agency Quality Program Supporting Ecological Restoration
Louis Blume

Production-line Approach to Quality
Molly M. Amos
CSRA


Interagency Ecological Restoration Quality Committee-QA Challenges
Craig Palmer
CSRA

A Brief Overview of QA/QC Practices in Use Across the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Tim Lewis
USACE

Dallas Floodway Extension Lower Chain of Wetlands and Grasslands: A Case Study of Adaptive Management  in Ecosystem Restoration
Lynde Dodd
USACE

Limits of Detection
Stanley Deming
Efficiencies Learned in Times of Budget Cuts
Steven Moser
Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry
9:30 AM

Optimized Performance of EPA Method 325
Tom Robinson
Entech
[Presentation]

Session Continued

Not All Bees Who Wander
Are Lost
Donna McChristian 
CH2M Hill
[Presentation]

10:30 AM
Comprehensive, Real-Time Air Monitoring Using Direct Mass Spectrometry
Vaughan Langford
SYFT Technologies
Session Continued
Pediatric Pesticides? Are We Poisoning Our Children?
Brett Roth
University of Texas Southwestern
11:30 AM

LUNCH

1:00 PM

Understanding the Analysis of Air. Theory and Applications
Lee Marotta
PerkinElmer

Open Discussion: Project-level Quality Issues
Louis Blume
U.S. EPA, Region 5

Laboratory Quality and Safety Potpourri
Connie Dunn
City of Fort Worth

LC-MS/MS Quantitation of Underivatized Glyphosate and Other Polar Pesticides: A Method Comparison Study
Paul Winkler
SCIEX
2:00 PM
Very High Throughput Air and Headspace Analysis Using Direct Mass Spectrometry
Vaughan Langford
SYFT Technologies
Traceability in Whole Effluent
Toxicity Tests
Ginger Briggs
Bio-Analytical Laboratories

Monitoring Data Quality in the Contract Laboratory Program
Charlie Appleby
U.S. EPA, Headquarters

Using High Resolution Mass Spectrometry for Identification and Quantitation of Emerging and Common Compounds of Environmental concern, and the analysis of Glyphosate, AMPA and Glufosinate in drinking water.
Jonathan Beck
ThermoFisher

3:00 PM

Improving Compound Identification Through the Use of High Resolution Mass Spectrometry
Paul Winkler
SCIEX

Laboratory Roundtable
Judy Morgan
Pace Analytical

Migrating from a Legacy LIMS to a Modern Platform
Sonja Stutsman
Accelerated Technology Laboratories
 

Environmental Applications of a Field-Portable GC/MS System
Jerry Fink
PerkinElmer

4:00 PM

Canister Cleaning Practices and Blank VOC Concentrations
Trent Sprenkle
Restek

Vacant

Introduction to New High Resolution QTOF Mass Spectrometer
Jennifer Krone
SCIEX

Variability of Atmospheric Pesticide Concentrations in Urban Areas: Opportunities and Challenges
Sascha Usenko
Baylor University

5:00 PM
Adjourn

Wednesday - October 19, 2016

Time Session A Session B Session C Session D
8:30 AM
Vacant

New and Improved Nitrogen Methods for Clean Water Act Reporting
William Lipps
Shimadzu

 
Preparing for a LIMS – The Importance of Proper Planning
Sonja Stutsman
Accelerated Technology Laboratories
and
Brenda Snodgrass
Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry

Microorganism Identification
Li Li
University of Texas at Arlington

9:30 AM

An Innovative Water Management Device for Online and Canister-based Thermal Desorption of Trace-level VVOCs in High Humidity Ambient Air 
Rui Li
Markes
[Abstract]

Determination of Hexavalent Chromium in Drinking Water by Ion Chromatography: Post Column Derivatization vs Suppressed Conductivity Detection  
Manali Aggrawal
Thermo Fisher Scientific

Trace Level Analysis of Method 8270 Semivolatile Organic Compounds by GC-MS/MS
Meredith Clarage
U.S. EPA, Region 6

Vacant
10:30 AM

Finding the Code of Federal Regulations and EPA Documents Online
Tanya Slaughter
Region 6 Librarian
[Presentation]

Lead and Copper: Health and Laboratory Perspectives
Connie Dunn
Water Department, City of Fort Worth

Method 525.2 Semivolatiles Using a Triple Quadrupole GCMS in Full Scan Mode
William Lipps
Shimadzu

The Analysis of Human Hormones in Drinking Water: A Complete Workflow for U.S. EPA Method 539
Lisa Lenehan
Thermo Scientific
[Presentation]

11:30 AM

LUNCH

 
 
1:00 PM

Microplastics in the Freshwater Environment
Nanna Brande-Lavridsen
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
[Presentation]

Lead in Drinking Water – Lessons Learned and Phosphorus by Microwave Digestion  and Analysis by ICP or ICP-MS
Jason Dahl
City of Portland, Oregon
[Abstract and Presentations]

Vacant
How To Audit and Be Audited for EPA RAD Methods
Kyle Kinser
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality
2:00 PM

Use of Deuterated Monitoring Compounds in GC/MS Methods
Charlie Appleby
U.S. EPA, Headquarters
[Abstract]

Bromate Determination in Water and Drinking Water
Taylor Reynolds
MilliporeSigma
Implementing a Field Quality Management System at EPA
Craig Weeks
U.S. EPA, Region 6
The “Musts” in Organic Drinking Water Methods
Meredith Clarage
U.S. EPA, Region 6
3:00 PM

Analysis of  PFOA/PFOS Using
HPLC MS/MS
Lawrence Zintek
U.S. EPA, Region 5

History of the Clean Water Act
Marion Kelly
U.S. EPA Headquarters

[Presentation]

Leveraging Mobile Technology with LIMS for Field Data Collection
Sonja Stutsman
Accelerated Technology Laboratories
Common Findings in Microbiology
Jessica Hoch
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
4:00 PM
Discovery of Emerging Disinfection By-Products in Water Using High Resolution Accurate Mass GC-MS Technology
Dwain Cardona
ThermoFisher

Tips on Optimizing GC/MS Instrumentation for Semivolatile Analysis by EPA Method 8270D to Maximize Instrument Uptime Using Split Injection While Minimizing the Loss of Method Sensitivity
Trent Sprenkle
Restek

Field Sampling and Measurement Activities
JoAnn Boyd
Southwest Research Institute
Closed Meeting
State Certification Officers
Ray Clark
5:00 PM
Adjourn

Thursday - October 20, 2016

Time Session A Session B Session C Session D

8:30 AM

The 2016 TNI Laboratory Standard and Other News of Interest
Ginger Briggs
Bio-Analytical Laboratories

Heat Map of Emissions  Along the Houston Ship Channel
Grace Lewis
Environmental Defense Fund

Developing Metrics to Facilitate Quality System Maturity and Accountability
Marion  Kelly
Headquarters, U.S. EPA
and
Louis Blume
U.S. EPA, Region 5
[Presentation]

Acquiring Superfund Analytical Services in EPA Region 6
Christy Warren, Myra Perez and Raymond Flores
U.S. EPA, Region 6
[Agenda for this all day session]

[Presentations]

 
9:30 AM

Electronic Data Capture
Jeanette Hernandez
San Antonio River Authority

[Presentation]

Characterizing Environmental Quality in Shale Energy Basins
Zacariah Hildenbrand
University of Texas at Arlington
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Recovery and Restart
Nick Stone
U.S. EPA, Region 6

Session Continued

[Agenda for this all day session]

10:30 AM

Preparation and Compliance for
Upcoming Audit
JoAnn Boyd
Southwest Research Institute

Serious System Deficiencies in NPDES and Drinking Water Field Measurements
Steve Baker
Arizona Department of Health
Reserved for U.S. EPA
What's New in Managing Quality in EPA Contracts?
Marion Kelly
Headquarters, U.S. EPA

Session Continued

[Agenda for this all day session]

11:30 AM

Lunch

 
1:00 PM
 
 
Session Continued
 
 
2:00 PM
 
 
 
3:00 PM
 
 
 
4:00 PM
 
 
 
- vacant -
5:00 PM
Adjourn