Mr. Stephan Parker was nice enough to join us for our next lecture. For the beginning of the lecture Mr. Parker discussed Career path one will take when entering the field. In the field it is important to be dynamic, because what you are doing at the start of your career most often is not what your doing at the end of it. This is the result of change over time in the following fields: politics, society, natural resources, and technology. Changes in any of these field change the demand for work and may result in job loss or change, being dynamic assures you can succeed in any change you may need to make. In order to stay at the top of your game and keep moving up the ladder Mr. Stephans suggested the following:
- Be flexible
- Maintain and Showcase your core strengths
- Improve upon your weaknesses
- Continue Education after graduation- this may include getting an MBA, PE Certification, or Toxin Use Reduction Certificate
Career Opps at Tetra
As a Large environmental consulting firm for profit Tetratech employs people in a variety of fields to fit the everyday needs of the work they are doing. Expertise in following fields can may make you desirable to employers such as TetraTech:
- Geology
- Hydro-Geology
- Chemistry
- Biology
- Engineering
- Environmental Science
- Construction Management
- Waster Water Management
- Business Management
- Regulatory Permitting
Using any of these field a person may be lucky enought to take part in one of the following career opportunities: Flood management, Groundwater treatment, Ports and Harbors, Site analysis, Restoration and Water management, Mines and Minerals, marketing, Monitoring and Compliance, Sustainabilty, Law and Policy, or International Aid.
The day to day work at a tetra tech work site in some of these fields can be divided in three categories:
-
Daily Operation: This includes the peoples who come to the work site everyday and their jobs these include:
- Team Leader: In charge of safety, and on site decisions
- Chemists: in charge of sampling and testing
- Field Scientists: In charge of Data Gathering
- Project Managers: In charge of overseeing all these individials
-
Logistics: equipment and travel which occurs on a daily base as well as:
-
Sampling
-
Quality Assurance
-
Subcontracting
-
Equipment
-
Training
-
-
Organization: Probably most important because without this data means nothing, parts of this include:
-
Tagging Samples
-
Knowing what your recording
-
Knowing why your recording it
-
Knowing the instruments
-
These three important fields ensure that work at each of Tetra Techs worksites goes on safely and productively.
Military Installation Restoration:
The last subject Mr Stephans discussed was one of Tetra Techs largest contracts which is with the united states military to restore, revitalize, and re-purpose military site no longer in use.
Between 1920-1970 the united states decimated countless acres of landscape while building military bases of various size and purpose, throughout the united states. This was caused by the World Wars, and The arms race caused by the Cold War. After 1960 however when the sites where less needed the sites suffered from lack of career and became very run down. This created a major environmental issue because prior to the 1980’s united states military bases did not have to abide by environmental law. With the passing of the “Right to now act” and CERCLA, programs to find and fix military bases and disposal sites and return the land to the public where started. Fortunately for Tetra Tech the placed a win bid for te contract. They are now in charged of cleaning up, restoring, and re purposing various sites in the new England area. These include:
- The Brunswick Naval Air Station
- NCBC Davisville
- Weymouth Naval AirBase
- Cutler Maine Antenna Array
- Newport Naval Station
Each one of these sites has its own issues to be dealt with some where weapons research facilities, some chemical testing facilities, and where sites of large PCB use. Mr. Stephans expertise was at the Newport Naval Station in Newport, former home of the the Atlantic Destoyer Fleet. This sites main issues include a water tower which for decades had been painted with PCB heavy paint and created a contamination area at its base. As well as a collection of 2 million gallon oil tanks, which where used to hold fuel for the naval ships which would come into port. TetraTech had the job of Demoing the tanks, Removing excess petroleum, and treating contaminated water. After which TertaTech was able to establish proper land use.
Conclusion: Mr. Stephans talk was very informative it brought to light that environmental sciences include a variety of professional expertise, which must work together to get work done everyday. It definitely highlighted the need for organization to ensure that work efforts of many can be analyzed, mean something, and be useful. Lastly the military installation restoration project highlighted the fact that in the past century the way we used, changed, and treated land was barely considered and as a result it did a lot of damage which still needs to be repaired. Furthermore, seeing the mistakes of the past environmental science will be used to avoid such mistakes in the future.