Baron Environmental participated in the recent Student Poster competition and Career Panel, sponsored by the Northern and Central NJ Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association and Rutgers Department of Environmental Studies held at Rutgers University's Cook Campus on February 27th, 2019. Graduate and Undergraduate Students from Rutgers, NJIT, and Stevens Institute participated representing 17 research projects in a wide range of Environmental areas. The research projects ranged from Enhancing existing microbes that dechlorinate Dioxin in the sediments in the Passaic River, to Application of consumer grade sensors to study the effect of heatwaves on indoor air quality for Seniors, to the Study of the Air Quality (molds and carbon from all the diesel generators) in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, to identifying the type and extent of photosynthetic organisms in clouds and rain.
The Career Panel Moderator was Dr. Jeana Wirtenberg, Associate Professor and Associate Director, Rutgers Institute for Corporate Social Innovation - The focus was on “The Jobs Characteristics Model: What to look for in a Job”. The panel provided individual insight into their views of the Core Job Characteristics of: Skill Variety; Task Identity; Task Significance; Autonomy; and Feedback from the Job, and how these link to the "3 Factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose (Source: Dan Pink, Drive, 2011)"
Baron was represented by Barry Dambach, himself a graduate of Rutgers with a BS in Chemical Engineering and Masters in Environmental Science, and he participated as a Judge for the Poster session and was on the Career Panel. Barry provided the following comments," the Students did a fantastic job with the Posters demonstrating their passion for addressing environmental issues that continue to evolve and their dedication to innovative research that will truly make a difference in peoples lives. A highlight for me and a reminder that the impact of environmental contamination can last a very long time was demonstrated in that as a new environmental engineer in the 80's I was part of the team that sampled for the Dioxin contamination in Newark NJ that lead to it being designated as a Superfund Site. And it's exciting to be here today, many years later, and see that there is still leading edge research going on to see how to best protect the local community while removing the Dioxin from the environment. Then as part of a panel of EHS professionals from varying industries, government, academia, etc. that, hopefully, were providing insight to the students on how to be successful in their carers and how to leverage the skills they have gained through their education and research - was very rewarding. It was a great opportunity to support critical environmental research and a chance to learn a lot from students that will positively impact our future.