NEW ENGLAND CHAPTER HOSTS VIRTUAL SEMINAR
The Inaugural Virtual Seminar of the New England Chapter of NASF was held on Wednesday October 14, 2020 for the benefit of their membership and the entire metal finishing community. With the elimination of in-person meetings brought about by the COVID pandemic the executive board realized the necessity to continue to have events that would not only educate but, to some extent, bond those associated with metal finishing.
The event, which was a four-hour Wastewater Treatment Update offering continuing education contact hours for Wastewater license renewal, was conducted by means of a Zoom format and attracted about forty attendees. It offered four presentations in two segments from 9:00 to 11:00 and 1:00 to 3:00.
The first presentation covered an overview, regulations and reporting requirements surrounding PFAS substances and was presented by Katherine Robertson, Executive Director of MCTA (Mass Chemistry & Technology Alliance), along, with a panel of experts on the subject. This was followed by a presentation by Remington Schieffer of Dynapower on electrical maintenance for wastewater treatment equipment efficiency and also featured a glimpse at research being conducted that could electrolytically remediate PFAS substances.
The afternoon session featured Robin Deal, senior wastewater specialist at Hubbard Hall, and a panel of experts, offering a presentation entitled “Don’t let Wastewater slow down your Metal Finishing Operation”. The webinar concluded with Fran DiGiovanni, lifelong technical finishing chemistry specialist and metal finishing consultant, who offered a presentation entitled “Training in the Metal Finishing Shop, What We Do Versus What We Need to Do”.
Special thanks to Katherine Robertson of MCTA for offering to act as Moderator for this event, and to Rob Capalbo of NBC TV Springfield affiliate WWLP who acted as technical director and support to successfully bring this Virtual Seminar to reality.
We are living in a very different world today and it is through the combined efforts of NASF Board Members, Committee Members, Chapter Membership and dedicated and talented members of the Metal Finishing Community as a whole that events such as this can be offered for the benefit of our membership.
New England Chapter of NASF is an official chapter of