Joseph E. Haas II, M.S., PE, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Joe has 19 years experience working as a state regulator managing a remedial section. He holds both Engineering Geologist and Hydrogeologist specialty licenses. Joe has been involved in research with representatives of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. These research efforts have been credited as having made significant contributions to the understanding of the characteristics of MTBE in the sub-surface environment and having influenced the national debate on the use of MTBE in gasoline. The Office of Research and Development acknowledged his contributions, in 2002, in the form of an award for Exceptional Support to ORD.

Karen A. Krajenke, Environmental Assessment and Remediation Karen graduated Hofstra University in 2002 with a BS in Geology. She has been working with Environmental Assessment and Remediations as a Geologist and Project Manager since 2002. Karen has been working recently with leading experts in the Stable Isotope field and has been involved with implementing cutting edge geophysical techniques at various sites. Karen’s field experience and involvement with multiple drilling techniques provides an invaluable role to support, train and assist other staff geologists.

Donald A. Trego, Environmental Assessment and Remediations Don graduated in 1993 from the Pennsylvania State University with a bachelors of science in Environmental Resource Management. He has over 14 years of experience in the groundwater remediation industry. Don has been involved in numerous research initiatives with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). As project manager, Don was a co-recipient of the 2004 National Ground Water Association’s (NGWA) – Outstanding Groundwater Remediation Project award. He currently is the Vice president of a respected environmental consulting firm located on Long Island, NY.

Torsten C. Schmidt, Ph.D, University Duisburg-Essen Dr. Torsten C. Schmidt studied chemistry in Marburg, Germany, and Edinburgh, UK. He received his B.S. in 1994, and his PhD in 1997. From 1998 to 2002 he worked as a Postdoc at EAWAG, a water research institute linked to ETH Zurich. From 2002 to 2006 he established the research group “Environmental chemistry and analysis” at the University of Tuebingen, Germany. He currently is the Chair of Instrumental Analytical Chemistry at the University Duisburg-Essen and is the scientific director at the IWW Water Centre. His research interests are water analysis and process-oriented environmental chemistry. He has (co)authored 50 peer-reviewed papers.