The SERDP & ESTCP Symposium is rapidly approaching and a short course and several technical sessions will be offered that highlight projects funded by the Environmental Restoration Program Area.

On Thursday afternoon, November 29, 2018, we’re offering a short course led by Dr. Eric Suuberg from Brown University who will present a course based on work conducted under his ESTCP project involving finite element modeling tools for analyzing vapor intrusion. The overall goal of his short course is to teach participants the basics of the finite element method with specific application to vapor intrusion modeling through the use of COMSOL. Specific topics to be covered include geometry generation, choice and application of appropriate physics, meshing, solver configuration, and various tips and tricks. Finally, the skills learned will be used to create and run a vapor intrusion model based on a vapor intrusion site, using the site's data as inputs, with subsequent analysis of results. This short course will provide hands-on training of a software tool that will improve both site investigation and remediation. The short course requires registration and a modest fee to participate.

On Tuesday afternoon, November 27, 2018, we’re offering a technical session that will discuss future directions in the management of chlorinated solvent contamination in groundwater. This session will have presentations on the current state of affairs and potential application opportunities as well as provide an overview of what the participants of a July 2018 SERDP & ESTCP Workshop considered remaining challenges in the remediation of chlorinated solvents sites.

The session on Wednesday morning, November 28, 2018, will present advancements in wastewater treatment. The Department of Defense (DoD) is working to reduce water and energy use throughout its installations in order to improve sustainability. This technical session will highlight research on wastewater treatment with a focus on sustainable on-site treatment of wastewater and generation of usable products from these technologies.

The afternoon session on Wednesday will discuss the tracking and treatment of legacy and insensitive munitions constituents. Munitions constituents pose many environmental, occupational, safety, and health risks throughout their life cycle, and mitigating these risks is critical to DoD mission success. This technical session will highlight recent advances in characterization, fate, effects, sampling and analytical techniques, and treatment options for wastes from munitions manufacturing.

On Thursday morning, November 29, 2018, we are offering a session on the recent progress in developing solutions for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment. This technical session will provide an overview of issues facing military program managers as they address PFAS on their installations. Speakers from the U.S. and abroad will provide an update on the current status of research related to fate and transport, in situ and ex situ remediation technologies, sampling methods, and treatment of PFAS-contaminated waste.

You can register for the short course and find additional information about the short course and technical sessions on the SERDP & ESTCP Symposium web site.