Nanotechnology is revolutionizing the manufacture of many products, including clothing, paints and coatings, medicines and diagnostic systems, cosmetics, electronics, and even food.  One estimate suggests that nanotechnology could grow to $3.1 trillion of the global manufacturing economy by 2016.  Some have described doomsday scenarios of the environmental consequences, and public surveys have shown that the public distrusts the ability of the government or corporations to manage nanotechnology wisely.  Yet new nanotechnology-based products enter the market frequently, with some 600 consumer products now on the market. 

This course discussed the "nanotechnology revolution" and its environmental implications, including the following topics:

• Terminology, basic principles, and manufacturing processes
• Applications: hype versus hope, and prospects for growth
• Myth versus reality: risks to workers and the environment
  • Critical properties
  • Fate and transport in the environment
  • Potential exposures
  • Consequences of exposure
• Public perceptions
• Regulatory protections

Massachusetts LSP accreditation approved for 6 CEU's

*  The course is an updated and expanded version of the short course “Nanotechnology and the Environment” at SETAC Tampa.

Morning continental breakfast, buffet luncheon, and breaks included.

AGENDA

Instructors:

Kathleen Sellers, PE.  Ms Sellers co-authored and edited the book Nanotechnology and the Environment (Taylor & Francis, 2008) and was the lead instructor for a similar short course presented at SETAC Tampa.  During her 20 years of experience, Ms. Sellers has worked on developing solutions to a variety of environmental problems.  She is particularly intrigued with exploring emerging environmental issues and their solutions, most recently those associated with nanotechnology.  An environmental engineer and chemist, Ms Sellers’ work has ranged from analysis and bioassay of environmental samples through comprehensive field characterizations, and extended to treatment process development, permitting, and negotiation of regulatory solutions.  Ms. Sellers also published an engineering textbook entitled Fundamentals of Hazardous Waste Site Remediation (CRC Press/Lewis Publishers 1999), then edited and co-authored Technical Brief: Endocrine Disrupting Compounds and Implications for Wastewater Treatment (Water Environment Research Foundation, 2005) and Perchlorate: Environmental Problems and Solutions (Taylor & Francis /CRC Press 2006).

Dr. Jo Anne Shatkin is Managing Director of CLF Ventures, a non-profit affiliate of the Conservation Law
Foundation, New England’s most influential environmental advocacy organization.  Dr. Shatkin is a recognized
expert in strategic environmental initiatives, human health risk assessment, technical communications, and
environmental aspects of nanotechnology and has led several workshops on this topic.  She recently developed
NANO LCRA, an adaptive life cycle framework for identifying and managing the risks of nanomaterials, which is
described in her book, Nanotechnology Health and Environmental Risks, published in 2008 (CRC Press).

Donald Cooper, Esq., P.E. practices environmental law, counseling clients on environmental compliance, permitting and litigation issues.  He is a Registered Professional Civil Engineer in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  He has concentrated on nanotechnology as an emerging regulatory area.  He is experienced in environmental policy act review, wastewater discharge, clean air act, waterways, wetlands, stormwater and hazardous waste permitting.  Mr. Cooper was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2007 and again in 2008 (Copyright by Woodward/White, Inc. of Aiken, S.C.).  Inclusion in Best Lawyers is based on a peer-review survey.  He is also recognized as a “New England Super Lawyer” in Energy and Environmental based on a peer-review survey by Boston Magazine (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008) and honored as one of “Boston’s Top Lawyers” by the Boston Globe in July 2008.