Environmental Data Management (EDM): Best Practices for Achieving and Maintaining Quality within Environmental Data Management Training

The ITRC Environmental Data Management Best Practices Team (EDMBP Team) prepared a series of guidance documents and case studies on best practices for all phases of EDM to address the need for guidance on managing large stores of environmental data. Environmental data management (EDM) is a broad field that encompasses all aspects of environmental research and regulation, from habitat studies and wildlife management plans to health advisories and remediation of hazardous waste sites.

The EDMBP Team developed three Roundtable training sessions to support the Guidance Document and case studies. You are welcome to register for any of the three, but they do not build upon each other.

• Data Management: Real Life Application of Data Management Planning and Field Data Collection Best Practices
• Data Exchange: Best Practices for Exchanging Environmental Data
• Data Quality: Best Practices for Achieving and Maintaining Quality within Environmental Data Management

Nobody wants to make the wrong decision, especially when it comes to the health of individuals and the planet we all inhabit. In order to make sound environmental decisions, you need confidence in the data being used to make those decisions. Collecting usable data is everyone's goal. Good planning, setting clear data quality objectives, and having procedures for measuring and documenting if those quality objectives were met, are the basic components in any data quality program. This Roundtable training is meant to lead project managers, data collectors, data managers, and data reviewers in a discussion about various aspects of environmental data quality. Are you struggling with determining the quality of your data sets and understanding if they should be used to make decisions? Do you have a hard time advocating for budget related to data quality tasks or determining how much review is necessary? Our collection of panelists will touch on these topics and more, as well as answer attendee questions related to environmental data quality.

Jennifer Arthur, City of Seattle (jennifer.arthur@seattle.gov)
Jennifer Arthur is a Science Information Specialist with the City of Seattle, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) Urban Watersheds Environmental Monitoring group. She has over fifteen years' professional experience in the environmental field providing chemistry data quality assurance support across the project and data lifecycles of environmental investigations. At SPU, she is the System Custodian for the SPU Drainage and Wastewater Line of Business environmental data management system and author of the system's environmental data management plan. She leads SPU's Environmental Data Quality System (EDQS) program, working with study teams for regulatory compliance and best management practices effectiveness monitoring projects to generate data quality objectives (DQOs) and planning documents to support the collection of long-term data as an asset. Additionally, she provides analytical chemistry and data validation expertise. Outside of SPU, she has actively contributed to the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) Environmental Data Management (EDM) Best Practices Data Quality subgroup.

Prior to SPU, Jennifer completed a Ph.D. in Analytical and Environmental Chemistry for which she performed laboratory, field, and modeling studies investigating the transport and fate of metals in acid mine drainage systems and developed a database for metals sorption on natural mineral surfaces. She has worked as an environmental consultant providing chemistry and data quality support for brownfields, Superfund, and litigation projects; taught chemistry, environmental science, and physics at the college level; and worked as an analyst at environmental laboratories.

Meghan Eschbaugh, Environmental Resources Management, Inc. (meghan.eschbaugh@erm.com)
Meghan is a principal consultant with Environmental Resources Management. Meghan draws on 15 years' experience working with clients on environmental site assessments, as well as complex site investigations, remediation and risk assessment projects through a variety of government agencies. She provides training and support of ERM and client project teams globally on the implementation and utilization of environmental data management systems. She specializes in the design and implementation of custom project specific and globally standardized digital field data collection forms. Meghan has a B.S. In Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University.

Cheryl Hennessy, Stantec (cheryl.hennessy@stantec.com)
Cheryl is a Senior Project Scientist/Quality Assurance Manager at Stantec in Chicago, Illinois, and has been providing strategic support to projects and programs throughout the US for the past 24 years. In this role, she routinely determines procedural gaps and provides solutions to improved efficiencies throughout the project lifecycle as well as in support of business needs and efficiencies at the organizational level. She has developed and implemented data and quality management programs, key planning documents, and large-scale analytical programs. She has provided Quality Management System training, data quality objective development, QAPP development and training, and guidance on regulatory, compliance, and analytical topics. As a subject matter expert, Cheryl routinely provides expertise to data validation and data usability assessments and evaluations, assists a variety of Federal and State programs, and holds management and advisory roles to a number of grant funded programs across the country. She additionally provides her support to decision support matrix and criteria development, key stakeholder engagement, and management of outreach activities. In additional to her industry experience, Cheryl is a wife and Mom to two amazing girls and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Keller Graduate school.

Shauna McKellar, Environmental Resources Management, Inc. (shauna.mckellar@erm.com)
Shauna McKellar is a data manager and data quality specialist for ERM, based in Portland Oregon. Shauna has over 15 years of experience in the environmental data and consulting industry. Shauna specializes in environmental chemistry data quality validation, specifically in the use of automated data review tools, and has presented on a variety of validation topics at a number of professional group meetings and conferences and has been an active member of the ITRC EDM Best Practices team. Shauna has experience reviewing and managing environmental data for all branches of the Department of Defense (DoD), multiple states, EPA Superfund, and large private industry clients.

Dreas Nielsen, Integral Consulting, Inc. (dnielsen@integral-corp.com)
Dreas Nielsen is a senior science advisor at Integral Consulting Inc. in Seattle, WA. He specializes in quantitative analysis of environmental data, and throughout his 40-year professional career has developed specialized databases, software, standards, and procedures to support these analyses by establishing and maintaining the highest practicable level of data quality. He has performed and managed the collection and analysis of biological, physical, chemical, and geographic data from sites throughout the United States. He has developed operational practices for the acquisition, cleaning, standardization, and integration of data from both historical studies and present-day investigations. This includes the management of data transfers between public agencies, analytical laboratories, and other private environmental practitioners.

Moderator:

ITRC Training Program (itrc@itrcweb.org)

• Slide Presentation for ITRC EDM-3 (1.10MB/PDF)

Webinar Slides and References:

• Slide Presentation for ITRC EDM-3 (1.10MB/PDF)

Additional Resources:

• Environmental Data Management Best Practices (EDMBP) Team Resources

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