IEST provides new online educational opportunities
08/01/2007
The Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST) continues to offer valuable online education classes in the ongoing Access the Experts series with its one-hour class, “Sustainability Considerations in Cleanroom Design and Operation,” and two-part online education tutorial, “Healthcare Airborne Molecular Contamination,” both to be presented in September. Learn from your desk, conference room, or auditorium without travel expenses. The per-location fee has no limit on the number of students who may participate at each location; access will be granted to one computer per location. Online registration is now available at http://www.iest.org/education/online.htm.
“Healthcare Airborne Molecular Contamination” will be presented on Wednesday, September 5, and Wednesday, September 12, 2007, at 11:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT). Nosocomial infection, commonly referred to as health-care associated infection (or hospital-acquired infection; HAI), is a significant problem in health care environments around the world. In the United States alone, HAI claims nearly 100,000 lives per year and adds billions of dollars to the cost of care. There are numerous factors that are combining to make the struggle with HAI increasingly difficult. Living in what is becoming known as the post-antibiotic era, new methods are required to combat HAI and there is increasing pressure to employ them. This class examines the magnitude of the problem, discusses in general what factors are contributing to it, and relates how technology developed for ultra-clean manufacturing facilities can be utilized to help reduce the incidence of HAI.
Joseph McGill, the instructor, has 20 years of engineering and construction experience, 15 of which have been cleanroom related in the United States and abroad. He was a consultant to firms in the Science Based Industrial Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan, for five years, where he worked with numerous American, Asian, and European companies specializing in cleanroom design, manufacturing, and construction. With a background in semiconductor-related projects, he has become increasingly involved in the design and construction of health care facilities, with an emphasis on maintaining environmental conditions and controlling airborne contamination in critical spaces. He is a 1984 graduate of the School of Engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“Sustainability Considerations in Cleanroom Design and Operation” will be presented on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, at 2:00 p.m. CDT. This live, one-hour class will provide an overview of the key elements of sustainability for cleanroom facilities and will focus on energy efficiency in cleanroom design and operation. The course will present real-world examples of good and bad cleanroom design and operation, provide guidelines on key considerations and opportunities to improve the performance of cleanroom buildings, and discuss caveats of rules of thumb or industrial document-specific recommendations.
Instructor Tengfang (Tim) Xu manages and performs R&D projects on energy efficiency and environmental performance of commercial, residential, and industrial buildings, including cleanrooms, minienvironments, and data centers, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA. Xu served as contamination control technical vice president of IEST from July 2005 to June 2007. At Berkeley Lab, he is involved in the development of innovative methods and protocols that are instrumental in formulating standards to characterize fan filter units. Xu’s interests and accomplishments include the production and dissemination of new knowledge and techniques to improve the environmental and energy performance of mission-critical buildings, such as cleanrooms and minienvironments. Xu is also a technical editor for the Journal of the IEST and serves on the editorial board of Building and Environment. He has received numerous national awards for scientific papers, publications, and professional services.