Donald W. Updegraff

Biography

  Mr. Updegraff, an environmental consulting professional since 1987, has expertise in the protocols for field determination of toxic and hazard characteristics of unknown materials. He has served as the Radiation Safety Officer for use, maintenance and storage of nuclear density and moisture gauges used for geotechnical studies, and he has constructed, maintained and dismantled chemical remediation systems, including air sparge, air stripping, and carbon adsorption systems. He served for 20 years as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician with the Clarksburg Fire District, where he has risen to the rank of Lieutenant and District Training Officer. Experienced in collection of soil vapor and subslab samples at sites contaminated by volatile organic compounds, Mr. Updegraff is skilled in the field use of monitoring equipment including photoionization detectors (PID), flame ionization detectors (FID), water quality instruments, and explosive atmosphere (LEL) and oxygen sensors. He has been called upon to characterize contents of drums uncovered by grading at an active Army depot, and to supervise installation and removal of petroleum hydrocarbon product underground storage tanks, as well as remediation by excavation and offsite disposal. He is certified in hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER), Confined Space Entry, Lockout Tagout procedures and High/Low Angle Rescue Methods.  

Research Interest

 soil vapor and subslab samples at sites contaminated by volatile organic compounds.