Framing Risk Assessment in the Era of PFAS

Instructor Sally Brown is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington. Sally Brown got her BA from Williams College in Williamstown MA in Political Science. She went on to the University of Maryland and received her MS and PhD under Dr. Rufus Chaney and Dr. Scott Angle in 1996. Her dissertation was titled was on the Long-term effects of biosolids application on agricultural soils. Dr. Brown is a Fellow in the Soil Science Society of America and was a two term member of the National Academy of Science Committee on Soil Science. She has been awarded the Clean Water Act Research Prize from US EPA for her work on biosolids. She writes a monthly column for BioCycle Magazine and Northwest Biosolids – https://nwbiosolids.org/whats-happening/resource-library 

• Course Description
  Forever chemicals are now front and center for everyone’s concerns about biosolids. These follow in a long line of concerns ranging from metals to toothpaste residue. It almost makes you wonder if biosolids are really safe. This three-part series will go over the basics of risk assessment including an analysis of different pathways for contaminants to cause harm. The next section will dive deep into PFAS including their structure, their history, their presence in the environment, and their behavior in biosolids. For the final class, we will talk about different ways to communicate what the science says- to regulators, stakeholders, people within your division, and even the general public.

• Week 1
• Week 2