Key Personnel
The C&IH staff consists of over 30 members that each contribute to meeting the needs of our clients. Our senior technical team includes seven certified industrial hygienists and professionals with advanced degrees and educational backgrounds in chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, toxicology, epidemiology, statistical analysis, information systems management, and ventilation engineering.
Eric Rasmuson, MHS, MS, DABT, CIH
Mr. Rasmuson holds a Master of Health Science with an emphasis in human health toxicology, pathophysiology, and risk assessment from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is a certified toxicologist (DABT), Full Member of the Society of Toxicology, certified industrial hygienist (CIH), and is the CEO and President of C&IH. Mr. Rasmuson has many years of progressive toxicology and industrial hygiene experience. He has completed numerous exposure evaluations and risk assessments for a wide variety of physical, chemical, and biological agents. He has investigated and evaluated exposures to welding fumes, lead, organic solvents, coal, silica, elongate mineral particles, total and respirable dust, vibration, diesel particulate matter, and noise in open pit and underground mining environments and construction sites. He has also evaluated work practices and potential airborne concentrations of pesticides during periodic office environment applications, evaluated exposures to diesel particulate matter, total volatile organic compounds, and noise in recycling facilities, and characterized exposures and human health risks associated with potential ammonia exposures during hair dying procedures in salons. He has consulted on toxicology and industrial hygiene issues for government research facilities, geological and pharmaceutical companies, the plastics industry, wastewater treatment plants, oil and gas exploration sites and production facilities, general manufacturing, and renewable energy sites. Mr. Rasmuson was recently the principal investigator for a Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Mountain and Plains Education and Research Center Pilot Research Project: “Monitoring and Modeling of Exposures during Auto-Mechanic Degreasing Operations.” This grant characterized organic solvent exposures during manual auto-parts degreasing operations and correlated two-zone, near-field far-field mathematical models against real-time measurements. Other research interests include the application of statistical methodologies to characterize exposures and risks, evaluation of risk assessment uncertainty through sensitivity analysis, application of biostatistical methods to evaluate precision and accuracy of the exposure reconstruction process, and the unification of quantitative and qualitative aspects of epidemiological studies to better characterize potential risk from harmful agents. As an expert in exposure and human health risk assessment theories and applied sciences, he has taught numerous professional development courses and presented on human health risk assessment and exposure reconstruction methodologies for national and international occupational health associations, including the Society of Toxicology, American Industrial Hygiene Association, Colombian Society of Occupational Hygienists , Society of Petroleum Engineers, Society of Risk Analysis, British Occupational Hygiene Society, International Society of Exposure Scientists, and others.
James Rasmuson, PhD, CIH, DABT, FAIHA
Dr. Rasmuson holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Iowa State University, is a certified industrial hygienist (CIH), certified toxicologist (DABT), AIHA Fellow (FAIHA), and is the founder and Senior Scientist at C&IH. He has taught numerous professional development courses and authored or co-authored publications including books, articles, and abstracts addressing topics in exposure assessment, exposure modeling, toxicology, and risk assessment, as well as aspects of methodology validation, applied statistics, epidemiology, environmental science, and analytical chemistry. His current areas of emphasis include exposure and air dispersion modeling by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and other methods, the chemical action of toxic substances (chemical and physical agents) on the human body, the use of retrospective and other exposure assessment techniques, and human health risk assessment methodologies. Dr. Rasmuson and his staff have performed research on the applicability of CFD, AERMOD, and CALPUFF, along with American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) approaches such as two-zone models in estimating both indoor and outdoor occupational exposures as well as community environmental exposures. He and his staff have combined exposure modeling with quantitative risk assessment for numerous settings, and have modeled respirable dust, asbestos, chlorine, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide, and nitrogen oxides in various outdoor settings ranging from workplaces to areas encompassing hundreds of square feet to hundreds of square kilometers. Much of their research work has focused on validation of exposure modeling for various contaminants. Dr. Rasmuson and his staff have also performed specialized exposure simulation testing utilizing C&IH’s simulation chamber facility to reconstruct and/or extrapolate worksite exposures. For his contributions in original research, policy, industrial hygiene leadership, and teaching, Dr. Rasmuson has been awarded the AIHA “Fellow” designation by his peers, an honor reserved for less than five percent of the AIHA membership.
Robert Strode, MS, CIH, FAIHA
Mr. Strode is a certified industrial hygienist (CIH) with over 35 years of laboratory, field, and management experience and is an Associate Scientist at C&IH. Since receiving his B.S. and M.S. in Microbiology from Colorado State University, Mr. Strode has worked in leadership positions in health and safety, exposure and risk assessment, industrial hygiene, analytical chemistry methods development, regulatory compliance, and quality assurance. His area of practice focuses on the workplace environment with an emphasis on exposure assessment and risk characterization. Mr. Strode provides both retrospective and prospective exposure and risk assessment analyses for chemical, physical, and biological agents using state-of-the-art methods in conjunction with mathematical modeling tools. He has authored, co-authored and/or contributed to numerous publications, and has provided presentations and/or professional development courses at national and international professional associations and conferences on topics including retrospective exposure and risk assessment, air dispersion modeling, mathematical modeling, Legionella risk management, ventilation controls, sampling methodology and data quality objectives, and various other industrial hygiene related topics. His indoor environmental quality expertise includes field and laboratory methods and analysis, and management programs dealing with infectious agents (e.g., Legionella), mold, radon, asbestos, lead, and other environmental agents. Mr. Strode is a 2009 American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) Fellow Award winner, nominated by industry peers and awarded to less than five percent of the AIHA membership for contributions to the field of industrial hygiene, and received the AIHA Rocky Mountain Section (AIHA-RMS) Industrial Hygienist of the Year award in 2011. Mr. Strode is a current member and past chair of the AIHA Biosafety and Environmental Microbiology Committee (BAEMC), a current member of the AIHA Health Care Working Group (HCWG), and a member candidate of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Bioaerosols Committee currently tasked with revising the 1999 ACGIH Bioaerosols: Assessment and Control publication. He is also Past-President and member of numerous education-related committees of the AIHA-RMS. As a member of the AIHA BAEMC and HCWG and the ACGIH Bioaersosols committee, Mr. Strode has worked to generate guidance documents and publications related to identifying and minimizing the health effects of biological exposures and controlling the transmission of infectious diseases, including the AIHA publications “The Role of the Industrial Hygienist in a Pandemic” and “Guidelines for the Selection and Use of Environmental Surface Disinfectants.”
Andrew Duane, CIH
Mr. Duane is a certified industrial hygienist (CIH) and the Managing Director of Industrial Hygiene Services at C&IH. Mr. Duane performs industrial hygiene exposure and risk assessments for industry-specific heath concerns in manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, and healthcare, including chemical exposure assessments, welding fume exposure evaluations, noise evaluations, and respirable and total dust assessments. He is also involved in contemporaneous and retrospective exposure simulation studies pertaining to contaminants in the workplace. Mr. Duane routinely prepares safety data sheets to meet national and international regulatory requirements and standards for hazard communication. As the corporate health officer overseeing C&IH’s occupational health and safety management system (OHSAS 18001), he defines corporate strategies to improve the health and safety of C&IH staff members, manages the implementation of health and safety programs, trains staff members on best management work practices, and audits conformance to management system requirements.
Andrey Korchevskiy, PhD, DABT, CIH
Dr. Korchevskiy is a certified toxicologist (DABT), certified industrial hygienist (CIH), and is the Director of Research and Development at C&IH. Dr. Korchevskiy holds separate Ph.D. degrees in Applied Mathematics and Biology (with specialization in Occupational and Community Hygiene). He is a full member of the Society of Toxicology. His areas of expertise include risk assessment and risk management, toxicological evaluation of occupational and environmental exposure, statistical research and mathematical modeling, asbestos and other fibrous minerals exposure and risk assessment, and other areas of toxicology and industrial hygiene. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications on risk assessment, toxicological modeling, and mathematics including papers featured by “Inhalation Toxicology,” “Journal of Applied Toxicology,” “Current Research in Toxicology,” and “Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health” and has developed several innovative models for toxicological assessment of asbestos, nanoparticles, pesticides, and other agents. His expertise also encompasses occupational and environmental health and safety management systems including analysis, design, and implementation. Dr. Korchevskiy is a recipient of the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA’s) Outstanding Project Team Award (2013), Volunteer Group Service Award (2016, 2018), and Leadership Award (2019). He is also the Past Chair of the AIHA Standards Advisory Panel. Each year since 2013, Dr. Korchevskiy has been an arranger and one of the leading speakers for asbestos risk assessment events (PDC and roundtable) at the annual American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exhibition. In 2017, he received the AIHA’s Distinguished Lecturer designation, awarded to prominent experts in industrial hygiene from academia, private industry, and government who lecture on current research and developments that affect workplace safety and the environment; in 2019, the AIHA renewed the designation for another two years based on Dr. Korchevskiy’s ongoing research and presentations. He has also taught professional development courses on risk assessment at conferences and seminars for the British Occupational Hygiene Society, the Semiconductor Environmental Safety and Health Association, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corp., and other public, private, and industry organizations.
Ann Wylie, PhD, Distinguished Scholar Teacher, Professor Emerita
Dr. Wylie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Geology cum laude from Wellesley College and a Doctor of Philosophy in Geology from Columbia University, is a Distinguished Scholar Teacher and Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland where she first joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 1972, and is a Senior Scientific Advisor at C&IH. Dr. Wylie’s areas of expertise include mineralogy, optical mineralogy, electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. She is a leading mineralogist in elongate mineral particles (EMPs), asbestos, talc, and other agents with significant implications for human health. As Senior Scientific Advisor, Dr. Wylie supports C&IH research initiatives and consulting activities by providing technical expertise on the mineralogical aspects of asbestos toxicology including the role of dimensions in carcinogenicity of elongate mineral particles and the differences between asbestiform and non-asbestiform mineral particles. Her work relates to mineralogy and human health with an emphasis on the mineralogical characteristics of amphibole, chrysotile, and other fibrous minerals that have been associated with adverse health effects when inhaled, and the establishment of quantitative and qualitative metrics of the cancer potency of mineral fiber. She has provided consulting for scientific projects and research to both federal government agencies and private industry. Her work has been published by American Mineralogist, Canadian Mineralogist, Economic Geology, Environmental Research, Journal of American Industrial Hygiene Association, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Journal of Applied Toxicology, Inhalation Toxicology, Computational Toxicology, US Bureau of Mines, Geological Society of America, Environmental Protection Agency, and ASTM. She is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and a member of the Mineralogical Association of Canada, the Mineralogical Society of America, and the American Geophysical Union.
Daniel Hall, PE, CIH, PSE
Mr. Hall is a licensed professional engineer (PE), a certified industrial hygienist (CIH), a certified professional simulation engineer (PSE), and is the Director of Engineering at C&IH. He earned his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering with an emphasis in environmental engineering from the University of Colorado. Mr. Hall specializes in outdoor and indoor dispersion modeling, industrial hygiene engineering controls, and statistical data analysis. He has presented at national and international conferences on statistical analytical methodologies and computer modeling techniques utilized in retrospective exposure characterization of workers and outdoor contaminant dispersion for the purpose of risk assessment activities. His engineering controls work focuses on the evaluation of local exhaust ventilation (LEV) and general dilution ventilation systems, including the design of new systems and improvement of existing systems. He utilizes computational fluid dynamics (CFD), AERMOD, and CALPUFF software to evaluate outdoor contaminant dispersion and workplace ventilation performance criteria for specified applications such as laboratory and industrial process environments, LEV systems within pharmaceutical laboratory settings, and other commercial, governmental, and residential settings. His statistical expertise includes proficiency using stochastic methodologies for compiling and analyzing data for exposure and risk assessments, including Monte Carlo distribution analysis of retrospective exposure data. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the national and local American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), and is an active member of the national AIHA Engineering Committee.
Cassidy Strode, CIH, PSE
Mr. Strode is a certified industrial hygienist (CIH), a certified professional simulation engineer (PSE), and holds the position of Exposure Modeling Engineer at C&IH. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Mr. Strode specializes in the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in support of retrospective and current/prospective exposure assessment activities performed by C&IH, he has utilized CFD to perform exposure and air dispersion modeling for various scenarios and settings. He also provides CFD-related and Computer Aided Design (CAD) support for engineering projects including the design and validation of local exhaust ventilation and other exposure mitigation systems. Mr. Strode also conducts sampling activities for exposure assessments in the field and in C&IH’s exposure simulation testing facility, where he has also replicated industry-specific job tasks to recreate occupational health exposures.
David Ostrowski, MEd, DPhil
Dr. Ostrowski has held the position of Director of Corporate Research at C&IH for over 15 years. He assists C&IH’s team of certified industrial hygienists in state-of-the-art industrial hygiene legal consulting activities and directs a support staff of legal researchers. On becoming the director of corporate research, Dr. Ostrowski established a document database that formed the basis of the extensive document repository utilized by C&IH today. He has extensive experience providing field support for industrial hygiene projects and has held certifications for AHERA State of Colorado building inspector and management planner and lead-based paint inspector. Dr. Ostrowski earned his Doctorate in Human Resources Management from Oxford Graduate School and was inducted as a Fellow into the OGS Society of Scholars in October of 1999. Prior to joining C&IH, Dr. Ostrowski retired from the U.S. Air Force where, in addition to other assignments, he was the Director of Safety for the Space Communications Division (DCS, Communications/Space Command).
Associate Scientists:
Jeffrey Birkner, PhD, CIH
Dr. Birkner has worked for 30 years as a certified industrial hygienist (CIH) and is an associate scientist at C&IH where he provides state-of-the-art knowledge and technical expertise of industrial hygiene. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Health Science from UCLA and has a broad base of experience performing air sampling, noise exposure evaluations, indoor air quality evaluations, hazardous material assessments, and OSHA compliance evaluations. He has conducted hazard assessments encompassing the recognition, evaluation, and control of asbestos, lead, and organic chemicals. Dr. Birkner is a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), past President of the Southern California AIHA, past President of the International Society for Respiratory Protection, Voting member of the American National Standards Institute Z88.12 Committee to develop a standard for Respiratory Protection for Infectious Aerosols and Z88.2 Committee to develop a standard for Practices for Respiratory Protection, Chair of the Respiratory Protection Committee for the International Safety Equipment Association, Chair of the Hearing Protection Committee for the International Safety Equipment Association, and is appointed to the Environmental Impact Committee for the Ronald Reagan Library.