After Dinner Activities

The microscopist is often turned to for a variety of answers to "little" problems in the Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) arena . These include identification or evaluation of wood or paper, fibers in air or building products, paint or coatings, rock sections, biological agents or metabolites, etc. These often times require more than one technique or type of microscopy. One can utilize several optical techniques such as standard stereoscopic viewing, Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM), Hoffman Modulation Contrast (HMC), phase contrast, Nomarski DIC, darkfield, dispersion staining, and light section with assistance from microchemical testing or digital imaging as needed. These may be followed by FTIR, SEM and TEM along with features such as EDS to enhance, supplement, or supplant earlier findings or suppositions. A set of contrasting cases that exhort the microscopist as thinker, tinker, and technocrat will be presented from primarily a forensic engineering perspective: “Coma”, “Combustion”, “Can We Have Your Liver”, “Cystology Commodity” to “The A-Word.”

Bio Sketch

Mr. Havics is an Honors graduate from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM), a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), and a registered Professional Environmental Engineer (PE) with over 20 years of experience in environmental, health and safety consulting. He is an adjunct faculty member for both IUPUI in Indianapolis and McCrone Research Institute, Chicago, IL. He is the Past Chair of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) Workplace Environmental Exposure Level (WEEL) Committee that has set over 100 exposure limits for hazardous agents. He is also a member of the ASTM E50 Environmental and E56 Nanotechnology Committees.

He starting working as a Field Microscopist for Geo-Environmental, Inc. in Atlanta, GA in 1986-87, then worked for McCrone Environmental Services, Inc. in Atlanta, GA in 1987-1988, followed by Southern Engineering, Inc. in Atlanta, GA from 1988-90 and Lawhon & Associates, Inc. in Columbus, OH, after which he worked for pH2 in both Atlanta, GA and Indianapolis, IN. He is an adjunct faculty member for both IUPUI in Indianapolis, teaching industrial hygiene, and at McCrone Research Institute, teaching the asbestos fiber counting course. He has used a variety of microscopical techniques over the years such as Polarized Light Microscopy.