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Important update to HWMSR specialty

Based on a three-year evaluation and a proposal by the Hazardous Waste Management and Site Remediation (HWMSR) Committee, at its July 14th meeting the Academy Board of Trustees reaffirmed a prior Board approval updating a change in the name of the Hazardous Waste Management and Site Remediation (HWMSR) specialty to Site Remediation (SR) specialty. 

Beginning August 1, 2023, the Academy website and all applications materials will be updated to reflect this change.  New applicants will apply for the SR specialty.

What if I don’t want to change my specialty to Site Remediation? 

Anyone who currently holds the HWMSR specialty may choose to either:

  1. continue to use the HWMSR designation (no change will be made to your record); or
  2. switch to the SR designation (your record will be updated to reflect the SR specialty).

If you currently hold the HWMSR specialty, and wish to update to the SR designation, please email: [email protected].

What about Hazardous Waste, has the Academy created a gap in specialty certification?

The HWMSR Committee performed an evaluation and reported the results to the Board of Trustees about how to better align the specialty certification with current and future practice needs while protecting the historic value for those currently maintaining Board Certification in this specialty.

Moving forward, the Board of Trustees approved the recommendation to update the specialty to focus on Site Remediation. Of note, the Site Remediation specialty still incorporates the technical components of hazardous waste management (i.e., spill recovery, treatment, and proper disposal). Of further note, the Site Remediation specialty will no longer test for specialty knowledge of federal and state regulatory requirements (i.e., RCRA, CERCLA) associated with facility operations related to the handling, labeling, storing, disposal, etc. of hazardous wastes. These changes reflect an intentional choice to focus on “technical aspects” of a fundamental and design nature; rather than to focus on “regulatory requirements”.

Over the next several months, the Academy staff have been instructed to work with the Development and Upgrading of Examinations Committee as part of a review of existing specialties as well as identifying gaps that may require the possibility of any “new” specialty. 

For example, this review will include a mapping of areas of practice of the existing Solid Waste (SW) specialization, the renamed Site Remediation (SR) specialty, and the existing Sustainability (S) specialization to confirm no “gaps” in the coverage of the broad area of “hazardous waste”.

Any gaps in specialty practice  identified through this review – whether in the broad area of “hazardous waste” or in other areas of practice – will be brought to the attention of the Board of Trustees for possible exploration of creating “additional” or “new” specialt(ies).

If you currently hold the HWMSR specialty and wish to be a part of the working group, or if you have a broader interest participating in the review of existing (and potential new) specialties for Board Certification, please email: [email protected].


Member Activity Report

The 2023 Member Activity Report has been published.  This report is summary of AAEES activities during the past year.  Including in this report are last year's award winners, an overview of last year's events, the president's highlight of 2023 activities, and more.  

The report is online at:  2023 AAEES Member Activity Report.

To view this and other important Academy documents, go to https://www.aaees.org/guidingdocuments.

 

 

 

 

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