An interview with Taryn McKnight (Eurofins Environment Testing (USA)
To start off with, could you provide an overview of your career journey and what motivated you to pursue this path?
As a young student I was always drawn to science but when I entered the workforce it wasn’t until I took a summer job at an environmental laboratory that I found my passion. Not only was I ‘practicing science’ but it had a direct impact on my immediate environment which immediately drew me in. For example, I learned that the nearby military base had a chlorinated plume underneath it that was causing a vapor intrusion risk to nearby residents and it would likely take the next 50 years to remediate. This was a neighbourhood my dear friends were looking to buy their first home in so I could see the practical implications of how we are impacted by our environment. Whether you care about our environment or the people in it, which I think everyone can find a connection there, our industry is working incredibly hard to protect, preserve, and facilitate businesses operating in a way that is protective of all of this.
Could you share a bit about your role as Vice President of Product and PFAS Practice Leader?
My background has always been related to emerging contaminants or pathways of concern. With that, we are often charting a new path forward with increasing our understanding of the chemicals, processes, associated risks, and the best possible solutions to these challenges. When supporting the analytical testing for emerging contaminants, such as PFAS, we are usually innovating methods long before government agencies like the EPA provide standardized methods and applying those techniques to support cutting edge research. Because of this we have an entire division dedicated to what we call ‘Specialty Services’. As VP of Product and PFAS Practice Leader, I provide guidance to our laboratories about regulatory and market drivers and lead our product development initiatives to align with those drivers. I also provide guidance to our clients, to agencies, academia, and even the public with regards to the rapidly evolving state of the science and regulations as it pertains to these emerging topics.
Your work on PFAS involves you being informed about the most recent regulatory and scientific advancements related to it. What challenges do you face when working with PFAS in this manner?
Yes, it is a full-time job staying abreast of these advancements! The greatest challenge is limited time to turn away from the day to day and read the latest article published in a scientific journal about detection frequency of a new group of PFAS compounds not previously studied or the latest 186 page piece of legislation that Congress just passed to force EPA’s hand to address PFAS in fire fighting foams. Of course it is not enough to read up on these advancements, but I need to ascertain what is actionable or relevant about this information and translate it for our internal teams as well as our clients and the industry as a whole. I provide a lot of educational webinars throughout the year to try and disseminate as much of this information as I can, in a manner that is digestible by all. There is so much information to keep track, and with PFAS in particular, because these are such complex chemicals, staying abreast of the latest developments is paramount to improving our understanding of the risks, challenges and solutions associated with these contaminants. And we won’t be able to solve this problem on our own, it will take people from all sorts of professions, from all around the world, to help us find a reasonable, efficient, and meaningful way through this.
Following the theme of this edition of e-cronicle called ‘Global Perspectives’, could you share how you have utilised the global theme to enhance the projects you have been involved in?
For better or for worse, PFAS has taught us a lot about the benefits of global perspectives and international collaborations with this being a global issue. In particular, the collaborations between Australia and the U.S. have been fruitful. Not only can we bring more minds together to collaborate on solutions, we often find that one country or region may experience a challenge long before the other and so we have the benefit of shortening the time it takes to get up to speed on an issue when first confronted with it. Personally, I find that cultural differences open our eyes to different approaches and other possible solutions as well. As an example, the U.S. has taken the approach of addressing PFAS contamination at the point of receptors, i.e. drinking water, first. Whereas other parts of the world have focused more on preventing contamination at the source. There are some cultural and economic reasons why that may be the case, but seeing how the other approach plays out in other parts of the world provides us with a wonderful dataset to pull from and vice versa.
I also understand that you sit on a committee with the National Ground Water Association. Are you able to share with us some of the work you do here?
Certainly. The National Ground Water Association of NGWA is a professional organisation primarily focused on the protection and support of groundwater resources and groundwater professionals. One of the goals of the organisation is to provide scientific and technical leadership and resources to the industry. This is how I came to join the technical committee on PFAS in 2020. Since then, I have assisted in orchestrating several PFAS specific conferences, PFAS webinars, spearheaded the generation of a “Practical Guide to PFAS Sampling”, and we are currently working on a white paper to address the state of the science related to PFAS Forensics. This has been an incredible opportunity and experience. The people I have met and learned from have been such a joy and have enhanced my practice immensely. It is sort of ironic that NGWA is honouring me with an award this year for my contributions to the groundwater industry, when it is because of the support that they provide that I was able to make some of those contributions. I believe ALGA provides a very similar experience and I would encourage you all to seek out such an experience be it through ALGA or any association that aligns with your interests or expertise.
To conclude, would you like to share a key message with our readers?
I find that as scientists many of us are compelled to seek and test out our theories, solutions, etc. ourselves but through collaborations we often generate better data and we tend to get to the solutions faster because we’ve considered more perspectives. And this approach is only amplified when it includes global collaborations and perspectives. From a PFAS perspective, my key message is to be curious, be collaborative, don’t forget pragmatism and the big picture, and we will surely find a way through this!
