Jan Wachter

Biography

Dr. Jan K. Wachter has over 30 years of work experience in the government, private and academic sectors, primarily in the field of environmental health and safety. He has held a variety of supervisory research and administrative positions within the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratory complexes. He is a retired professor from Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Safety Sciences Department and was its PhD program coordinator. He holds an Sc.D. and M.S., Environmental Health, M.B.A., Executive Program, and a B.S., Biology/Chemistry, from the University of Pittsburgh. He also holds an M.A., Applied Theology from Wheeling Jesuit University and a Masters in Divinity from Pittsburgh Theology Seminary.  His professional certifications include: CSP, CIH, CQE, CQMgr, and CRE. His research areas of interest are safety ethics and the use of human performance tools to enhance workplace safety.

Education

• D.Sc.- Doctor of Science in Hygiene: Environmental Health, University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus
• M.S. - Master of Science in Hygiene: Environmental Health, University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus
• M.B.A. - Master of Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus
• B.S. - Bachelor of Science in Biology, University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus

Ratings and Certificates

• Graduate Safety Practitioner (GSP) - Board of Certified Safety Professionals
• Certified Industrial Hygienist - American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH)

Professional Experience

Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2007 - 2023)

Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Professor (Tenured)

137 Johnson Hall, 1010 Oakland Ave., Indiana, PA 15705

Provides instruction and advisement to undergraduate (B.S.) and graduate (M.S. and Ph.D.) students in the areas of ethics, safety and risk management, environment, safety, and occupational health (ES&H), and management systems. Specialty areas: ethics and management. PhD Program Coordinator.

IBM Corporation / Aspen Group (2006 - 2014)

18757 North Frederick Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20879

Senior Associate

Through IBM’s Global Business Services’ Public Sector organization provided senior-level support to clients in the areas of environment health and safety, homeland security, business and performance management, risk management, and quality management systems.

URS Technical Services, Inc. (now AECOM) (2005 - 2206) 

800 Regis Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15236

Senior Environmental Consultant

Provided senior-level consultation support to primarily government customers (e.g., Department of Energy; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Department of Homeland Security) in the areas of risk management, environmental health, safety, quality, organizational design, policy development, and regulatory and international consensus standard application and compliance.

U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) (1999 - 2005)

626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236

Associate Deputy Director, Office of Business and Logistics

Director, Environmental, Safety, Security, and Health (ES&H) Division

Product Manager, Watershed Science and Technology Initiative

As Deputy Associate Director for Business and Logistics had advisory, assistance, and oversight responsibilities for these administrative functions: Finance, Budget, and Procurement; Site Operations; Environment, Safety, Security and Health; Contractor Management; Information Technology, and Human Resources and Policy Development.  There were ~140 people in this office with annual financial management responsibility of over $750M.  This office provided support to ~600 employees and ~700 contractor employees.

Director, Environmental, Safety, Security, and Health Division:  NETL (one of sixteen national laboratories under the Department of Energy) is a research, development, and demonstration laboratory institution located at four primary locations (Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, Tulsa, OK, and Anchorage, AK). The mission of the research laboratory is to develop, demonstrate and commercialize energy and environmental products in partnership with academia, industry, government, and associations to solve key national energy and environmental issues.

Performed ES&H policy analyst and regulatory compliance officer duties; developed and managed an ES&H Division that oversaw and implemented the ES&H activities and operations of the center. Managed a staff of approximately 60 ES&H specialists (e.g., engineers, chemists, physicists, industrial hygienists, safety specialists, nurses, doctors) and site support contractors in technical and administrative disciplines.  Managed a $15+M operations budget (not including salaries) directed toward implementing recurring and remedial ES&H programs.  Responsible manager for sites’ ES&H corrective action/capital improvement budgets.

The division's primary risk management functions were to (1) develop, implement, and oversee programs in the areas of environmental planning, policy, assessment, and auditing, environmental compliance, environmental remediation, and safety and health disciplines, (2) provide ES&H consultation services to product managers, project managers, and on-site researchers, (3) ensure compliance with regulatory and corporate directives, (4) develop risk analyses and environmental impact statements, and (5) provide risk communications to the public and private sectors.  The latter two activities involved interfacing with industry, public, high-level elected officials, state and Federal officials, and special interest groups through mechanisms such as public hearings.  Environment impact statements developed were typically for construction and operation of commercial power plants under the DOE’s Clean Coal Technology Program, such as the Tampa Electric Company’s Polk Power Station in Tampa, FL.  

U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC) (1983 - 1999)

P.O. Box 880, 3610 Collins Ferry Road, Morgantown, WV 26507

Chief, Physical and Chemical Sciences Branch

Chief, Fuels Sciences and Engineering Branch

Chief, Analytical Sciences Branch

Environmental Effects Analyst

Memberships and Credentials

Member: ASSP, AIHA, ACGIH, ASQ

Awards, Honors and Recognitions

• 2022 Professional Safety Article of the Year, Professional Safety
• 2020 IUP Dean’s Outstanding Research Award
• 2020 IUP School of Graduate Studies and Research’s Outstanding Researcher Award
• 2014 Critics Choice Award from the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and the Publications Committee for J. Wachter book, Ethics for the Safety and Health Professional: Approaches and Case Studies
• Professional Safety Journal, 2^nd Place Award for Best Journal Article, 2011
• Indiana University of Pennsylvania Research Merit Award Winner, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018
• Western Pennsylvania Safety Council’s Award of Excellence, 1997 through 2005
• Department of Energy Fossil Energy’s Award for Safety Excellence, 1995, 1997, 2003 and 2005
• Valedictorian, Executive MBA Program, Katz School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, 1991
• National Research Council Advisor
• Chancellor Scholar; University Scholar; 1st Annual Outstanding Student Public Health Award; Delta Omega National Merit Award in Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh
• Professional Inductee to Rho Sigma Kappa, IUP Safety Sciences Honor Society, 2007
• Inducted to Sigma Xi, a scientific research society, Beta Gamma Sigma, an honorary society for business professionals, and Phi Eta Sigma, a high scholastic achievement society for college students
• Member: Joint Industrial Hygiene Ethics Education Committee (representing American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists), 2012 – 2016.
• Ex Officio Member, ASSP Research Committee, 2019 – 2021.
• Government Affairs Chair, ASSP Academic Practice Specialty Advisory Committee, 2018 – 2019.
• CoP’s Body of Knowledge Chair, ASSP Academic Practice Specialty Advisory Committee, 2016 – 2018.
• Membership Chair, ASSP Academic Practice Specialty Advisory Committee, 2015 - 2016