SCCAEPA & AEC
Environmental Summer Camp
June 24 - August 4, 2021
The Southern California Chinese-American Environmental Protection Association (SCCAEPA) and the American Educated Chinese Foundation (AEC) are very excited to announce the first youth environment summer camp for 2021. The camp is for middle-school and high-school students with interests in environmental topics in our community. Students will form teams to conduct self-directed research and design projects. Environmental professionals from SCCAEPA will coach the teams, provide pertinent information, and give guidance to teams’ research efforts. Students will have the opportunity to integrate the knowledge they gain from the camp into real-world environmental topics and propose their own feasible solutions. The camp will also identify each student’s leadership skill and reinforce it through the project. The project topics for this year include water resource management and conservation, groundwater issues, water treatment, and emerging contaminants. The teams will have field trip opportunities to demonstration sites located in southern California. Each team will enter into a competition by summarizing its research and findings, and presenting them to a group of judges at the end of the camp.
Program Fee:
$120
Program Date:
June 24 – August 4, 2021
Eligibility:
G7 to G12 students in Southern California who have independent study ability
Program Schedule:
Weekly Classes (Wednesday 7-8 PM) + Topic Workshops/Fieldtrip (1-2 hours per week)
<= Info Session Recording
Watch the info session to gather more information about the environment summer camp program, learn about the coaches and mentors of the program.
Program Topics
(Every student can choose one topic to concentrate in)
Surface Water Management
The theme consists of four field sites in Orange County, covering four different but related topics: integrated water resources management (Anaheim); stormwater management and low impact development (Orange); natural water quality treatment system (Irvine), and innovative water quality improvement project (Irvine).
Coach: Dr. Jian Peng, Nan Jia, and Stella Shao
Meeting time: 6/30 - 7/28 Fr 9-10:30 AM
Microalgae and Water Treatment
Microalgae is a promising sustainable biotechnology to remove pollutants in wastewater. While consuming wastes, they can be harvested as renewable energy for many purposes. This novel biotechnology can either be a sole treatment process or an additional process to be implemented into the existing wastewater treatment plants for improving water quality. (Maybe have a field trip to one of Jian’s sites).
Coaches: Kexin Shen, Wensi Li, and Xin Ai
Meeting time: 6/27 - 8/1 Th 4-5 PM
Methane in Groundwater
In April 2019, Ventura county supervisors decided to Oil and Gas Operation new application on hold due to concerns of its operation impact on groundwater quality and usage. This decision was based on a study by US Geological Survey (USGS), which found some methane concentrations in the Fox Canyon aquifer where the water was used for irrigation and agriculture. The next question will be where the methane comes from? Is it from the oil and gas operation, or from the natural occurrence? This project is to study the methane background concentrations in groundwater in Ventura county area that may have resulted from the natural occurrence.
Coach: Dr. Yue Rong
Meeting time: 7/1 - 7/29 Th 7 - 8 PM
Water Conservation, California Native Plants, and You
This project-based learning camp will have students form teams in a self-directed research and design project. The students will be provided pertinent information by the Coach, which they will integrate with their researched information. Students will use their new knowledge and skills to design a water-saving garden landscape, using California native plants. Each team will give a presentation on their water-saving landscape design at the end of the summer camp.
Coaches: Dr. Yiping Cao and Donna Chen
Meeting time: 7/1 - 7/29 Th 7-8 PM
Emerging contaminants – Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
PFAS is a family of more than 3,000 man-made and mostly unregulated chemicals. PFAS are manufactured globally and have been used in the production of a wide range of industrial and household products. As depicted in the 2019 movie “Dark Waters”, the release of PFAS into our environment has been widely spread and caused serious risk to human health and the environment. This summer camp project is intended to provide an opportunity for your young talents to learn everything important about PFAS, and collaborate as a group of future policy maker, scientists, engineers, lawyers, and business leaders to come out with a solution for one of the greatest evolving environmental challenges in modern societies.
Coach: Jeffrey Hu
Meeting time: 6/28 - 8/2 Mo 4 - 5 PM (no class on 7/5)
Program Coaches
Dr. Scarlett Xihong Zhai is currently the president of Southern California Chinese-American Environmental Protection Association (SCCAEPA). She has a passion to environment protection and is working to bridge the knowledge of SCCAEPA professionals to our local community.
In her career life, Dr. Zhai is a senior hazardous substances engineer/project manager at the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC). She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Beijing University, China, and PhD degree in Environmental Engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Prior to joining the state agency, she worked as remediation engineer in consulting firms including Shaw and AECOM. Dr. Zhai’s experiences focused on remediation and characterization of contaminated soil and groundwater. She led the efforts of numerous deliverables on feasibility studies and remedial action plans, where comprehensive technology evaluation and selection were conducted. She has profound knowledge on in-situ treatment technologies and advanced characterization technologies. In her recent years of working at DTSC, she manages complex projects on brownfield reclamation and revitalization. Dr. Zhai also authored several chapters in Fundamentals of Environmental Site Assessment and Remediation.
Dr. Scarlett Xihong Zhai
Jacky Chen is Principal IT Cloud Architect at Oracle Corporation. He has 30 years working experience in the IT industry. He has a Master degree in Executive Leadership. Jacky was certified by Professor Dr. BJ Fogg of Stanford University as Habit Training Coach. Jacky was speaker at various conferences on leadership development. Currently he is also Head Coach of Uprising Youth Group of FamilyKeepers International. He coached two High School teams and they won 1st place in WAICY (World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth) in 2019. Jacky is passionate about Youth Leadership Development. He founded LeadingAI, which develops and provides AI & Leadership training programs for students to cooperate and compete in Amazon’s AI Global Self-Driving Car Competition.
Jacky Chen
Dr. Jian Peng is currently the monitoring section chief at OC Environmental Resources, OC Public Works, County of Orange. As the leading technical expert in his agency, Jian oversees water quality and hydrological monitoring, data management, and many water quality programs on various pollutants and contaminants of emerging concern such as microplastics and PFAS. Jian was a part-time lecturer at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of California Irvine. Previously, he was an adjunct professor at California State University Fullerton and a scientist at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. Jian received his PhD in marine geochemistry from the University of Southern California and an MBA from UC Irvine. He has published more than a dozen peer-reviewed research papers and authored a book and two book chapters. He is a lifetime member of SCCAEPA and once served on the Board of Directors and as the vice president. He is dedicated to Sino-US collaboration on environmental science, technology, regulation, and management.
Dr. Jian Peng
Kexin Shen received her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Penn State University and is an upcoming second-year master's student in Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California. Her undergraduate project is modifying the UAJA wastewater treatment in State College with Johannesburg technology to further purify water quality and used HEC-RAS to perform hydraulic profiles. She has worked in both China and the US related to Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering. She is currently working as a student intern in the LA regional Water Board focused on groundwater permitting. Experienced in university applications, work choices, life balances, and time management, Kexin is more than happy to provide tips and guidance for younger students to be prepared on their academic path.
Kexin Shen
Wensi is a current graduate student majoring in Environmental Engineering at University of Southern California. She also works at groundwater permitting unit of Los Angeles Regional Water Board as student volunteer. Wensi holds a B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. Her undergraduate research about solar desalination was focused on combining solar energy and membrane technology to desalinate and improve clean water production efficiency by using AutoCAD and 3D printing to create prototype for running experiments. At community college, she conducted 20 students peer-lead study sessions for STEM subjects as mentor and managed course material and class activities to boost student’s passion in STEM learning as supplemental instruction leader. With her educational background and mentoring experience, she is willing to encourage younger generation to generate feasible solutions for the global environmental issues, while assisting students in this project-based learning and self-directed research summer camp.
Wensi Li
Xin Ai is a current master student in University of California, Los Angeles, majoring in civil and environmental engineering. At the same time Xin is working as a student assistant in Los Angeles reginal water quality control board, focusing on groundwater permitting. She has a solid theoretical foundation for wastewater treatment and biology through the various course projects and internship experience. Xin's three-year student assistant at the university gave her a rich teaching experience, and her teaching philosophy is to teach and play. She led six students to complete the design of the instrument for detecting the draft of a ship and apply for a patent. Xin is always keen to pass on enthusiasm and knowledge to the next generation, encouraging them to have their own enthusiasm and insights on environmental issues and become lifelong learners.
Xin Ai
Dr. Yue Rong (aka, YR) is currently the Environmental Program Manager at the California Environmental Protection Agency, Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. Dr. Rong is the manager in charge of site assessment and remediation of leaking underground storage tank sites, and the program of water quality control in oil and gas production fields. He has 32-year experience with the Agency in dealing with groundwater contamination problems in the Los Angeles area of California, U.S.A. His expertise includes organic pollutants fate and transport in the subsurface soil and groundwater, environmental analytical chemistry and quality assurance and quality control, environmental statistics, risk assessment, and soil and groundwater pollution assessment and remediation.
Dr. Rong received 2019 “Earth Caretaker” Award by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (EMBI). He is an Associate Editor for the peer-reviewed journal of Soil and Sediment Contamination and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Environmental Forensics. Dr. Rong has his Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and M.S. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and received his B.S. in Earth Science from Beijing Normal University.
Dr. Yue Rong
Dr. Yiping Cao currently works at Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board. Prior to that, she was the Chief Technology Officer at a molecular testing firm and a senior scientist at Southern California Coastal Water Research Project Authority.
She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Molecular Microbiology, a M.S. in Environmental Engineering, a M.A. in Applied Statistics, a B.S. in Environmental Chemistry.
She has extensive background in microbiological contamination and molecular technology. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts on subjects ranging from public health, microbial source tracking, advanced molecular technology, pollutant fate and transport, bioremediation, regional monitoring, and statistical models.
Dr. Yiping Cao
Ms. Donna Chen is a former Vice President of the Southern California Chinese American Environmental Protection Association. While at SCCAEPA, she led projects related to the use of California Native Plants for water conservation, water quality improvement, and habitat renewal. Before retiring from the City of Los Angeles, Ms. Chen was an Assistant Division Manager at the Bureau of Sanitation’s Watershed Protection Division. During her City tenure, she oversaw conceptual and design phases of water quality projects, and headed sections that conducted water quality sampling, assessment, and analysis. Ms. Chen has taught environmental and biology courses for University of California and California State Universities.
Donna Chen
Nan Jia received her Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from University of California, Irvine in December, 2018. After graduation, she started working at CWE as an environmental engineer. Nan has three years of experience in stormwater regulation compliance. Her duties include but are not limited to technical report writing, water quality monitoring, water quality data analysis, Hydrologic and Hydraulic studies, and stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) design. She has assisted multiple municipalities all around Southern California with stormwater compliance.
Nan Jia, PE
G. Jeffrey Hu is a Senior engineer and a Unit Chief with the Remediation Section in Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Environmental Protection Agency. With degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering, he has been working in subsurface soil and groundwater remediation for over 25 years both in academic and engineering consulting sectors, as well as in government regulatory agency.
G. Jeffrey Hu
Stella is an environmental scientist and engineer with over 7 years of experience in surface water management and has worked extensively with regional board, municipalities, sanitation districts, local research agencies and consulting firms on matters related to environmental regulatory compliance support, beach water quality, fecal contamination source investigation, water quality data analysis, environmental monitoring, Low Impact Development (LID), and hydrology analysis.
Stella currently works for GSI Environmental as an environmental consultant supporting numerous municipal and industrial clients (including amusement parks, racecourse, airport, factories etc.) to tackle their unique water quality challenges. Prior to that, she works as an environmental scientist for County of Orange with a focus on various watershed management projects in Orange County waterways.
Stella holds a M.S in Environmental Engineering from University of California Irvine and a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Tongji University, China.
Stella Shao, EIT CPSWQ QSP/D
Final Contest Judges
·SCCAEPA Director at Large
·Toxicologist in the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC)
·Over 25 years of experience in health risk assessment
·Former Senior Manager at ENVIRON International Corporation
·Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Dr. Chawn Y. (CY) Jeng
·Improvement Manager of The Dow Chemical Company at Dow Texas City Site
·Leading water & wastewater projects and managing day-to-day operation
·More than 10 years of working experience in chemical industry
·Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from University of Notre Dame
Dr. Guojing Liu
SCCAEPA Board Member
Program Supervisor of International Clean Shipping Program at the South Coast AQMD
Former senior economist and project manager at the consultancy Beacon Economics
Ph.D. in economics from the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium
Dr. Elaine Shen
·Professor in the Department of Geography & the Environment at California State University, Fullerton
·Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Geography from McMaster University
·Executive President of Boya Foundation, a non-profit educational charity organization
·Chairman of Peking University Alumni Association of Southern California
Dr. Lei Xu
·Vice President of SCCAEPA
·Emerging Contaminants Practice Leader at Haley & Aldrich, Inc.
·leading environmental consultant and remediation expert in California for 15 years
·PhD in Civil Engineering from the Auburn University
·Groundwater Resources Association of California's (GRA) Board of Directors
Dr. Zhong Xiong
Organizer
Southern California Chinese American Environmental Protection Association
Southern California Chinese Environmental Protection Association (AKA SCCAEPA) is a nonprofit professional organization, the Association was founded in 1991, whose purpose is to promote environmental awareness in the Chinese community knowledge, improve communication between members, to participate in and serve the environmental community, and the Chinese community. The association has more than 350 members, most of them are working in the United States government agencies, academia, and environmental consulting company, including scientists, engineers, and government commissioner, more than 90% of the members have master's or doctoral degree.
American Educated Chinese Foundation
Founded in 2018, American Educated Chinese Foundation (AEC) is a nonprofit organization and a Certifying Organization for the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Our mission is to develop Chinese and American students into global leaders and innovators by providing mentorship, training, and opportunities to engage in service learning.
If you have any questions about the program,
please feel free to contact us through
Andy.xiao@usperceiver.com (Email) / (949)678-9289 (Phone/WeChat)