CSS has recently acquired a new award working with the University of Pittsburg. As part of this work, a team of CSS employee owners has begun testing samples for Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA), a high temperature furnace with temperature and timing control for melting samples to create different materials and alloys. CSS staff will be testing new procedures for processing and integrating University of Pittsburg samples into ampoules (glass vials) placed inside the SUBSA. 

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Aerial view of a burned facility surrounded by a woods

Responding to Tangipahoa River Contamination 

Following a fire at Smitty’s Supply facility in Louisiana’s Tangipahoa Parish on August 22, 2025, a CSS employee owner supporting the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund Technical Assistance and Response Team (START) sub-contract deployed to the scene on August 31 to assist with response efforts. Initially the staff member worked on logistics at the staging warehouse.…

tractor trailers stationed in a parking lot

Emergency Response Support for the Republican National Convention

CSS employee owners on contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Portable High-throughput Integrated Laboratory Identification System — a mobile analytical unit known as PHILIS — provided emergency response support for the 2024 Republican National Convention. PHILIS mobile laboratory units are designed to provide onsite analysis of environmental conditions, including air and soil samples, contaminated…

Person in a laboratory works on an instrument

Monitoring Algal Blooms for Harmful Toxins

CSS employee owners support NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) Sensor Development Team in their efforts to detect and monitor these harmful algal blooms in coastal waters where they are likely to occur. HAB monitoring is critical for detecting harmful toxins produced by some algae. When present in over…