Senior chemist working on the CSS contract with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team (START) supported the Guam Lab Chemicals Round Up in March of 2024 and July of 2025. During both mobilizations, START supported EPA’s mission to collect chemical waste items from across the U.S. island territory of Guam for off-island transport and disposal. As a field chemist, CSS employee owner supporting the effort conducted Hazard Categorization (HazCat) testing on hundreds of unlabeled waste items to help determine the most appropriate waste stream for safe shipping and disposal of each item. CSS employee owner used the EPA Region 9 GeminiTM Chemical Identification analyzer to identify chemicals that appeared to be in their original containers, but that had missing or weathered labels. START supported worker health and safety by conducting screening of the chemical collections and storage spaces for toxic and volatile gases, explosive limits, radiation, and mercury vapor prior to initiating work, and by conducting air monitoring for toxic and volatile gases, and explosive limits during all handling and packing of the chemical wastes. 

woman works with chemicals under a fume hood.
HazCat testing unlabeled waste chemicals in a fume hood for disposal characterization during the Guam Lab Chemicals Round Up. 
woman tests chemical with a kit
HazCat testing the contents of an unlabeled waste drum in Guam for disposal characterization during the Guam Lab Chemicals Round Up. 

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Global map shows colors of red around the equator which slowly change to dark greens near north and south poles.

Advancing Severe Weather Predictions with Artificial Intelligence 

As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies evolve in Earth sciences, CSS employee owners (formerly Riverside staff) are growing our expertise in this field. CSS employee owners are advancing technologies for our client, NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR). Our staff have developed a framework, exploiting modern AI/ML techniques, to rapidly…

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Over 40 Years of Support

Since 1982, members of our staff have supported EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs. As part of this contract, our staff assess environmental and human health impacts on anthropogenic chemicals. The agricultural industry is critical to food and textile production, it is a large contributor to the U.S. economy. Not only does the industry provide food…

Safety Support To First Responders

First responders put their lives on the line to help others, and our team helps safeguard their protection.  Our team on contract with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Respiratory Protection Program works with staff to test respirators and establish secure fits. Similarly, they provide these fit tests for fire department personnel on a regular…