PCR has been recently selected to be a member of the National Council of Acoustical Consultants (NCAC). NCAC approved Amir Yazdanniyaz, P.E., Director of PCR’s Acoustics Division and an Associate Principal of the firm, to be PCR’s representative principal based on his high standards of demonstrated dedication to the organization’s code of ethics and bylaws for business practice and technical consulting services.
As part of the rigorous application process, NCAC requires all representative principals demonstrate extensive experience, advanced education, exceptional references from professional peers, and be full members of either the Acoustical Society of America or the Institute of Noise Control Engineering.
“This membership is an accreditation of our firm’s long-standing experience and reputation for providing professional acoustical consulting services,” explains Mr. Yazdanniyaz.
Founded in 1962, NCAC is an international organization committed to recognizing acoustical consultant and engineer experts, promote peer interaction, and provide the reference tools to educate the public about the profession and locate a consultant to address their needs.
Four members of PCR's Air Quality Services division presented scientific papers at the 101st Annual Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) Conference and Exhibition at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon, June 24-26, 2008.
Heidi Rous, Amy Kidd, Everest Yan, and Jeff Baldino presented papers regarding a number of topics at the conference widely attended by engineers, attorneys, scientists, researchers, students and other professionals.
Ms. Rous and Ms. Kidd jointly authored The Efficacy of Land Use Projects in VMT and GHG Reductions. Ms. Rous presented two additional papers, one coauthored with Suparna Chakladar, entitled Pyrolysis of Municipal Solid Waste – A Regulatory Perspective, and the second entitled Examining Diesel Risk Reduction Efforts in California – Ten Years After Classification of Diesel Particulate Matter as a Toxic Air Contaminant.
Mr. Baldino presented Risk Communication: Issues Surrounding Public Perception and Disclosing Risk in Environmental Documentation.
“The conference was a great experience as a young professional,” explained Mr. Baldino. “Portland is a model city for environmental sustainability and the large turnout demonstrated the city’s commitment to progress in the field of air quality.”
Mr. Yan presented Risk and Dispersion Modeling of Air Toxics Under California’s AB2588 Hazardous Air Reporting Program (HARP) Protocol Using AERMOD and MM5 Meteorological Data.
“Amy, Jeff, and Everest delivered informative and thought provoking presentations, sparking many questions and often intense discussion from their peers,” noted Ms. Rous. “I am very proud of them and pleased to call them colleagues.”
Michael McCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs at The Climate Institute in Washington, D.C. provided A&WMA’s annual “Critical Review.” Keynote speakers for the event included Bill Reinert, Manager Advanced Technology for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A; William Reilly, former Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and President of the World Wildlife Fund; Will Swope, Vice President & General Manager of Corporate Affairs for Intel; and Ernesta Ballard, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Weyerhaeuser Corporation.
The 102nd Annual Conference & Exhibition is scheduled to take place on June 16-19 in Detroit, Michigan.
A&WMA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan professional organization that enhances knowledge and expertise by providing a neutral forum for information exchange, professional development, networking opportunities, public education, and outreach to more than 8,000 environmental professionals in 65 countries.
For more information on A&WMA, visit www.awma.org.
Marcy Rockman, Ph.D., RPA, PCR’s Acting Director/Principal Archaeologist, authored a chapter in the recently published book, Fragile Patterns: The Archaeology of the Western Papaguería, launched at the Society for American Archaeology in Vancouver, British Columbia, March 26-30, 2008.
Dr. Rockman’s chapter, “The Importance of Places: Combining Site and Isolates in a Long-Term Land-Use Approach to the Archaeology of the Western Pagaguería,” addresses the arbitrary boundary that cultural resource regulations have developed between isolated finds and archaeological sites. The chapter builds the background theory and presents a method for evaluating archaeological resources of any size in terms of the duration of past landscape use that the resources represent.
“The method includes theory developed from landscape archaeology and my own work with models of colonization and technical information drawn from experiments with ground stone artifacts and excavation of thermal features,” explains Dr. Rockman.
“The case study presented in the chapter is specific to southwestern-most Arizona (now the Barry M. Goldwater Range). The concept and methods are also applicable to studies in many different locations and are intended to help in the comparison of land use practices over the long-term.”
Dr. Rockman began her research as part of an historic context for Luke Air Force Base during her tenure at Statistical Research, Inc. and developed it into the chapter this year. Although this chapter is grounded in research in Arizona, the importance of completing the chapter was underscored by experiences in cultural resource management at PCR.
“Once archaeological resources are gone, they’re gone- they don’t come back,” notes Dr. Rockman. “As urban and suburban development continues at a rapid pace, such as is the case here in California, it’s important to have methods to quickly gather useful information from archaeological resources of all shapes and sizes that can help us figure out how people used to live here. This chapter shows how this can be done. It’s an important piece not only from the perspective of academic research, but also from the practical perspective of cultural resource management.”
PCR will be an exhibitor at the California Chapter of the American Planning Association’s (CCAPA) 2008 Conference on September 21-24, 2008 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel and Spa.
“Lights…Planning…Action” is the theme for this year’s conference that will include an opening reception, mobile workshops to local planning-related venues, an awards luncheon, concurrent tracks of programs and seminars such as New CEQA Techniques: Avoiding the Full Monte, No Child Left Inside… Design, CEQA, NEPA and Climate Change 2008, Greening Los Angeles’ Industrial Future, and numerous others.
The annual event presents planners, architects, housing advocates, landscape architects, scientist and other professionals from California, the U.S., and abroad with in-depth educational and networking opportunities.
Our warmest thoughts and prayers go out to Sally’s family, friends, and everyone who had the pleasure and honor of knowing such a wonderful woman. Sally brought sunshine to every room she entered with her sincere, bright smile; she epitomized kindness and warmth. We are fortunate to have had the honor of knowing her and working with her.
Sally is survived by her husband, Dana, her parents, and her two sisters and their families.
Sally, you will be greatly missed by all of your friends at PCR.
PCR has been competitively selected by the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) to conduct historic assessment surveys for two of three major projects for the CRA/LA in conjunction with their citywide survey.
Dr. Wuellner will be Project Manager and Principal Investigator for the first project, a survey of the Adelante Eastside Redevelopment Area, approximately 2,200 acres including some 2,800 parcels of land in the Boyle Heights community of East Los Angeles. The comprehensive, intensive-level survey for the Adelante Eastside Redevelopment Project Area involves identifying, evaluating, and documenting all potentially eligible historical resources located within the project area. CRA staff will use the survey to guide future preservation efforts, new project planning, and the adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of historic properties.
PCR is also part of the team selected to prepare historic context statements and intensive-level assessment surveys for three redevelopment areas of the CRA: Hollywood, Westlake, and Wilshire Center/Koreatown. The goal of historic context statements and assessment surveys is to have a conclusive and working document to balance development while preserving those buildings that illustrate the unique narratives of each redevelopment project area.
“With the commencement of the Los Angeles Citywide Survey in August 2007, a new phase was initiated for historic preservation planning in Los Angeles,” PCR’s Principal Architectural Historian, Margarita Wuellner explains. “Funded with support from the Getty Conservation Institute, the City recently created the Office of Historic Resources and commissioned the citywide survey, formally acknowledging the important role of historic preservation in the city planning process. CRA/LA is now working hand-in-hand with the Office of Historic Resources to ensure that comprehensive historic resources documentation is obtained through new comprehensive surveys of the City's redevelopment areas.”
These prestigious projects serve as an indication of PCR’s growing reputation for possessing an increasingly broad range of expertise in Cultural Resources Management.
Three members of PCR’s Air Quality Services Division presented four original papers at the Air & Waste Management Association’s (AWMA) 100th Annual Conference & Exhibition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 26-29, 2007.
Heidi Rous, Everest Yan, Jeffery Baldino, presented papers regarding a number of topics. Presentations discussed the recently adopted and revised National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Particulate Matter (PM), examining the land use/air quality connection through discussion of successes and challenges implementing “Planned Growth;” localized air pollutant analyses required under the Transportation Conformity Rule; and “Control Strategies for Particulate Matter in the Los Angeles Basin.” In addition, Division Director, Heidi Rous chaired the technical session entitled “Risk Assessment Modeling Tools and Techniques” and co-chaired the session on “Recent Experience in Risk Management.”
“All of our papers were well received and sparked a significant amount of feedback and interesting discussion following the presentations,” explains Mr. Baldino. The conference attracted thousands of environmental professionals from the industrial, consulting, governmental, education, and non-profit sectors.
The 101st Annual Conference & Exhibition, to be held in Portland, Oregon next year, has adopted the theme of “Integrating Science and Sustainability.” Based on our vast, relevant experience and expertise in the field, PCR scientists and engineers are already hard at work preparing abstracts focusing on global climate change, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and policy, and sustainable development for acceptance to next year’s conference. Ms. Rous is also slated to chair the session on “Risk Communication.”
For more information on the Air & Waste Management Association, visit: http://www.awma.org.
Marcy Rockman, Ph.D., Principal Archaeologist, organized and led the symposium at the 40th Annual Society for Historical Archaeology Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia on January 13, 2007. The topic of discussion was “Contemporary Relevance of Archaeological Research II: A Reply to the SAA (Society for American Archaeology).” Approximately 2,000 professional, academic and amateur archaeologists attend the conference.
Dr. Rockman’s presentation, “Archaeology’s Inconvenient Questions,” addressed why people should be concerned with archaeology and why modern economies should pay to learn about the past. “My suggestion is that archaeology can tell us a lot about how humans learn about and respond to their environments and to environmental change,” Dr. Rockman explains. “This information will be important as we look toward addressing issues such as global warming.”
Dr. Rockman, in collaboration with Joe Flatman, Ph.D. (Institute of Archaeology, University College London), is currently working with several publishing houses to develop an edited volume of the complete collection of papers presented at the symposium.
For more information on the Society of Historical Archaeology, visit http://www.sha.org/.
For 18 months, PCR’s biologists have worked with a team of residential and retail developers in Tuscon, Arizona to create the Market Place at Oro Valley. The Metropolitan Pima Alliance (MPA) recognized this development as one of four finalists in a County-wide award program for projects that exemplified a “Common Ground” approach to problem-solving.
This complex project involved city and county concerns and a tax incentive that required a vote by the public. Led by Dr. Joseph B. Platt, a team of PCR ecologists, botanists, and restoration specialists worked with the client and government officials to design a grading plan and duplicate a complex plant community. This community will involve planting over 20,000 trees and 16 species of plants. Dr. Freese provided a restoration plan that will ultimately create 77 acres of xero-riparian habitat, turning abandoned farm land into an active desert wash floodplain.
“Big Wash is the largest and most complex habitat restoration project PCR has ever done,” describes Dr. Freese. “It expands an unbroken corridor of habitat that stretches from the Tortolita Mountains to the north to the Canada del Oro drainage and Santa Cruz River to the south.”
PCR will be managing and monitoring the creation of the xero-riparian habitat for the next five years.
PCR’s Environmental Planning & Documentation Division is heavily involved in Town-defining programs in Mammoth Lakes. PCR has completed two large programs, the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Eagle Lodge Project and the Final Program EIR for the General Plan Update. PCR is currently working on a third, the Ski Back Trail, for the U.S. Forest Service.
The Eagle Lodge project is one of the key organizational elements in the interface between Town master planning and planning the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area as one of the key points of entry to the Mountain. PCR’s team, led by Luci Hise-Fisher, included Ailene Batoon, Mike Harden, Marcy Rockman, Linda Robb, Heidi Rous, Mark Hagmann, and Jeff Baldino. In February 2007, the Town of Mammoth Lakes approved the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Eagle Lodge Project. Following certification of the document, Town Mayor Kirk Stapp raised a copy of the Final EIR and declared something very close to, “This is the best EIR I’ve ever read. It told me exactly what I needed to know.”
PCR’s work on the General Plan Update began when asked by the Town to take over the preparation of the EIR from a previous consultant. The program was very controversial as it addresses the substantial amount of record growth the Town has seen in last decade. It seeks to balance the need for a well-rounded and sustainable economy with local concerns about growth and the implications of growth. Despite the controversy, PCR completed the documentation and the Town certified on August 15, 2007.
PCR is delighted to announce the addition of Amir Yazdanniyaz and Sean Bui to PCR’s acoustics practice as of September 2006. After over a decade with Ove Arup & Partners/Arup Acoustics, Mr. Yazdanniyaz and Mr. Bui have joined PCR and will lead the Environmental & Architectural Acoustics Division from PCR’s Santa Monica office. Mr. Yazdanniyaz is an Associate Principal with PCR and shall serve as the Director of Environmental & Architectural Acoustics. Mr. Bui will serve as the Principal Acoustics Consultant for the Division.
Their arrival enhances PCR’s long-standing practice in Environmental Acoustics with advanced new design capabilities in Building/Architectural Acoustics and Structural Vibration. “After many years of successful collaboration with PCR on numerous, highly challenging assignments, we are excited to have Amir and Sean join the PCR team,” said Greg Broughton, PCR President. “We share a common vision and purpose and are committed to efficiently and cost-effectively implementing clients’ environmental changes and design programs.”
During their careers, Mr. Yazdanniyaz and Mr. Bui have provided acoustics services on numerous noise/acoustically sensitive projects including civic centers, medical facilities, residential and mixed-use developments, educational facilities, research laboratories, and performing arts centers. Specific projects include Calabasas Civic Center and Library, Santa Monica City Public Library, UCLA hospitals in Westwood and Santa Monica, AvalonBay Communities, Los Angeles Community College Northeast Campus, UCSB Engineering Science Building, USC Molecular Biology and Center for Computational & Experimental Genomics, Caltech Broad Center for Biology Sciences, the Getty Villa, the new Children’s Museum of Los Angeles, and LACMA’s Broad Contemporary Art Museum to name a few.
“I am delighted to merge my skills, experience and leadership with PCR’s existing multi-disciplinary suite of practices,” Yazdanniyaz said. “Our mission is to partner with our clients to solve their complex environmental entitlement and acoustics design requirements throughout the project design and implementation process. The cornerstone of our team’s continued success is personal attention, supported by broad technical command.”
PCR’s Santa Monica office is located at 233 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 130, Santa Monica, California 90401. For information on the Environmental & Architectural Acoustics Division, please contact Amir Yazdanniyaz, PE, or Sean Bui, PE at (310) 451-4488.
In addition to Environmental & Architectural Acoustics, PCR delivers comprehensive environmental planning, technical and design services in: Environmental Planning & Documentation, Biological Services, Air Quality Services, and Cultural Resources Management.
PCR Services Corporation announces the launch of its newest multi-disciplinary environmental consulting office in Pasadena, California. The strategic location of the office enables PCR to more effectively serve clients throughout the Southern California area.
Gregory J. Broughton, Founder and President of PCR stated that “the Pasadena location is strategically placed relative to our Santa Monica and Irvine offices. It provides PCR with more complete regional access to our clients as well as our employees in a recognized center of commerce.”
The Pasadena office shall be led by Principal-In-Charge, Heidi Rous, a Certified Permitting Professional, who has performed project oversight for a network of clients throughout Southern California and the United States for the past 16 years. PCR Pasadena promises the continued delivery of the best-in-class service and innovative project solutions for which PCR is known.
Serving clients for over 30 years, PCR applies specialized environmental consulting services to successfully assist our clients manage environmental change. PCR currently employs over 75 professional, support and administrative staff. PCR delivers comprehensive environmental planning, technical and design services through our five divisions: Environmental Planning & Documentation, Biological Services, Air Quality Services, Environmental & Architectural Acoustics, and Cultural Resources Management.
PCR’s Pasadena office is located at 55 South Lake Avenue, Suite 215, Pasadena, California 91101. For information on PCR Pasadena, please contact Heidi Rous, CPP at (626) 204-6170.
PCR recently hosted the regional reception for the University of California at Santa Barbara Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at its Irvine office.The celebratory event was widely-attended by PCR staff as well as faculty, students and alumni in addition to fellow corporate partners who came to welcome PCR's new Corporate Partnership with the Donald Bren School. As a corporate partner, PCR benefits from networking opportunities with such attendees, recruiting opportunities, increased visibility, recognition and access to research projects, faculty, students and alumni.
The Donald Bren School was established in 1991 in response to California's growing demand for accomplished environmental professionals. Over the past three years, nearly 42% of the graduating classes entered the field of environmental consulting.
Today, the Bren School extends invitations exclusively to corporations, such as PCR, that are committed to modeling environmentally and socially responsible behavior to inspire the next generation of leaders. We are proud to part of such an elite team of companies of which includes CH2MHill, World Wildlife Foundation, URS, Volvo, Bank of America, The Trust for Public Land, Toyota, Microsoft and others!
"On behalf of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management I want to thank you for your generous contribution as host to the Corporate Partners Regional Reception at the PCR Services Corporation office.
It was a pleasure to meet you and the PCR staff. It is apparent that you are committed to reconcile the balance between the environment, economics and Policy with your clients. We look forward to continued, successful partnership with PCR."
~ Ernst Ulrich von Weizsacker Dean, Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management
UCSB Corporate Partner
PCR is also part of the team selected to prepare historic context statements and intensive-level assessment surveys for three redevelopment areas of the CRA: Hollywood, Westlake, and Wilshire Center/Koreatown. The goal of historic context statements and assessment surveys is to have a conclusive and working document to balance development while preserving those buildings that illustrate the unique narratives of each redevelopment project area.