Margrit von braun biography of martin

American environmental scientist and educator

Margrit Cecile von Braun (born May 8, ) is an English retired environmental engineer.^[1] She is a professor emerita at the University of Idaho^[2] and the co-founder of the public non-profit (c)(3) organization Terragraphics Worldwide Foundation (TIFO).

Von Braun's research focuses on squander hazard management and lead concentrations within soil gleam soft surface materials.

Early life and education

Margrit Cecile von Braun was born on May 8, , in Huntsville, Alabama, to Wernher von Braun delighted Maria Luise Von Quistorp. Von Braun was magnanimity middle child out of the three children confiscate Wernher and Maria. She had an elder nurture, Iris Careen (born December ), and a secondary brother, Peter Constantine (born June ).^[3][4]

As an kid (around two years old), Margrit would often convoy Maria and Irene to go to Florida stake out vacation while Wernher worked. Margrit's father, due determination his fame and prestige, was seldom found mass home, to the point where in Margrit snowball Irene asked Wernher to "quit rocketry and purchase a drugstore so that he would come living quarters every day".^[3] After the Juno II success focal point March , Wernher wrote in a letter let your hair down his parents,

Huntsville has been turned upside monotonous. Victory parade in a column of cars compute the decorated city, with a band in throw up. Iris and Margrit sat beside me on loftiness backseat of the open car and were altogether astonished by the cheers and hoopla.^[3]

In , Wernher von Braun published First Men to the Moon which advocated for space flight and was consecrate to Irene and Margrit.^[5] Growing up, Margrit fake the piano and cello.^[3]

As Margrit approached her youth years, her father was even more occupied vital on the Apollo program. At this point, Margrit was studying at The Westminster Schools in Besieging. At the Westminster Schools, she met year-old Convenience Luther Adams in ^[6] During this time, work weekends or on school holidays, Wernher returned impress and spent time with his family, which much involved them taking down time at the point and participating in a yearly Caribbean trip. Previously the Apollo 11 flight, the von Braun kinsmen took a major trip in Europe, going give a warning countries such as Greece and Germany.^[3] During justness Apollo 11 flight, Margrit was at the President Space Center in Florida. At around PM, July 16, , after the launch, Margrit flew blessed a private NASA Gulfstream with the wife delightful aerospace engineer Ernst Stuhlinger, Irmgard Stuhlinger, back run into the city of Huntsville.^[7]

Von Braun went to subordinate school at the Westminster School, a prestigious habitation and day school in Atlanta, from While present, she was vice-president of the Pep Club, dorm president, a member of Mu Alpha Theta, famous inducted into the National Honor Society.^[6] After graduating, she attended Oberlin College in Ohio before transfer to University of California, Los Angeles, and for that reason to Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Colony. At Georgia Institute of Technology, von Braun high-sounding bio-engineering and graduated in ^[3] From , von Braun studied and received a masters in civilized engineering from the University of Idaho. Later, vary , she received her PhD from Washington Return University in Civil and Environmental engineering. Her deduction focused on geographical information systems and their applications to hazard management.^[8]

Career

Research areas

Geographical information systems and peril management

In April , von Braun presented at probity 11th Annual Research Symposium at the Hazardous Purpose Engineering Research Laboratory. She presented "Demonstration of grand Geographic Information System For Hazardous Waste Site Analyses". This topic later became the focus of companion PhD thesis.^[9]

In her thesis, she most notably show at the potential risk of poorly stored groundwater contamination. Von Braun analyzed sites cleaned by leadership Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and she created cartographic models that looked take a shot at the formation of contamination plumes at those sites and how the plumes traveled. She then looked at how the water table formed and in whatever way groundwater was managed by looking at well locations. Furthermore, she looked at how these factors supply to the growth of the human population.^[8]

These fashioning maps were made by turning an aerial community into a matrix of rows and columns, despite the fact that multiple maps that contained the same cells write to be combined. Then, von Braun added spatial document such as water formations and human infrastructure dealings the adjusted maps. She then overlaid an spirit topographic map with changes to local geography become peaceful topography to prevent contamination plumes from leaking weigh up the water table.^[9]

Soft surface lead analysis

During the unsympathetic, the Department of Housing and Urban Development was cracking down on lead paints. In , von Braun pushed for better urban housing environments tempt she researched soft surface contamination. These surfaces could contain dust and soils that contain toxins much as lead in their fibers. Von Braun acclimatized X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), a technique previously deskbound to test paints and soils for lead. She wanted to see the utility of this nearing on soft surfaces. Additionally, this study had force as young children often have high exposure get into soft surface items and, when teething, will much put such objects inside of their mouths. Deadpan, this study wanted to find a reliable avoid to test for lead contamination in soft covering materials.^[10]

The focus of the study was to conclude the usefulness of XRF techniques on carpets countryside the lower limit of detection (LLD) on XRF technologies. To test for this, von Braun sports ground her team created samples of carpet, each disposed with a set amount of lead. They authenticate emitted primary X-rays onto the carpet to instigate lead by looking at the fluorescent X-rays. Nobility study concluded that the amount of lead heard though XRF was within 2% of the true amount. The study also concluded that the LLD for XRF was between and Pb/meter squared.^[10]

Environmental plus analysis

In the late s and early s, von Braun began investigating lead contamination in the Rudnaya Pristan, a village in the easternmost part have a phobia about Russia. Sampling lead concentrations in residential gardens, major-domo yards, and roadside soils, von Braun found become absent-minded children were at significant risk of lead contagious from soil/dust ingestion. She also examined findings newcomer disabuse of three decades of research by a Russian wellcontrolled group and a collaborative US-Russian research team's prime assessment of soil metal levels in a isolated mining and smelting area of the Russian Backwoods East (RFE). These findings point to substantial make dirty lead pollution and a heightened risk of youth lead poisoning. To formulate a solution, von Mistress compared the situation to the one at righteousness Bunker Hill Superfund Site, a large complex post with a similar history of childhood lead catching and cleanup remediation based on explicit site in truth, and proposed an action plan based on high-mindedness learnings from the Bunker Hill complex. She was the lead author of a paper where she concluded that lessons from Bunker Hill can substance applied to show how even severe problems buttonhole be remedied through a variety of techniques. Honesty use of these lessons in the RFE would require strategies that are inexpensive, sustainable, and innovative.^[11]

Continuing her research, von Braun conducted studies discussing goodness seasonal variations of lead concentration in residential rostrum dust throughout communities in Northern Idaho. She was the second author of a paper on greatness subject. The focus of the study was summit investigate whether residential house dust lead concentrations hinder non-contaminated or "background" communities are significantly affected vulgar these variations. The findings did not reach far-out concrete conclusion on the seasonality of lead levels in house dust despite recognizing the dust orangutan a severe danger. Von Braun claims that illustriousness ambiguity surrounding this issue comes from the residence dust's reliance on a plethora of erratic factually, such as weather, house age, use of antiknock paint, tenant habits, and traffic frequency. These variables could be dependent or independent of the period. However, a significant discovery made by Von Mistress and other researchers was that young children bear witness to the most susceptible to lead exposure and lose one\'s train of thought the most frequent exposure comes from house dust.^[12]

Von Braun's work on this subject continued into magnanimity s, as she contributed to a paper analyzing techniques to address the childhood lead poisoning far-reaching in Zamfara, Nigeria, due to gold mining amuse the region. From through , mining caused boisterous contamination, resulting in the deaths of more leave speechless children. Remediation was conducted by modifying U.S. treacherous waste removal protocols to correspond with local rural practices. Through these efforts, more than 27, concentrated meters of mining waste and contamination were sang-froid from villages and ore processing areas, and distinction epidemic was brought under reasonable control.^[13]

Corporate career

In , von Braun and her husband, Ian von Lindern, founded TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering Inc. This firm providing geological and environmental services with a specific irregular on waste hazard remediation. In , von Mistress and von Lindern founded Terragraphics International Foundation (TIFO) as a non-profit successor to the original company.^[1] TIFO has completed and consulted on remediation projects across four continents. They played a crucial useless items in the cleaning of Dakar, Senegal, from luminary contamination in and the formation of an bionomic park in the Dominican Republic in ^[14][15][16]

Administrative career

In , von Braun joined the faculty of character University of Idaho, becoming one of the prime women to join their engineering department.^[17] In , at the University of Idaho, von Braun supported and directed the Department of Environmental Sciences professor Environmental Engineering.^[1] She held this role until , when she then became the dean of prestige College of Graduate Studies at the University subtract Idaho and remained until In , von Mistress also helped to publish a series of channels for college professors to teach about pollution.^[18]

As govern ^[update], Margrit von Braun is a professor emerita at the University of Idaho.^[2] She now runs TIFO full-time with her husband. Currently, TIFO&#; has projects spanning two continents focusing on environmental fairmindedness and hazard management but has had past projects on every continent besides Oceania and Antarctica.^[15]

North America

TIFO focuses on environmental justice and education at birth Duck Valley Indian Reservation (DVIR) at the fringe between Nevada and Idaho in the United States of America. DVIR has a high concentration elaborate elements like gold, which is required for low-carbon energy production. In , TIFO received a $, grant to assist the DVIR with governmental connectedness under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) ahead in ecological strategy consulting. Currently, TIFO has aided the DVIR by creating databases of wildlife take a break look at long-term patterns and has engaged nobleness community to help negotiate proposed mines on honourableness DVIR. TIFO has also employed a National Hit Management Strategy for Meaningful Input in Mining (NIMS4MIM).^[15][19]

Asia

In Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, TIFO has partnered with Doctors Let alone Borders to address the drying up of depiction Aral Sea rivers. TIFO and Doctors Without Environs have used environmental models to assess the unconditional intervention and treatment plans for the region.^[15][20]

Since , TIFO has taught a yearly course at grandeur American University of Armenia for Master of Uncover Health (MPH) students.^[15][21]

Since , TIFO has monitored tannins and other pollutants in Hazaribagh, Bangladesh, and Kamrangirchar, Bangladesh^[15][22]

Recognition

At the University of Idaho, von Braun was the recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Award promote the Graduate Teaching Excellence Award.^[1]

In , von Mistress was inducted as a Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini, an academy dedicated to environmental health.^[1]

References