Josh Simpson Email & Phone Number

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

Environmental Engineer for the Philadelphia Water Department, Northeast Water Pollution Control Plant (located in Port Richmond) — responsibilities include, but are not limited to, ensuring compliance with our NPDES permit through process manipulation, sampling analysis, assessment of operational parameters, modeling, and cost analysis for process alternatives.Currently working on projects involving: 1) Our cogeneration (CHP) facility: ensuring the successful operation of our digesters, gas compressors, flares, and Jenbacher engines as well as compliance with our Title V permit. Also ensuring the most economical use of natural gas mix ratios through cost analysis models. 2) Investigating options for anaerobic biogas upgrading, mixing technologies, the integration of food waste, and the incorporation of moving bed biofilms into the aeration process for nutrient removal. 3) Hydrodynamic and process modeling (BioWin, Excel, SWMM) and planning for flood mitigation during wet weather. Also modeling nitrification/denitrification and phosphorous removal throughout our aeration tanks. 4) Working with design on plant upgrades and major construction (capital) projects — namely for our heating, aeration, RAS piping, gas compression, and primary treatment facilities. 5) Working with the Energy team as a part of the Wastewater Master Plan Update and in accordance with city of Philadelphia goals for GHG emission reductions — namely, on: A) Improving overall energy efficiency of buildings (BEPP compliance) and operational equipment B) Participating in the Demand Response Initiative with the PECO grid C) Biogas Optimization planning D) Receiving Better Building In Plant trainings (INPLTS) by the US Department of Energy.

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

Internship with Philadelphia Water Department, Northeast Water Pollution Control Plant: Worked with process engineers to ensure the operational status of the plant and regulatory compliance.Daily responsibilities included: - Preparing, preserving, and analyzing non-regulatory plant process control samples, regulatory samples to confirm fulfillment of permit and federal Clean Water Act (NPDES) requirements, and a variety of compliance and surcharge samples for the PWD’s Industrial Waste Unit. - Data entry into Access and monitoring of the SCADA system.Other contributions included:1) Identification of microbial species present in the mixed liquor was also performed on a regular basis, using a compound microscope to ensure the absence of large or pathogenic species and the presence of a healthy community.2) Documentation and downtime reports for equipment through routine surveys and inspections.3) Mass balance calculations for solids & Biogas as well as power surveys for energy demand/generation.4) Presented figures displaying performance data and the influence of various process parameters (i.e. cumulative biogas production in each digester, effect of digester cleaning, % VSR, power consumption, etc.) as well as budget analysis for future projects and wages at plant meetings 5) Presented information on novel engineering technologies and strategies to improve system performance.6) Diagnosed issues with malfunctioning equipment and made suggestions for preventative maintenance —(i.e. compressor drip trap valves, replacement of aeration couplers, polymer dosing, root cause analysis of for engine trips at Cogen, etc.)7) Designed a dynamic organization chart for management using visio that can be linked to employee excel sheets

1. Studied the impact of applied potential with polarity inversion on microbial community dynamics and electromethanogenesis (EM). Hypothesis was that both electrogenic and electrotrophic species would be enriched in reactors with polarity inversion for improved biomethane production, reduced lag time, and successful promotion of DIET-based syntrophy. The project was not completed due to a lack of funding. The overall goals of this project were to:A) Elucidate the mechanistic differences of extracellular electron transfer in EM vs. DIET using meta-omics, biogas and effluent VFA composition, mass-balance calculations, & metatranscriptomics B) Conduct an economic analysis of the benefits of biomethane recovery, & C) Improve genomics-enabled modeling by inputting our data into artificial neural networks.2. Worked with PhD. candidate Shiyun Yao on anaerobic technologies for the removal of antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs), using BES by designing, assembling, maintaining, and troubleshooting the ARG bioreactors. I also routinely performed laboratory analyses for all of our projects— i.e. gas chromatography (GC-MS), HPLC, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), etc.3. Lastly, worked with Dr. Kartikeya Kekre on coupling livestock wastewater oxidation in the bioanode of a 3-chamber Microbial Electrolysis Cell (MECs) to a cathodic desalination process consisting of a feed and draw chamber separated by an electrically-charged Forward Osmosis (FO) membrane. The idea is that the MEC (plus an additional power source) supplies a charge to the FO membrane, creating a water flux toward the draw (saltwater) solution in the rear chamber, which is then heated and pumped through a vacuum membrane distillation cell, yielding clean water on the distillate side. Lastly, the struvite that precipitates on the FO Membrane can close resource cycles due to its dual use as a fertilizer and/or flame retardant.

Austin, Tx, Us

During the Pandemic, I worked full-time at Whole Foods Market in the grocery department. Daily responsibilities included handling, preparing, and stocking products, offering customer service and support, quality assurance and inventory checks, answering phone calls, handling money exchanges, preparing the store for opening and closing, safety walks, and cleaning.- Was promoted to Grocery Team Trainer in April 2021 with the additional responsibilities of overseeing the training of new team members, attending team leadership conferences, and supervising new employees.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Us

Met with an assigned student once a week to review course material and help with homework questions.

Worked as an EMT which consisted of, but is not limited to, caring for patients, transporting them to the hospital, and driving an ambulance under high stress conditions. Other responsibilities included documenting all patient interactions, taking vitals, performing necessary emergency medical procedures, and giving oral reports to the receiving staff or ED.

Volunteered as a summer intern for a cognitive neurophysiology and neuropsychology lab at MRRI, run by Dr. Edward Wlotko. The lab aimed to study hemispheric contributions to language comprehension by comparing the EEGs of left versus right unilateral hemispheric stroke patients, while they responded to visual and auditory stimuli. In order to quantify stroke severity and the degree of aphasia, various battery tests had to be completed by participants. One of my various roles was to use the computer program RedCAP to design a digital test format that mirrored a standardized aphasia test known as the CAT (Comprehensive Aphasia Test). I also edited various Microsoft Excel sheets and PowerPoints, cropped and edited images, cropped and edited various audio files using the software Audacity, observed patient testing sessions, and assisted in the set up and clean up for patient EEG testing sessions.

Master Of Science - Ms, Engineering

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Environmental Science

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Neuroscience