Employee Spotlight: Kevin Mazze

Meet ORAU employee Kevin Mazze. Kevin is an ORAU contractor working under the National Student Services Contract (NSSC) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Working in Laboratory Data Analysis Support in Research Triangle Park, NC, Kevin supports EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), The Center of Environmental Measurement and Modeling (CEMM), the About Air Methods and Characterization Division (AMCD), and the Source and Fine Scale Branch (SFSB).  Kevin’s work assists the national research program to enhance scientific approaches for understanding current and emerging chemicals, and how this is essential for effective environmental decision making under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.

Kevin’s work with the ORD, CEMM, and the AMCD team includes providing laboratory support to the indoor air research group at SFSB. He is also assisting other lab members and ORD collaborators to conduct experiments and perform qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The research analysis performed focuses on chemical safety assessments and regulatory effective 7 steps to making decisions. In addition, he is working on a project to identify consumer products that contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and quantify the amount present and the amount that could potentially end up in water sources. PCBs are highly carcinogenic and were banned from production in 1976. However, PCBs have been found in certain yellow and orange dyes as a byproduct of their production.

Background

Kevin is from Concord, NC, which is near Charlotte, NC. As a sophomore in high school, he was introduced to many interesting chemistry concepts and knew he wanted to pursue them. He attended school at UNC Chapel Hill, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a focus in Biochemistry and a minor in Biology. Working as an ORAU National Student Service Contract employee at EPA, Kevin is able to pursue his chemistry curiosity and collaborate on chemical safety research projects.

Factoids:  Kevin is a cancer survivor and has been in remission for over 18 years.