presentations

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE AND PRESENTATIONS 

 

Global Water and Health Conference, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC       October 2011
Poster presentation: Top-Lit Up-Draft (TLUD) Cookstove Biochar: Appropriate Technology for Sustainable Low‑Cost 
Household Clean Energy, Water Treatment, Agronomic Enhancement, and Distributed CO2 Sequestration

American Chemical Society, Denver, CO     August 2011
242nd National Meeting, Division of Environmental Chemistry, Session: Black Carbon and Biochar for Soil Fertility and Carbon Sequestration. 

Awarded a Certificate of Merit for oral presentation: Biochar production for use as low-cost adsorbents: Applications in drinking water treatment
serving developing communities


American Water Works Association/Water Environment Association, Albuquerque, NM       May 2011 

Rocky Mountain Regional Student Conference 

Oral presentation: Biochar as DIY GAC: The Real "Clean Coal".


American Water Works Association, Savannah, GA       November 2010 

Water Quality & Technology Conference. Oral presentation: Removal of pesticides from drinking water using 

indigenous charcoal adsorbents. 

 

iBoP-Asia Innovations Forum, Manila, Philippines       October 2010 

Innovation for the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (iBoP) Grants Program Innovation Forum, project final report iBoP-Asia 

Partnership Between the Ateneo School of Government (Manila, Philippines) and the International Development  

Research Centre (Canada). Oral presentation: Carbon filtration drinking water systems. 

 

American Water Works Association/Water Environment Federation, Boulder, CO       May 2010 

Rocky Mountain Regional Student Conference 

Oral presentation: Removal of pesticides from drinking water using indigenous charcoal adsorbents. 

 

American Water Works Association, Seattle, WA       November 2009 

Water Quality & Technology Conference attendee. 

 

Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness, Bangkok, Thailand    November 2007 

Oral presentation: Self-reliance in water treatment: Providing safe drinking water to communities using charcoal 

filtration to remove pesticides. 

 

Information Systems Project Fair, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.    December 2005 

Poster/kiosk presentation: Product demonstration: a web-based personal Ecological Footprint calculator and  

interactive sustainability scenario-building interface. 

 

Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark      June 2004 

Poster presentation: Steady-State Dissolution Kinetics of Mineral Iron Phosphate in the Presence of  

Desferrioxamine-B and Oxalate ligands at pH = 4-6 and T=11-40  ̊C. 

 

American Geophysical Union Conference, San Francisco, CA      December 2003 

Poster presentation: Siderophores may simultaneously influence iron and phosphorus bioavailability in soils. 

 

PRESENTATIONS TO UNIVERSITY CLASSES AND SEMINARS 


Adsorption of pesticides in traditional charcoal water filters. Presentation at Departmental Seminar. August 2011
Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, Mortenson Center in Engineering For Developing Communities, 

Engineers Without Borders CU-Boulder Student Chapter, University of Colorado-Boulder.

Charcoal/biochar as low-cost locally-derived sorbents: carbon filtration for developing communities. June 2011
Presentation to Summers’ laboratory research group meeting.

Adsorption of pestici
des in traditional charcoal water filters. February 2011

Presentation to Engineers Without Borders, CU-Boulder 


Advancing self-reliance and sustainability in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): working with refugee children’s 

homes and schools in the Thailand-Burma border region.       October 2010

Presentation at the Center for Asian Studies Seminar Series, CU-Boulder. 

 

The relative importance and treatability of agrichemicals in drinking water in “developing communities.”  November 2009 

Presentation to class “Water, Sanitation and Hygiene,” CU-Boulder. 

 

WASH projects serving a school for displaced children, Thai-Burma border area. Reents N and Kearns J.  September 2009 

Presentation to class “Sustainable Community Development,” CU-Boulder. 

 

Sustainability and self-reliance in drinking water purification: Using ordinary charcoal to remove pesticides.  April 2008 

Academic seminar for the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Clemson University. 

 

Sustainability and self-reliance in drinking water purification: Using ordinary charcoal to remove pesticides.  April 2008 

Presentation to Engineers Without Borders, North Carolina State University. 

 

The Footprint of a Monk: Sustainability and living the good life in Thailand and around the world.      December 2007 

Presentation on the Ecological Footprint, economics and well-being to Environmental Studies class, Muhachulalongkorn 

Buddhist University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. 


Ecological Footprint: Sustainability and Human Well-Being.      Spring & Fall semesters 2006

Presentation to classes: Education C193B:  Environmental Education. University of California-Berkeley. 

  

Ecological Footprint: Sustainability and Human Well-Being.      April 2006

Presentation to class: Environmental Science, Policy &  April 2006 Management 150: Navigating the Global Environment: 

Knowledge, Resources and Risk, Univ. of California-Berkeley. 

 

Ecological Footprint: Sustainability and Human Well-Being.      January 2006

Department of Earth & Planetary Science Graduate Student Seminar, University of California-Berkeley. 

 

PRESENTATIONS TO FUNDERS 

 

Advancing self-reliance in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): working with children’s homes and schools in SE Asia.     August 2010 

Presentation to Rotary Clubs of Statesville, NC. 

 

WASH (water-sanitation-hygiene) projects serving a school for Burmese refugees in Thailand.     December 2009 

Presentation to Rotary Club of Loveland, CO. 

 

WASH projects serving a school for displaced children, Thai-Burma border area. Kearns J and Geheran J.  September 2009 

Presentation to the Foundation for Global Community, Palo Alto CA. 

 

Carbon filtration drinking water systems. Project proposal presentation to iBoP-Asia Grants Program Committee, August 2009 

Manila, Philippines. 

 

Sustainability and local self-reliance in drinking water purification – the global water challenge and Aqueous August 4, 5, 6, 

Solutions’ field projects in SE Asia 2009-2010. Presentation to Rotary Clubs of Statesville, NC.   August 2009 

 

Providing Safe Drinking Water to Rural Communities in Thailand Using Charcoal Filtration to Remove Pesticides. May 2008 

Presentation to Lindbergh Foundation Board of Directors, Atlanta, GA. 

 

Providing safe drinking water to a farm community in Thailand using charcoal filtration to remove pesticides. June 2007 

Presentations at three Rotary Club meetings in Statesville, NC. 

 

PRESENTATIONS TO NON-ACADEMIC/NON-TECHNICAL AUDIENCES


Appropriate technologies for water and sanitation.     February 2012
Presentation and hands-on demonstrations for environmental studies class, Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Appropriate technology in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH App-Tech).     February 2012
Presentation to Pun Pun Organic Farm community, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.


Charcoal filtration: Appropriate technology for water treatment in rural areas.     December 2011

Presentation to Pun Pun Organic Farm community, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.

Charcoal filters for water treatment in "developing communities." Presentation to interns and staff, Echo Global Farm,

Ft Myers, Florida.     March 2011

 

Low-tech approaches to water treatment. Presentation to interns and community members, Pun Pun Organic Farm,

Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.     January 2010

 

Ecological sustainability and human well-being: what’s economics got to do with it?    

Presentation to students from Bangkok International High School. Panya Sustainable Living Project, 

Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.     February 2009

 

Intro to environmental biogeochemistry and global systems science for organic farmers. Presentation to Pun Pun Organic Farm,

Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.      December 2008

 

The global water challenge: providing safe drinking water for the twenty-first century. Presentation to Pun Pun Organic Farm,

Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.    November 2008

 

Biochar: what is it and why should we care? Presentation on the benefits of gardening with biochar, Panya Sustainable Living Project,

Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.    November 2008

 

Sustainability and Self-Reliance in Drinking Water Purification. Town of Apex Conservation Days event, Apex, NC.      May 2008   

 

A five-gallon bucket filter for rooftop harvested rainwater. Demonstration and home water treatment workshop.     April 2008 

Residential Rainwater and Greywater Harvesting workshop, Ashevillage Institute, Asheville, NC. 

 

Challenging the Economics of Globalization: Towards Sustainability and Authentic Well-Being.      February 2008,

Presentation to students from Bangkok International High School. Panya Sustainable Living Project, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. 

 

Agrichemical runoff and charcoal filtration: whole systems design for self-reliance in drinking water purification.     November 2007 

Presentation to permaculture design course. Panya Sustainable Living Project, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. 

 

Permaculture organic gardening techniques and earthen building methods.     January 2007

A one-day workshop for Burmese refugees and students from Earth Rights International School, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. 

 

Ecological Sustainability and Christian Environmental Stewardship. Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church      September 2006 

Huntington, WV. 

 

Ecological Footprint: Sustainability and Human Well-Being. At Conference - Circles of Hope: Creating Life-Serving 

Communities. Black Kettle Farm, Essex, NY.    August 2006.

 

Application Possibilities of Ecological Footprint Analysis for Straw Bale Building. For California Straw Building 

Association, Yorkville, CA.    June 2006

 

Ecological Footprint: Sustainability and Human Well-Being. In class: Social Justice. St. Patrick- St.Vincent High  

School, Vallejo, CA.      April 2006