What comes to mind when you hear ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM or EMS? I think of a mound of paperwork to handle or move hazardous wastes in order to comply with legal requirements. It doesn't have to be like that. EMS can mean an exciting process to help your company make effective decisions that will keep your organization focused on improving environmental performance while keeping costs low and improving communication within the company. Why start from scratch? Hear lessons learned at TVA where 14 teams came together to improve the EMS.

Daniel, a sophomore at Baylor School, began his presentation by playing a video tape of kayaking. This tape showed several obstacles (rocks and trees) that require the kayak plastic to be durable. He has been kayaking for 4 ½ years and prefers creeking where the water moves faster, has more dramatic drops, and some spaces are narrow. He explained that kayaking was one of his interests, and that is how it became the topic of his science fair project. His science teacher at Baylor required students to participate in the science fair. He had been reading and hearing about new plastics used for kayaks. Of course, every kayak manufacturer will tell you their material and design is the most durable. He decided to test the material strengths of their plastics to see which really was the most durable. At his request, three kayak manufactures provided Daniel with samples of the plastic used in their kayaks. In return for the samples, Daniel has provided the manufacturers the results of his tests.

To test the strength of the plastic samples, Daniel sought out an expert in materials testing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). Daniel prepared samples of each plastic for the tests. One test used an extensometer to stretch it, and to explain the test He drew on the marker board a device similar to that found at http://www.epsilontech.com/. At UTC, Daniel also tested the plastics for stiffness. Test information was loaded into Excel and corrected for thickness in order to compare the results. He explained how some kayak manufacturers use a rotomolding process. The speed of rotation is used to control the thickness in certain parts of the kayak. The edges and sides are usually thicker than the rest than the rest of the kayak body.

Daniel’s science fair project received the ASM International Foundation Award for the best exhibit in materials engineering at the dinner for the 51ST ANNUAL CHATTANOOGA REGIONAL SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FAIR on MARCH 13, 2003. Jack Wagner spoke briefly about plans for the next science fair.

Respectfully submitted by Judy Driggans

The entire minutes of last weeks meeting may be found at http://www.chattanoogaengineersclub.org/MeetingMinutes/CECMinutes061603.pdf

FUTURE MONDAY MEETINGS_____________________________________
June 30: Tour of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Training Facility - Jan Griffin

July 7: The Next Generation Orbiting Space Telescope - NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

July 14: Supercomputers - Their Design and Application at ORNL- Thomas Zacharia, Director of ORNL's computational Science Laboratory

July 21: To be confirmed

July 28: Garbage! How much more of this can we take? - Damon Riggs, Project. Manager, Solid Waste, ARCADIS

In August: Internet II - Awesome Speed and Immense Possibilities - Dr. Clint Smullen, UTC

WHERE WE MEET_______________________________________
Unless we note otherwise, all of our presentation meetings are held at the Cellar Restaurant in the Tallan Building, Union Square, Downtown Chattanooga from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Out meeting room and luncheon service are open by 11:30 a.m. Lunch buffet is $10.00 per person (inclusive). No reservation is required. Free parking is available in the Days Inn Motel (on Carter Street and MLK Blvd.) courtesy of the Days Inn management. When you park there, be sure to place a note on your dashboard indicating you are attending the Engineers Club meeting.

QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS? ______________________________
If you have any questions or suggestions about program items please call Brad Baucom at 423-648-3582 or email him at baucombe@epb.net. You can find references to other Chattanooga Engineers Club members at our web site: www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org.