2017 Presentations and Speaker Bios

Dr. Thomas Mitzel began his appointment as the 12th president of Dickinson state University Dec. 21, 2015. Mitzel and his wife Rhonda relocated from Hartford, Connecticut where he served as the vice president for academic affairs (VPAA) at Trinity College (July 2013 – December 2015).

Mitzel began at Trinity College in 1996 as a faculty member in the department of Chemistry where he achieved rank of full professor. In 2008, he accepted the position of associate academic dean and continued to teach chemistry until he left Trinity in 2011. Before his return to Trinity College in 2013, Mitzel served as dean of the School of Natural Sciences (July 2011 – July 2013) and interim director of the Wild Basin Creative Research Center at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas (May 2012 – 2013).

Growing up in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Mitzel attended Northern State University where he participated on the track and field team and received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. He then earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and was a postdoctoral fellow at The Ohio State University.

Dr. Mitzel arrived in Dickinson with his wife, Rhonda, on December 7, 2015. It was easy for Dr. Mitzel to adjust to the small town. “One of the things that drew me back [to the Midwest] was my own education in Aberdeen [SD] at Northern State, and I love that interplay between the small city and the university.” He felt right at home, especially because the people were so welcoming. “We had not had a bad interaction with anybody in the community, and that streak continues,” he said. “Everybody’s been wonderful. One of the things I noticed, especially the first time I was here, was the level of enthusiasm, not just on campus, but off campus as well.”

Dr. Mitzel is most excited about the unique opportunities DSU presents its students. “We have a 10:1 student-faculty ratio right now on the DSU campus, which means that you’re going to know your professor. When you knock on a door, somebody’s going to be there. [That] also means if you miss class, I can call your dorm room and find you,” he said, with a laugh. “That level of interaction, you aren’t just sitting in a classroom taking notes, you’re getting outside-of-the-classroom information, you’re able to work on a faculty member’s scholarship with the enthusiasm that got them to go after their advanced degree—you see the light in their eyes, and it picks up.” Dr. Mitzel is confident DSU prepares its students for life after college and continual educational development. “Our goal for our students has to be not only to teach them what we need to within their majors and their areas of study, but to teach them that learning really is a lifelong goal. Once they leave Dickinson State University, they are going to continue to have that learning process.”

Darryl R. Nelson

Nelson Environmental Remediation – Keynote Speaker

Nelson was born 1962 and raised near Vermilion, Alberta, Canada with a family business in agriculture and heavy equipment earth-moving construction founded in the 1960’s by his late father John.

Nelson and his brother Warren founded NELSON Environmental Remediation Ltd. in 1992 specializing in thermal remediation of soil contaminated with organic compounds such as petroleum hydrocarbons and other chemicals. The company can mobilize to contaminated sites nearly anywhere in the world and specializes in large-scale remediation projects urban or remote, often operating in extreme climates such as the Canadian Arctic or the tropics.

The NELSON head office is located near Spruce Grove, a suburb of Edmonton, Alberta. NELSON Environmental Remediation is honored to have won the 2015 Alberta Clean Tech Export award and 2016 Business in Edmonton Leaders award.

Darryl studied Business Administration at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) graduating with honor in 1984, and lives on an acreage near Spruce Grove with 6 children and his very busy wife Linda.

Presentation: Thermal Desorption Technology and Application for Soil Remediation

Joel Galloway

Dakota Water Science Center

Joel worked for the U.S. Geological Survey for 22 years in North Dakota, Arkansas, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wyoming and is currently the Associate Director for the USGS Dakota Water Science Center. He has a Master of Science degree in environmental/civil engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the University of North Dakota. Joel has authored or coauthored over 40 scientific reports and journal articles on different water-quality, ground-water, and surface-water topics including modeling reservoir hydrodynamics and water-quality in Arkansas, Colorado, and North Dakota; investigations of emerging contaminates in streams in northwestern Arkansas, and several sediment transport studies in Arkansas and North Dakota. He also has worked on several ground-water projects including studies defining recharge characteristics of springs and caves in Arkansas and Oklahoma that are home to threatened or endangered species, and a water-quality assessment of groundwater resources in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana.

Presentation: Natural Resources in the Williston Basin, What Do We Know?

Commissioner Doug Goehring

ND Department of Agriculture

Commissioner Goehring has been North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner since 2009.

A third-generation farmer, Commissioner Goehring, along with his son, Dustin, operates a 2,000-acre, no-till farm near Menoken in south central North Dakota, where they raise corn, soybeans, spring wheat, winter wheat, sunflowers, and barley. In the past, the Goehrings have also produced durum, canola, mustard, millet, safflower, alfalfa, lentils and field peas, and have had a feeder cattle operation.

Commissioner Goehring is the former president and chairman of the board of Nodak Mutual Insurance Co. and a director of American Agricultural Insurance Co.

Long active in farm organizations, Commissioner Goehring has served as vice president of the North Dakota Farm Bureau and is a member of the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association, the North Dakota Grain Growers, the North Dakota Soybean Association, the North Dakota Corn Growers Association and the National Association of Corporate Directors. An early supporter of agriculture-based, renewable fuels, he is an investor in the Red Trail Energy Ethanol Plant at Richardton.

Commissioner Goehring is past president of the Midwestern Association of State Departments of Agriculture. He is a former director of the United Soybean Board where he served as chairman of the sustainability committee, domestic research committee, industrial uses and international marketing committee. He was a former director of the North Dakota Soybean Council, a former secretary/treasurer of the North Dakota Grain Growers Association and a member of USDA’s Area 4 Research Farm Steering Committee. He is the former president of the Menoken School Board and past chairman of the Bismarck Mandan Chamber Agriculture Committee.

He is past president of the Food Export Association of the Midwest, a non-profit organization composed of 12 Midwestern state agricultural promotion agencies that use federal, state, and industry resources to help U.S. suppliers increase product sales overseas.

Commissioner Goehring attended Bismarck State College and is a licensed medical laboratory technician.

Commissioner Goehring and wife Annette have six children and seven grandchildren. They attend Evangel Assembly of God in Bismarck.

Presentation: Pipeline Restoration & Reclamation Oversight Pilot Program

Bradley Stevens

EERC

Brad Stevens is a Senior Research Engineer in Civil Engineering and Renewables at the EERC. He has a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of North Dakota. Prior to his employment at the EERC, he worked on leaking underground storage tank remediation for consulting firms in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. Mr. Stevens’ principal areas of interest and expertise include wind power generation; soil, groundwater, and industrial process water remediation; and process instrumentation and control. Mr. Stevens is a registered professional engineer in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Presentation: Innovation and Adaptation of the Oil & Gas Industry Throughout Bakken Development

Ryan Limb

NDSU

Current
Assistant Professor and Interim Range Program Coordinator
Range Program – School of Natural Resource Sciences
North Dakota State University

Previous
Assistant Professor
Oregon State University

Research Specialist
Oklahoma State University

PhD – Oklahoma State University
MS – North Dakota State University
BS – Montana State University

Dr. Limb’s career focus is working to restore rangeland species and ecosystems with over 12 years of experience stretching though the Northern and Southern Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Great Basin and the Pacific Northwest. Much of his work has centered on restoring plant communities and soil properties after industrial and military activities. Currently he is working on reclaiming historic and recent brine spills as well as improving reclamation success on surface coal mines.

Dr. Limb was recognized as the Outstanding Young Professional in 2015 by the Society for Range Management. In addition to serving on the societies Reclamation and Restoration Committee as well as the Wildlife Habitat Committee, he is a co-PI and member of the Board of Directors for the Great Plains Fire Science Exchange.

Presentation: Rangeland Reclamation: Regulating Two Energy Industries in North Dakota for Success

Cody VanderBusch

NDOGC

VanderBusch began working with the Oil and Gas Division in 2006 as a field inspector in the Dickinson district. In 2010 he moved to Bismarck and accepted his current position as the Reclamation Specialist. VanderBusch is a North Dakota native and is a graduate of North Dakota State University with a degree in Geology and a minor is Soils. His appreciation of the outdoors as well as his North Dakota heritage gives VanderBusch an important perspective when managing a critical regulatory department within Oil and Gas.

Presentation: North Dakota’s AWPSRF Program

Dr. Aaron Daigh

NDSU

Dr. Daigh (pronounced “Day”) is an Assistant Professor of Soil Physics in the School of Natural Resource Sciences at North Dakota State University. He obtained his B.S. in Environmental, Soil and Water Science and his M.S. in Agronomy at the University of Arkansas followed by a PhD in Soil Science and Environmental Science at Iowa State University. Before joining NDSU, he was an Associate Researcher of Drainage Water Quality in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Dept. at Iowa State University. He has conducted research in soil physics and soil management for over 10 years on topics ranging from soil salinity, land reclamation, soil tillage, tile drainage, bioenergy, nutrient management, crop rotations, and soil flooding.

Presentation: Approaching brine spills from the surface: A research update on using crystallization inhibitors

Kevin Sedivec

NDSU

Current Position: Extension Rangeland Specialist – NDSU Extension Service and Interim Director, Central Grasslands Research and Extension Center

– Started in 1989 and
– Located on the Main Campus in Fargo in the School of Natural Resource Sciences and Research Center near Streeter

Education

– B.S in Zoology – Wildlife Management
– M.S. in Animal and Range Sciences
-Ph.D. in Animal and Range Sciences from North Dakota State University in 1994

Been conducting extension reclamation and remediation of energy related impacts since 2013.

Presentation: Effects of remediation techniques on selected grass species seeding’s associated with legacy brine waste pits in north-central North Dakota

Dave Glatt

ND Department of Health

Glatt joined the North Dakota Department of Health in 1983 as an environmental engineer. In 1989, he became manager of the Ground Water Protection Program and was named as assistant director for the Division of Water Quality shortly thereafter. In May 2000, Glatt was named director of the Division of Waste Management, and in 2002, he was named section chief of the Environmental Health Section. In December 2016, he was named interim acting co-director of the North Dakota Department of Health. He is a registered professional engineer receiving a BS degree in biology with a MS degree in Environmental Engineering from North Dakota State University, Fargo.

Presentation: Oilfield Waste and Spill Remediation

Jacqueline Finck

Terracon

Finck completed her Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Minnesota Duluth. After graduating, she started working for a consulting company in North Dakota where she worked on aggregate mapping and exploration. She also worked on brine and petroleum hydrocarbon spill cleanups in the Williston Basin. Finck is currently a Staff Geologist for Terracon Consultants, Inc. in West Fargo, North Dakota where she manages site investigation, remediation, and reclamation of petroleum hydrocarbon, brine, and agricultural contaminated site projects in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Presentation: Site Investigation, Remediation, and Reclamation of Oil & Gas and Brine Spills in North Dakota

Jon Ellingson

Terracon

Ellingson completed his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Geology from the University of North Dakota. After completing two years of his PhD, he moved to Rome, Georgia where he taught college geology and environmental classes. Jon then moved to Minnesota, where he worked on mineral exploration and mine reclamation for the MN/DNR. From there, he went into consulting, where he worked on large reclamation and remediation projects in Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina. About four years ago, he moved back to North Dakota, primarily working on oil and gas and brine spill cleanup in the Williston Basin. Ellingson is currently the office manager for Terracon Consultants, Inc. in West Fargo, North Dakota and the office’s project director for site investigation, remediation, site closures, and reclamation.

Presentation: Site Investigation, Remediation, and Reclamation of Oil & Gas and Brine Spills in North Dakota

Kirk Hartel

HRI

Hartel is the cofounder of Hartel Reclamation, Inc. (HRI), which provides high-quality, full-cycle land reclamation and stewardship services in North Dakota. Leveraging science-based principles and long-term relationships with landowners, HRI seeks to maximize the success of land reclamation and improve reclamation experiences for landowners and oil & gas industry stakeholders.

Hartel comes from McKenzie County, where his sixth-generation farm & ranch family has focused on enhanced land conservation through the continual adoption of new technologies and management practices. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Biotechnology and a Master’s Degree in Plant Sciences from NDSU, as well as, an MBA in Finance and Management from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. While at NDSU and the USDA-ARS, his research focused on molecular genetics and the development of disease resistant wheat for North Dakota.

Hartel served as Vice President and cofounder of Fluorescence Innovations, a research and development firm focused on developing advanced technologies for the life science industry, and went on to cofound a family-based business that provides fresh water and heating services to the oil & gas industry in McKenzie County. Prior to starting HRI, Hartel held roles in business development, new ventures, and mergers & acquisitions for Dow AgroSciences (a Dow Chemical Company) and Alcon (a Novartis Company).

Presentation: Advancing Land Reclamation through Tailored, Full-Cycle Service

~presentation not available for download~

Dr. David Toledo

USDA – ARS

Dr. Toledo completed his Ph. D. in 2012 in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Texas A&M University, where he was also a trainee of the National Science Foundation – IGERT Applied Biodiversity Science Program. Dr. Toledo is currently a Research Rangeland Management Specialist with the USDA-ARS in Mandan, ND and his research focuses on ecosystem health evaluation and finding ways of optimizing land management practices under changing climate and land-use scenarios. Dr. Toledo’s previous research experience includes the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, where he worked on the development and application of indicators for monitoring soil and vegetation attributes and his Doctoral research where he evaluated the social dimensions of using prescribed fire as a rangeland restoration tool. David has also contributed to projects related to ecosystem health in the USA as well as in Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Colombia.

Presentation: Use of Cover Crops for Revegetation after Energy Development in Northern Mixed Grass Prairie

Austin Link

NDSU

Austin Link grew up on a dairy farm in north central Minnesota. He followed his passion for agriculture and the outdoors to the University of Minnesota, Crookston where he earned a B.S. in Natural Resources Management. Austin proceeded to earn a M.S. in Range Science at North Dakota State University. After spending a year with BKS Environmental Associates, as a Vegetation Ecologist, he returned to NDSU to perform research at the Williston Research Extension Center. He currently serves as an Agronomy Research Specialist at the WREC. His responsibilities include dryland crop variety testing, agronomic production research trials, and reclamation research. He enjoys having the opportunity to conduct research that will have an immediate impact in cropping systems of producers in western North Dakota. In his free time, Austin enjoys pheasant hunting and downhill skiing with his wife, Emma.

Presentation: Effects of Cropping Sequence on Pipeline Reclamation in Western North Dakota