Olson to provide free online training on PFAS chemistry, October 9
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), known as “forever chemicals,” are a hot topic in the scientific community, yet they impact all of us.
Mitch Olson has been involved with research and education on PFAS for more than a decade. As a member of the Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC), he leads a range of publicly available PFAS trainings. The ITRC team wanted to make the complex chemistry of PFAS more accessible to a broad audience, prompting the idea for a training to present the fundamentals.
“We’ve noticed in our trainings covering PFAS basics the past few years, there are several comments and questions surrounding the chemistry and naming conventions under the blanket term ‘PFAS’ which encompasses more than 10,000 chemicals,” said Olson.
Olson will co-present the ITRC’s online PFAS Chemistry Training on Thursday, October 9 from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. MST (1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. EDT). The training will be presented live, and also recorded to be available on the EPA’s CLU-IN site afterwards.
“Our overarching goal with this training is to introduce important concepts in PFAS chemistry to people who are interested in learning more about PFAS, but have found the complexity of the chemistry and chemical names to be a barrier to understanding.”
Olson contributed to ITRC’s comprehensive PFAS guidance document, a widely relied upon resource in the field with over 300,000 views. The guidance was a result of the research and input of regulators, consultants, academics, and interested citizens and underwent extensive internal and external reviews.
“I am humbled to be part of this team producing meaningful work that is reaching so many,” said Olson.
Olson will present on methane mitigation systems at the Colorado Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) at the fall 2025 conference in Fort Collins. He’ll present on the industrial chemical 1,4-Dioxane at the 2025 Remediation Technology and Emerging Contaminants Summit in Denver.
The Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC) is a national coalition focused on developing tools and strategies to reduce interstate barriers to the deployment of innovative environmental technologies. The ITRC program was created in 1995 by the Committee to Develop On-Site Innovative Technologies under the Western Governors’ Association.