Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment

Summit

Federal Facilities Council / 2025 Sustainment Management System (SMS) Summit

July 9, 2025

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

The 2025 Sustainment Management System (SMS) Summit is a one-day virtual event providing updates on SMS software development efforts, application usage and implementation across federal facilities, and on-going and upcoming research in SMS work. During each session, federal facilities personnel and industry practitioners are invited to explore the latest developments in SMS implementation and integration in facility asset management.

Organizing Project

Federal Facilities Council

Contact

Cameron Oskvig

(202) 334-2663
coskvig@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

Microplastics and Health Webinar Series: Webinar 3 - The Potential Hazards to Human Health and The Environment from Microplastics and the Complexity of Assessing Risks

April 10, 2025

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Environmental Health Matters Initiative organized a webinar series to explore human exposure to and related health effects of microplastics in the environment.

The third webinar in the series aimed to inform the public and the scientific research community about the potential hazards associated with microplastics, drawing on documented studies and scientific evidence. It explored the harmful characteristics that researchers and stakeholders may consider in future studies.

Additionally, speakers discussed established methodologies for risk assessment while examining the complexities, uncertainties, and challenges involved in evaluating risks. This webinar aimed to lay a foundation for the development of a comprehensive and standardized framework for assessing microplastic-related risks, which can inform research priorities and downstream decision-making.
The webinar featured presentations from Todd Gouin (TG Environmental Research), Philip Landrigan (Boston College), and Stephanie Wright (Imperial College London), followed by a multisectoral panel discussion between the speakers and Valerie Hanley (California Department of Toxic Substances Control).

PAST WEBINARS - The webinar series: Exploring Exposure and Related Health Effects ran between February and June 2025.

Webinar #1: Methodologies for appropriate and improved sampling, analysis, characterization, monitoring, and reporting of microplastics. Date: February 27
Webinar #2: The Distribution of Microplastics in the Environment and Human Exposure Pathways. Date: March 20

Please submit your feedback using this post event questionnaire, we'd love to hear from you!

Organizing Project

Microplastics Webinar Series: Exploring exposure and related health effects

Contact

EHMI Staff

ehmi@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

Microplastics and Health Webinar Series: Webinar 2 – Distribution of Microplastics in the Environment and Human Exposure Pathways

March 20, 2025

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Environmental Health Matters Initiative organized a webinar series to explore human exposure to and related health effects of microplastics in the environment.

The second webinar of the Microplastics & Health webinar series aimed to promote awareness and provide a standard baseline understanding of microplastics' distribution in the environment and the most prevalent sources or hotspots of human exposure. Specifically, speakers and panelists highlighted the major exposure pathways (e.g., inhalation, ingestion, dermal contact) and identified which pathways pose the highest risk to human health. The goal was to bridge scientific findings with policy and regulatory frameworks by identifying data gaps, research priorities, and regulatory strategies that can mitigate microplastic exposure and inform downstream decision-making.

The webinar featured presentations from Bart Koelmans (Wageningen University) and Tracey Woodruff (University of California, San Francisco) followed by a multisectoral panel discussion between the speakers and Matthew MacLeod (Stockholm University) and Jane Muncke (Food Packaging Forum).

PAST WEBINARS - The webinar series: Exploring Exposure and Related Health Effects ran between February and June 2025.

Webinar #1: Methodologies for appropriate and improved sampling, analysis, characterization, monitoring, and reporting of microplastics. Date: February 27
Webinar #3: The Potential Hazards to Human Health and The Environment from Microplastics and the Complexity of Assessing Risks. Date: April 10

Please submit your feedback using this post event questionnaire, we'd love to hear from you!

Organizing Project

Microplastics Webinar Series: Exploring exposure and related health effects

Contact

EHMI Staff

ehmi@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting Closed

Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment Meeting

February 28, 2025

9:00 AM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

Meeting of the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment

Contact

Cameron Oskvig

coskvig@nas.edu

Location

National Academy of Sciences Building

2101 Constitution Ave NW

Washington DC 20418, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

Microplastics and Health Webinar Series: Webinar 1 – Methodologies for Appropriate and Improved Sampling, Analysis, Characterization, Monitoring, and Reporting of Microplastics

February 27, 2025

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

Dr. Walker-Franklin and Dr. Hankett Presentation

About

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Environmental Health Matters Initiative organized a webinar series to explore human exposure to and related health effects of microplastics in the environment.

The first webinar promoted awareness and provide a standard baseline understanding of microplastics' critical characteristics and associated future research direction. Specifically, speakers and panelists highlighted best practices and considerations for the collection, measurement, and characterization of microplastics in different media. They also explored the latest scientific findings that could enhance the comparability, reproducibility, and transparency of future microplastic research, providing crucial insights to inform downstream decision-making.

The webinar featured two presentations from Jeanne Hankett (BASF Corporation) and Imari Walker-Franklin (RTI International) followed by a multisectoral panel discussion between the speakers and Alessio Gomiero (NORCE Microplastics Center) and Leah Thornton Hampton (Southern California Coastal Water Research Project).

PAST WEBINARS - The webinar series: Exploring Exposure and Related Health Effects ran between February and June 2025.

Webinar #2: The Distribution of Microplastics in the Environment and Human Exposure Pathways. Date: March 20
Webinar #3: The Potential Hazards to Human Health and The Environment from Microplastics and the Complexity of Assessing Risks. Date: April 10

Please submit your feedback using this post event questionnaire, we'd love to hear from you!

Organizing Project

Microplastics Webinar Series: Exploring exposure and related health effects

Contact

EHMI Staff

ehmi@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Symposium

Creating a Safety Culture in Undergraduate Education

February 27, 2025

8:00 AM - 5:30 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

Materials

About

It is widely proven that when an excellent safety culture is developed, dramatically reduced safety incidents and outstanding safety performance result. Most college undergraduates, however, have never been exposed to safety culture.

The Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment, The National Academy of Construction, and Virginia Tech are hosting the first of a second symposia series that will:

Share safety culture best practices and lessons learned from the first symposia series to better prepare undergraduate students for entering the industry.
Elevate educators’ knowledge on safety culture and bring it into their existing programs.
Build networks to connect educators and the industry.

This symposia series can significantly increase safety culture knowledge at the university level and help create and sustain a safety culture across the industry.

In the 2016 National Academies report Beyond Compliance: Strengthening the Safety Culture of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry the committee recommended the adoption of the BSEE definition for safety culture as “the core values and behaviors of all members of an organization that reflect a commitment to conduct business in a manner that protects people and the environment.”

Many owners and service providers in the construction industry, have made great strides in safety by implementing known safety principles leading to excellent safety records within their organizations. Yet, progress in improving construction industry safety performance, as a whole, has been slow for many reasons including insufficient incorporation of prevention through design and lack of consistent safety culture in all parts of the industry.

There is a growing understanding in both academia and business of the need to expand the teaching of ethical concepts in undergraduate STEM curriculums. One aspect of ethics training which has not yet been emphasized is the link between teaching ethics in general and the necessity of teaching concepts for developing and fostering a culture of safety within an organization. STEM professionals are responsible for leading most organizations where the safety culture of the organization’s operations is important to protect life, injury, and public safety. The ethics education of future industry and academic leaders is critical to the development of a knowledge of safety culture, a mindset of zero workplace incidents and injuries, and a clear understanding of professional responsibility for safety.

In 2022-2023, the National Academy of Construction conducted its first symposia series on creating safety culture concepts in undergraduate education. The series illustrated how educators and industry can introduce safety culture concepts to undergraduates in construction-related programs. Successes in this area are now being seen.

The benefits of introducing safety culture concepts in curricula include:

Academia will produce better prepared graduates who understand safety culture and why it is critical for sustained outstanding safety performance.
Industry will be able to hire new employees who are ready to address an participate in this critically important element in improving safety performance.
Graduates will be able to assess safety cultures and be more valuable because of their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Contact

Cameron Oskvig

coskvig@nas.edu

Location

National Academy of Sciences Building

2101 Constitution Ave NW

Washington DC 20418, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Federal Facilities Council Standing Committee on Cyber and Physical Security and Hazard Mitigation Meeting 17 (hybrid)

December 19, 2024

2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

The Control System Lifecycle and Planning for Security

About

Chris Battisti, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will discuss Control System Lifecycle and Planning for Security.

We are seeking a second presentation.

Registration information and the agenda are forthcoming.

Organizing Project

Federal Facilities Council

Contact

Jim Myska

(202) 334-2632
jmyska@nas.edu

Location

Keck Center

500 5th St NW

Washington DC 20001, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Federal Facilities Council Standing Committee on Real Property Inventory, Planning, and Transactional Real Estate Meeting 17 (hybrid)

November 21, 2024

12:30 PM - 2:30 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

Ethan Levy, Government Accountability Office, will discuss and take questions about the recent GAO report Federal Real Property: Actions Needed to Better Assess Office Sharing Pilot’s Broader Applicability.

Kylash Ramesh, National Institutes of Health, will discuss NIH's Integrated Workplace Management System and NIH’s work in property renovation, recapitalization, and disposal.

Organizing Project

Federal Facilities Council

Contact

Jim Myska

(202) 334-2632
jmyska@nas.edu

Location

Keck Center

500 5th St NW

Washington DC 20001, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Federal Facilities Council Oversight Meeting 2024 - Meeting 4

November 21, 2024

9:00 AM - 12:30 PM (ET)

Past

About

This is the FFC Oversight Committee Meeting.

Who should attend: Federal employees of FFC sponsor organizations

Organizing Project

Federal Facilities Council

Contact

Cameron Oskvig

(202) 334-2663
coskvig@nas.edu

Location

Keck Center

500 5th St NW

Washington DC 20001, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Federal Facilities Council Combined Cyber-Physical Security Committee and Real Property Committee Meeting 16

September 19, 2024

2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

This will be a combined meeting of the FFC Standing Committee on Cyber and Physical Security and Hazard Mitigation and the Standing Committee on Real Property Inventory, Planning, and Transactional Real Estate.

Fred Lau, Veterans Administration, will make a presentation on the VA's Physical Security Resilience Design Manual.

Joe Imamura, Office of the Architect of the Capitol, will speak about his recent participation in a meeting of the International Network of Parliamentary Properties.

Access information will be sent upon registration.

Organizing Project

Federal Facilities Council

Contact

Jim Myska

jmyska@nas.edu

Location

Keck Center

500 5th St NW

Washington DC 20001, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Federal Facilities Council Oversight Meeting #3

September 19, 2024

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

The Federal Facilities Council Oversight Meeting #3

September 19, 2024

12:00 to 2:00 pm.

500 Fifth Street, NW

Keck 101

A lunch will be served in the room.

Discussion at the oversight meeting will include considerations for topics in 2025 and a roundtable discussion on current activities of FFC members.

Organizing Project

Federal Facilities Council

Contact

Cameron Oskvig

(202) 334-2663
coskvig@nas.edu

Location

Keck Center

500 5th St NW

Washington DC 20001, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

Environmental Health Matters Initiative: Introduction to Microplastics and Health Implications: Where are we and where are we going?

August 28, 2024

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

Thank you for joining us for an interactive discussion on human exposure to and related health effects of microplastics in the environment

This event was organized by the Environmental Health Matters Initiative in collaboration with the Roundtable on Plastics.

Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than five millimeters long and have a variety of sources, including from the breakdown of larger plastic products, personal care products, and industrial processes. They are persistent in the environment and contribute to soil, land, and water pollution. Recent studies have detected microplastics in many human tissues and have been linked to systemic health effects such as inflammation and other health issues, but how dangerous they are still lacks evidence-based answers. This webinar is intended to provide a baseline of information on microplastics, the concerns, how complex this issue is, and our starting point for assessing human health risks.

A moderated discussion between Margaret Spring (Monterey Bay Aquarium) and Robert Ellis-Hutchings (The Dow Chemical Company) covered what we know about microplastics and their health implications. This conversation was followed by a multisectoral panel discussion with Susanne Brander (Oregon State University) Imari Walker-Franklin (RTI International), Anil Patri (FDA), and Scott Coffin (CA OEHHA). This conversation brought to bear what has been tried worldwide, successfully or not, the lessons to draw upon, and the path forward to bridging research gaps in science and data to inform hazard, exposure, and health risks from microplastics.

The conversation was recorded and is available below. Please also see our program news covering significant takeaways from this webinar.

The Environmental Health Matters Initiative is a forum that aims to equitably improve the health of all people through evidence-based solutions to environmental health issues. The Roundtable on Plastics explores and advances systemic solutions and interventions across each stage of the life cycle to catalyze the development of innovative solutions to the plastic pollution and waste problem.

Contact

Christl Saunders

ehmi@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

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My Academies

Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment

Federal Facilities Council / 2025 Sustainment Management System (SMS) Summit

Microplastics and Health Webinar Series: Webinar 4 - Research Priorities, Mitigation Strategies, and Public Communication in the Face of Uncertainties

Microplastics and Health Webinar Series: Webinar 3 - The Potential Hazards to Human Health and The Environment from Microplastics and the Complexity of Assessing Risks

Microplastics and Health Webinar Series: Webinar 2 – Distribution of Microplastics in the Environment and Human Exposure Pathways