Dr Richard J. Lee

Chief Executive Officer

RJ Lee Group

PH: +1 (724) 325-1776
Fax: +1 (724) 733-1799
Email: [email protected]
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Background

Dr. Lee specializes in the characterization of construction materials and bringing innovation to these projects by tailoring techniques to a specific problem. Selected projects consist of developing microscopy (optical and SEM) procedures for examining cracking in concrete railroad ties, developing techniques for examining deleterious effects of sulfate and chloride attack in the foundations of homes and in developing ASTM standards for the use of scanning electron microscopy in the cement and construction industries.

Dr. Lee has been involved in managing laboratory operations, as well as the development of laboratory automation and information management systems. He has directed more than twenty software engineers on projects ranging from computer controls for electron microscopes to the deployment of the Enterprise Laboratory Information Management System (eLIMS) and the provision of nationwide data warehousing for engine health maintenance data for the US Air Force. In addition, he formed RJ Lee Solutions to deploy environmental and forensic LIMs systems commercially. Dr. Lee has also been extensively involved in laboratory instrument design and development. In particular, he developed the PSEMTM microscope (A trademark of ASPEX Corporation) system for gun shot residue analysis, widely used in criminal forensics nationally and internationally.

Dr. Lee acts as a consultant to a wide variety of industrial and governmental organizations. Throughout the last 25 years, he has periodically served as an advisor to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This role began with the design of an EPA laboratory for the analysis of asbestos and other particulate. Dr. Lee served as a peer reviewer/consulting expert in the development and writing of the Yamate method - is the only one of the three methods that is designed to analyze air samples in environments where both asbestos amphiboles and non-asbestos amphiboles are present. He authored the TEM analysis method instituted as part of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) rules. He performed the laboratory analysis underlying more than 30 EPA projects, including EPA's assessment of airborne asbestos concentrations in public buildings, and has served as a peer reviewer on other EPA projects. He was a member of the Health Effects Institute (HEI) peer review panel to assess the significance of asbestos in public buildings, and was one of the authors of the landmark report that resulted from that review.

Dr. Lee actively consulted with and supported EPA Region 2 in evaluating contamination in NYC buildings impacted by the events of 9/11. He and his staff performed the following functions: 1) designed, implemented, provided oversight and conducted sampling and laboratory analyses for building remediation; 2) planned, organized, developed protocols and conducted health and safety and community air quality monitoring programs in and around the impacted area and during deconstruction / demolition of one of the buildings; and 3) reported project status and results to EPA Region 2 on a weekly basis during the course of this multi-year study. He and his staff actively supported the EPA's Office of Research and Development in the development of a method to evaluate dusts from the Lower Manhattan district associated with the World Trade Center disaster. They also supported the EPA's investigation of potential emissions of tremolite asbestos from the Southdown Quarry in New Jersey.

Dr. Lee has served on American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) committees to define methods for the analysis of asbestos. He has been named an expert witness in state and federal courts in numerous asbestos related cases over the last twenty years. In addition, he has published the most extensive survey of asbestos concentrations in public buildings.

Dr. Lee holds 6 patents and has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers.