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Our nation threw its best brain power and leadership into winning World War II. In a few years scientists succeeded in creating a weapon that was so powerful it ended a war, and prevented wars as devastating as WWI & WWII since then. On the History, Cleanup, and Nuclear Science pages, many people important to the Manhattan Project and Hanford were introduced...

But, Who Will Follow in Their Footsteps?

Below are some folks who work hard to see that Hanford is cleaned up and the Columbia River and our environment are protected. These bright, hard working, individuals are also active in the local community. They live downstream from Hanford, drink the water, swim and boat in the Columbia river, and know they must protect these resources for all of us. But they can't do it alone.

The American public must ensure adequate effort and brain power, and sufficient funding, are applied to cleaning up the Site. So, get involved, and join us in working to clean-up Hanford!

Suzanne Dahl

Hydrogeologist Suzanne Dahl works for the Washington State Dept. of Ecology. She has worked on many superfund cleanups, and understands the science of cleanup.

Suzanne currently is in charge of working with engineers to ensure that the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant will be able to process the waste from the 177 underground storage tanks.

Education: Master's in Geology from Baylor University in Texas.

Hobbies: Skiing and teaching her kids about watersheds in her spare time.

Darby Stapp

Though parts of the Hanford Site have been damaged beyond repair, others areas are the resting place of former villages, burial sites and sacred places to those who called the Columbia Basin home before anglo settlement.

Archeologist Darby Stapp is the head of the Cultural Resources department at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Education: Ph.D., American Civilization, University of Pennsylvania - with undergrad degrees in Anthropology and Geology.

Hobbies: He's writes an archaeology column for the Tri-City Herald.

For fun, Darby likes to golf.

Ellen Prendergast-Kennedy

Ellen Pendergast-Kennedy is a cultural archaeologist. Among other things she works with tribal elders to get the history of the Hanford Site from before white settlement. Knowing what Native Americans traditionally used the Hanford Site for is important to establishing cleanup goals.

Education: M.A. in Anthropology, from Western Washington University and a B.A., in Historic Preservation and Anthropology Mary Washington College.

Affiliations: Ellen is active in the American Anthropological Association, Anthropology and the Environment Section of AAA, Society for Applied Anthropology, Oral History Association.

Hobbies:Skiing, Hiking/Camping, and reading.

Zelma Jackson
Zelma is a hydro-geologist, a geologist who specializes in the way water behaves underground. She attended the University of Washington.

Zelma has worked at Hanford for a long time, and first came here to work on the Basalt Waste Isolation Project.

She's mainly concerned with how contaminants move through the soil and contaminate groundwater, and is especially interested in the clastic dykes across the site. Clastic dykes are features of clay or silt that cut vertically through the soil profile.

Bruce Bjornstad

Bruce, a geologist, is a senior research scientist for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

He specializes in stratigraphy, sedimentology, and geomorphology. His main interest is the Ice-Age Floods. All of Hanford's waste are stored in deposits from these floods so he contributes understanding that allows scientists to better understand how Hanford's wastes move through the subsurface and how to best clean them up.

Education: MS Geology, Eastern WA Univ., BS Geology - Univ. of NH

Hobbies & Service: Bruce likes to ski, windsurf, hike, and scuba dive. He volunteers as a computer instructor for senior citizens, and leads educational field trips through the Ice-Age Floods Institute .

Find out more about geology: Geological Society of America

Bruce Bjornstad stands on a glacial erratic in the Horse Heaven Hills, South of Kennewick, WA.

Glacial erratics were rafted in on iceburgs during the Missoula Floods. This granite boulder was probably transported about 200 miles from what is now the Idaho/Montana border!

Jerry Yokel

Jerry is Ecology's Nuclear Waste Program lead chemist. He has to collect samples from waste sites, and review documents to examine what's going on in Hanford Tanks, and other locations across the Site.

Education: Chemistry and animal science-physiology

Hobbies & Service: Jerry plays fiddle, mandolin, harmonicas, Irish whistles, Irish banjo, and bass guitar in local bands. He volunteers at his kids school and through Good Samaritan Ministries. He also raises and trains Weimaraners, hunts, fishes, plays golf and tennis, backpacks, and goes cross country skiing. Phew! I'm tired just typing that!

Your Name Here???

Whether you're interested in science, engineering, math, biology, or even communications there will probably be jobs at Hanford for a very long time.

Even after cleanup is "done" some people will be needed to keep checking for pollution and to keep the public away from areas that are still radioactive.

Stay in school

Study hard

Take lots of math and science classes.

Learn to write well

Critical Thinking...

What do you want to be when you're an adult? A metal fabricator, a biologist, an engineer, a writer?

Try this: Find someone who has that type of job at Hanford or elsewhere and find out what sort of training they had to have to get the job? How many years in school? What sort of pay do they have? Do they like their job? Why or why not.

Follow these other link to learn more about Hanford.

Are you interested in having a classroom presentation on Hanford? We've got cool, hands-on projects to help kids understand the challenges and importance of Hanford Cleanup. Please email Ginger Wireman - Environmental Education and Outreach Specialist, or call 372-7935.