Lara

About Me

I am Lara and if you read me, I hope my articles can be useful in some way.

My Awards & Certifications

Master of Science – Civil Engineering Department (Environmental Program), University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez Campus, GPA = 3.64 (Jan. 2002-Dec. 2004)

Bachelor of Science – Chemical Engineering Department, University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez Campus, GPA= 3.23 (Aug. 1994-Dec.1999)

Engineer In Training - License #19879

My Experience

Chemical and Environmental Engineer with significant experience in the areas of validations, non-conformance investigations and EHS compliance including R&D projects.

Relevant Experience:

Independent Contractor: Offering specialized services to individual clients upon request. Principal clients:

• Greenway Energy, LLC South Carolina, USA (January 2009 – Present): Consulting on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells projects, including work on a DOE Education and Outreach Project with the South Carolina Hydrogen Fuel Cell Alliance.

• EFH Arquitectos, Mayagüez, P.R. (January 2003 – December 2010): Environmental Evaluation preparation for new construction and renovation projects.

Professional Services Engineer: August 2005 – August 2008, Computer Integration of Quality Assurance (CIQA); San German, P.R. Offering professional services to CIQA clients. Among the assigned projects the more relevant are:

• Zimmer Manufacturing B.V., Ponce, P.R. (May 2008 – August 2008): Participating in the development and execution of Qualification Protocols for laboratory equipments.

• Bumble Bee, LLC, Mayagüez, PR. (January 2008 – March 2008): Working as part of Construction Project Management Team providing support in the inspection and supervision of sub-contractors and contractors to ensure that all activities were carried out per design and that procedures and materials comply with plans, specifications and standards. Ensuring that the work was performed following the safety and health regulations of the construction industry.

• Cordis LLC, Johnson and Johnson, San German, P.R. (August 2005 – December 2007): Investigating discrepancies to procedures, whether the product was affected or not. Preparing Quality Non-Conformance (QNC) / Material Record Review (MRR) reports: creating special instruction to perform lot corrections when necessary, determining the products disposition, and planning corrective and preventive actions to avoid more incidences. Collaborating in problem solving/DMAIC teams for quality issues. Participated in Review board meetings, as required.

Research Assistant, June 2003 – August 2003, US Army Corps of Engineers, ERDC/WES, Vicksburg, MS. – Participated in a summer internship working in the Environmental Laboratory. Studying the alkaline hydrolysis of explosive compounds as an alternative remediation of contaminated waters using a HP-Liquid Chromatographer and an Ion Chromatographer.

Teacher Assistant, January 2002 – May 2004, University of Puerto Rico- Mayaguez Campus - Assisting professors grading tests and assignments; maintaining student records, and tutoring students. Undertaken other duties from time to time as the professor required.

Safety Engineer, January 2001 – January 2002, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Maricao, PR. – Working with all facility employees to ensure the plant complied with all local and federal government, division group, and corporate Environmental, Health and Safety requirements. Offering EHS trainings, performing industrial hygiene tests, performing EHS inspections. Reviewing and actualizing the EHS department Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s). Passed through the plant International Organization for Standardization (ISO) audit and the plant obtained the ISO 14001 certification.

Technical Services Engineer, April 2000 – December 2000, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Maricao, PR. - Developing Validation Protocols, planning, coordinating and scheduling validations for new product, new software and existing process. Working with internal multidisciplinary groups as required by the participating projects execution. Providing the necessary training to personnel involved in assigned validation protocols.

Research Assistant, June 1999 – August 1999, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN. - MARC/AIM Summer Research Program, Chemistry Dept. - Participated in Atmospheric Oxidation Studies of Non-methane Hydrocarbons. Mapping by computational chemistry the different pathways of the oxidation process of acetaldehyde using the program Gaussian 94.

Research Assistant, August 1998 – May 1999 University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, Chemical Engineering Dept. – Working in the Project: "Used Cooking Oil Refinement" that used commercial nickel reforming catalyst to convert used cooking oil into nitrogen. Personal contribution to this research was in describing the behavior of the oil at very high temperatures.

Research Assistant, August 1995 – May 1996 University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, Chemistry Dept. – Working in the “Kinetics of Organometallic Compounds” Research. Analyzing intermediate compounds in a chemical reaction that involved organometals using infrared spectrophotometer.

My Latest Articles