David M. Nielsen is President of The Nielsen Environmental Field School. He is a Certified Professional Geologist (AIPG #5040), a Professional Hydrogeologist (AIH #991) and a Certified Ground-Water Professional (AGWSE #179) with more than 30 years of experience in ground-water and environmental consulting, training and research. He has managed ground-water contamination investigations, environmental site assessments, ground-water monitoring and sampling programs, petroleum hydrocarbon spill investigations and remedial projects across the U.S. David has also developed curriculum for and instructed: undergraduate, graduate and continuing education courses in ground-water science at Wright State University; a one-year Hydrogeologic Training Program for the Environmental Response Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources; Technology Transfer workshops for the U.S. EPA; and Waste Management, Inc.’s Landfill University. He has instructed more than 300 ground water and environmental science short courses and workshops for consulting firms, regulatory agencies, industrial concerns, the Department of Defense, the U.S. EPA, trade and professional organizations, educational institutes and universities in the U.S., England, Canada, Australia and Mexico.

David is a member and former Chairman of ASTM Subcommittee D-18.21 on Ground-Water and Vadose Zone Investigations, a consultant to the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board, a member of the U.S. Department of Defense SERDP/ESTCP Peer Review Panel, and an advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy National Advanced Drilling and Excavation Technology Program. He is the editor and a contributing author for The Practical Handbook of Environmental Site Characterization and Ground-Water Monitoring (First and Second Editions), The Essential Handbook of Ground-Water Sampling and Technical Guidance on Low-Flow Purging and Sampling and Miminum-Purge Sampling. He is also an active member of ASTM, AIPG, the Association of Ground Water Scientists and Engineers, the American Institute of Hydrology and the Association of Engineering Geologists. He served for 12 years on the Wright State University Geology Department's Board of Counselors and served for 12 years as Editor of Ground-Water Monitoring and Remediation. He holds B.A. and M.S. degrees in geology from Miami University and Bowling Green State University respectively. Prior to co-founding the Nielsen Environmental Field School, he managed regional offices for two geoscientific and engineering consulting firms, served as director of research and education for the National Ground Water Association and worked for state environmental agencies in Massachusetts, West Virginia and Ohio.

David has also written guidance documents on direct push technology and ground-water sampling for the U.S. EPA Superfund program, and reviewed technical reports for the U.S. EPA's Environmenal Technology Verification (ETV) program. He is the recipient of the Outstanding Service Award of the Association of Ground Water Scientists and Engineers, The Outstanding Achievement Award of ASTM, and a 4-time recipient of ASTM's Special Service Award.

David has also been an amateur road racer for the past 14 years. He drove a company-sponsored 1996 BMW Z3 for 3 years and a 2003 BMW Z4 for 3 years in the Sports Car Club of America's (SCCA's) Showroom Stock B class. He won the 2001 SCCA Central Division Regional Championship in his class after winning 4 of the 7 races in which he competed (and finishing second in the other 3 races). In 2002, he finished 6th in Central Division National Points, and 18th in the National Championship Race at Mid-Ohio Sports-Car Course (out of 38 drivers from across the US and Canada). In 2003, he finished 3rd in Midwest Division National points and, after starting 43rd, finished in 22nd place in the National Championship race. In 2004, Dave won the Central Division Championship, after winning 5 of the 10 races he entered, and then finished 3rd in the National Championship race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in September. In 2005, he finished second in the Southeast Division and, after winning 4 races during the season, finished 4th at the National Championships. In 2006, he took a sabbatical, and he plans to consider continuing his racing career after finishing the restoration of his 1965 Chevy Corvette convertible.

Gillian Nielsen is Vice President of The Nielsen Environmental Field School. She has 27 years of international experience as an environmental and ground-water consultant and trainer. During her professional career she has developed, managed and implemented ground-water monitoring and sampling programs, soil gas monitoring investigations, multimedia environmental sampling programs, RCRA compliance audits, environmental site assessments and remediation programs at hazardous and non-hazardous waste sites in the U.S. and Canada. She has also played a key role in the development and management of corporate standard operating procedures as well as health and safety procedures and policies.

Gillian specializes in developing and instructing a wide variety of field practice-oriented training programs for private industry, consulting firms, state and Federal regulatory agencies, universities, professional and trade associations. She has lectured extensively and taught hundreds of field courses on the topics of ground-water monitoring and sampling, environmental sampling and field sample analysis, design and implementation of soil gas investigations and RCRA compliance throughout the U.S. as well as Canada, England and Australia. Gillian also conducts 8-hour health and safety refresher training courses annually for clients across the U.S. who are involved in environmental contamination investigation and remediation projects. In addition to training, she works closely with industry and consulting firms as a consultant conducting audits of field investigation activities, negotiating with PRPs and regulatory agencies, developing corporate standard operating procedures and health and safety plans and providing technical reviews of site investigation reports. She also works closely with environmental instrumentation companies in the evaluation of new equipment and in development of new instrumentation.

Gillian is a 16-year member of the Editorial Board of Ground-Water Monitoring and Remediation and an active member of the ASTM Subcommittee D-18.21 task group on ground-water sampling procedures. She is the recipient of Ground Water Publishing Company's Outstanding Service Award for her work on the editorial board of the journal Ground-Water Monitoring and Remediation and has received several Standards Development Awards from ASTM. She has authored a number of scientific papers and written many ASTM Standards dealing with ground-water sampling, soil-gas monitoring, field analysis of environmental samples, and field decontamination procedures, and was a contributing author for first and second editions of The Practical Handbook of Environmental Site Characterization and Ground-Water Monitoring as well as Technical Guidance on Low-Flow Purging and Sampling and Minimum Purge Sampling. She is also a co-editor and contributing author of the new text The Essential Handbook of Ground-Water Sampling, published in January 2007. Gillian frequently provides technical reviews of state and Federal regulatory agency technical guidance documents. Gillian holds B.Sc. degrees in geography (hydrology) and biology (aquatic) from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario Canada.

Gillian holds a National Crew Chief License with SCCA and acts as Dave's Crew Chief, Chief of Timing and Scoring and On-Track Chef during race weekends. Since his 2006 sabbatical, it has opened up more time for her other hobbies including: power walking, kayaking, gourmet cooking and designing and sewing custom machine embroidery designs for friends and a number of businesses and race teams. In addition, she gardens and takes care of their four pet house rabbits and 2 saltwater aquariums.