Meet EPA Researcher Daniel Burgo
Daniel Burgo is the Region 1 Superfund and Technology Liaison (STL) for EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD). Dan brings incredible energy, ingenuity and a wealth of technical knowledge and experience to advance the Region’s working relationship with ORD’s Technical Support Centers.
Dan has been an on-scene coordinator in the Emergency Planning and Response Branch for Region 1 since 2011. In this role, he has conducted numerous removal actions and emergency responses, and has worked with the National Priorities List Superfund program and Brownfields program on many of these sites. He has also deployed to several national disasters in roles ranging from data support coordinator, operations section chief to the incident commander on responses such as Hurricane Irene, Sandy, Harvey, Irma, Maria and several wildfires in California. Over the years Dan has also served as the regional representation on several national workgroups for data management, technology, communications, and equipment and has also been a member of the EPA National Data Team.
Prior to EPA, Dan worked as a hydrographer and a hazardous waste cleanup contractor. He graduated from the Massachusetts Maritime Institute. During his non-EPA time, Dan is an active father to two young kids, Kellen and Isabella (Bella), an avid fisherman, diver, and passionate cook.
Tell us about your background.
I grew up in a small fishing community on the south coast of Massachusetts in a fishing/maritime family. I also actually grew up being a direct neighbor to a Superfund site, the New Bedford Harbor Site. Since I grew up in this area, I had a strong urge to work on ships and see the world, so I ended up attending the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. At first, my plan was to be an engineer but after a semester at sea to South America I knew I didn’t want to be in an engine room. After I came back to the states, I switched to my graduating major, B.S. in marine safety and environmental protection with a minor in emergency management. After graduation I worked as a hydrographer then I switched over to EPA as an on-scene coordinator running removal actions and emergency responses in New England and supporting large scale emergency and disasters.
When did you first know you wanted to be a scientist?
I’ve always had a love of ocean/natural science from an early age, but it wasn’t until that first time at sea that I knew I had to reexamine my desire to be in nature, preserve our environment, and help clean our environment and protect people since I grew up being impacted by a superfund site. So, at that point I knew I wanted to be a scientist.
How does your science matter?
My science matters because it is the pragmatic approach of taking multiple scientific disciplines and applying them to the cleanup of hazardous waste sites and emergencies to fulfill EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment. As an ORD Superfund and Technology Liaison stationed in Region 1, I will serve as a liaison between my region and the ORD research centers and laboratories to use, or even develop, the best available scientific and engineering approaches to solve environmental challenges.
What do you like most about your research?
What I like most about my application of scientific knowledge is that I get to see the direct impact of how “we”, as in EPA, can directly make a positive change in people’s lives by removing contamination in homes, properties, and neighborhoods, and eliminating people’s direct exposures to contaminated air, water, and soil. On the other end, I take pride in the outcomes to the research that the NDT did to identify processing and visualization gaps at our emergency responses and removal actions. The NDT was able to increase the speed of field data collection and then refine the way EPA’s story is depicted to the public by showing them our work and progress through geospatial visualization tools.
If you could have dinner with any scientist, past or present, who would it be?
I’ve always had an appreciation of the Cousteau family and their strive to the preservation of the marine world. So, I would go with a nice French dinner and a few
glasses of wine with Jacques Cousteau.
If you weren’t a scientist, what would you be doing?
I would be a chef. I’ve always had a love of cooking and worked in restaurants for years.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?
To heal people because I think helping people is what it means to be human.
Any advice for students considering a career in science?
On a simplified level I would say first experience a few disciplines to see what truly piques your interest and at the same time makes you happy. A key though, is to make your decision for you and not for the perception of how others may view you.
What do you think the coolest scientific discovery was and why?
Electricity but in the application of medicine. On a personal level I get to see how cochlear implants work and how effective they are for someone born deaf. It is an amazing discovery because it gives Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals the opportunity to experience the hearing world.
What do you think is our biggest scientific challenge in the next 20/50/100 years?
I think in the next 20 it will be on how we adapt to climate change whether that is from the changing of our land masses on the coast from storm surges and rising tides to the intensity of our hurricanes.
Over the next 50 to 100 years, I think it will be more about our finite resources of land and food due to our world population increase and current farming practices.
Whose work in your scientific field are you most impressed by?
Due to my different career track, the people I have been impressed by are the emergency workers. I’ve worked alongside fire fighters I’ve seen hold back a fire from a chemical facility and prevent it from crossing a small street into a neighborhood or the NGOs that came in after a disaster to provide clean drinking water systems to villages that were drinking from contaminated streams.
You’re stranded on a desert island with a community of other survivors – what is your job?
The crucial job of making people laugh mainly with bad dad jokes. Whether they are from a place of actual humor or pity laughs, I’ll take what I can get. I also have a skill of slapping together random ingredients into something edible.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the researcher alone. EPA does not endorse the opinions or positions expressed.