Emergency Response Research Webinar Series

Free webinars typically held on the second Wednesday of the month. Special webinars on COVID-19 research are conducted as research results become available. 

EPA hosts this webinar series to share current research activities and results. This webinar series covers the latest information on research supporting EPA's response to chemical, biological, and radiological incidents, as well as natural disasters. This forum allows EPA to communicate directly with partners and stakeholders to foster collaboration and dissemination of information. 

NOTE: Attendees have the option of receiving a certificate of attendance. Acceptance of certificates is contingent on organization requirements—EPA cannot guarantee acceptance. Closed-captioned recordings of the webinars are provided below for later viewing and as a training resource; certificates cannot be provided for viewing webinar recordings. 

Webinar dates and topics are subject to change.

On this page:

• 2026 Schedule
• 2025 Webinar Recordings
• More Webinars by Topic Area

Upcoming Webinar

Waste and Materials Management During Emergency Response

Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 2:00 - 3:00 PM ET

Registration Open

A significant component of responding to and recovery from large-scale or isolated events is the management of wastes and materials resulting from the incident itself or from activities cleaning up after the incident. The quantification, segregation, transportation, staging, storage, and disposal of waste can be an arduous and costly undertaking that is difficult to manage, regardless of whether it results from natural, accidental, or intentional disasters. Waste must be holistically considered with decisions being made regarding remediation throughout the response and recovery timeline.

To facilitate planning and the proper management of disaster wastes and materials, EPA developed several waste planning and management tools for chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear incidents and natural disasters. This suite of tools can assist decision makers with waste management decisions in the pre-planning, mitigation, response, and recovery phases of an incident. This webinar will provide an overview of several EPA tools currently available to support decision making and planning for waste management following a large-scale event.

About the Presenters

Erin Silvestri is a Section Chief with EPA’s Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions. Erin has been with the U.S. EPA for almost 19 years. Prior to becoming Section Chief, Erin supported multidisciplinary homeland security related research to advance emergency response preparedness including: development of sampling, processing, and analysis methods and protocols for pathogens, chemicals, and biotoxins in various environmental media. She developed field and laboratory ready documents and resources for responders following intentional or accidental homeland security-related chemical, biological, and radiological contamination incidents. She has provided support to several large-scale demonstrations which aimed to develop and demonstrate capabilities needed to prepare for releases of biological agents. Erin has a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan and certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from Northern Kentucky University. 

2026 Schedule

If you are interested in being notified when new webinars are scheduled, please sign up to receive email notifications here: Receive emails for upcoming webinars.

Topic and presenters are subject to change. Additional information and registration links will be provided in advance of each webinar.

Date	Topic
June 10, 2026	Fire Suppression Systems Contaminated with PFAS
July 8, 2026	Sample Recovery Methods from Vegetation
August 12, 2026	Remote Sensing and Geographic Imagery Tools