The NELAC Institute (TNI) held its annual Forum on Environmental Accreditation on January 25-29, 2021, using a remote meeting format. NV5’s own Mitzi Miller gave presentations for two separate sessions during the virtual forum. On January 28, 2021, Mitzi participated in the Assessment Forum and gave a presentation on Assessing New Emerging Contaminants & Methods for Accreditation. During this session, Mitzi discussed examples of methods for emerging contaminants, approaches to educating assessors, and what the assessor must do or understand. On January 29, 2021, Mitzi chaired the Success Stories with Remote Assessments session. Her presentation on Successful Remote Assessments: A Third-Party Assessor Perspective discussed the process for approval and performance of remote assessments. The topics discussed were Remote Approval by the Accrediting Body (AB), Pre-Assessment, Planning and Testing Equipment, and Performance and Lessons Learned.
Ms. Miller currently works for NV5 as the Environmental Program Manager, a NELAP Assessor and Senior Data Validator. She is an environmental chemist and a highly experienced project manager with expertise in analytical chemistry and quality programs for environmental applications. Ms. Miller was integral in the foundational stages of TNI and has both chaired and served on numerous committees involved in writing the TNI Standards. She is often asked to evaluate questions regarding the Standards and routinely teaches annual TNI refresher classes. Ms. Miller performs audits as a third-party NELAP/TNI assessor for the state environmental agencies of Oregon, Minnesota, Louisiana, Florida, and Kansas. She has 42 years of experience in analytical laboratory assessments and data quality audits and assessments. Additionally, she has 32 years of experience supporting various legal cases. She is a recognized professional in the area of environmental data validation; she has a working knowledge of the rules, regulations, methods, and applications of the data that makes her an astute observer of environmental operations and the resulting environmental data.