#TtInspires: Shaun McKay, Environmental Scientist

Shaun has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of Newcastle and is excited about the opportunity Coffey, a Tetra Tech Company, gave him to develop professionally after a hiatus from consulting. We talked with Shaun as part of our #TtInspires campaign celebrating the passion of Tetra Tech employees. Follow #TtInspires on social media for more stories.

My prerequisite was a career that would enable me to work outdoors and use my brain. I was always interested and active in the outdoors—from looking at things under a magnifying glass as a kid to searching for birds in the bush as an adult, which I still do! It was natural for me to pursue a career in environmental science.

Tetra Tech offered me the challenge of returning to consulting after an extended period working in remediation contracting. I was keen to grow professionally by getting back into the nitty-gritty of consulting. The company I worked for was contracted to Tetra Tech on several projects. That’s where I learned about groundwater remediation systems on service station sites impacted by hydrocarbons. Tetra Tech consistently gave outside the box ideas for the constructing remediation systems that I worked on, making them more efficient and cost effective. I knew by joining Tetra Tech I could tap into this knowledge and learn more than at any other consulting firm. They are a leader in contaminated site assessment and remediation and offered me the opportunity to look at things under a magnifying glass on many different levels.

I’ve already worked on some interesting projects during my short time with Tetra Tech. Each project represents new and inspiring challenges including reacquainting myself with updated legislation and the appropriate application for each site scenario; managing historical and emerging contaminants; and assisting with reporting of contamination to the regulator. One significant project was the contamination assessment of an operational boat maintenance slipway. We investigated the historical use of anti-fouling paints and their impacts on soil, water, and sediments. We also completed an investigation into the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination at an industrial chrome plating facility. The most recent project we’re working on is conducting contamination assessments at a former coal mining facility that is currently being rehabilitated.