By Brooke Strickland
“When I chose my degrees and career path, I knew I wanted to make a difference and leave our environment in a better state,” Susan Spalinger said.
That’s exactly what she has done for the last nearly three decades, too.
Today, Spalinger is vice president and principal scientist of Alta Science and Engineering, Inc., where she’s managed and overseen multiple state, federal and tribal contracts utilizing dozens of professional and technical personnel at various office locations. She co-founded the company in 2017 and has since put her drive, creativity and hard work into growing the company’s reach.
Over the course of her career, Spalinger has managed, directed and participated in dozens of environmental projects, spanning from small environmental site assessments to some of the nation’s largest CERCLA sites. She’s managed a multi-million-dollar, multi-year sampling and cleanup program at the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site (BHSS) and has managed or contributed to numerous environmental site investigations and risk evaluations at abandoned mine/smelter, Department of Energy and petroleum sites. Spalinger’s expertise lies in human health risk and exposure assessment, metals-contaminated sites, site characterization and sampling, statistical data analysis and data management, just to name a few.
She shared that over the years, there have been many people that have spoken life into her and encouraged her to pursue her dreams. Spalinger names her parents and a close family friend named Patricia Fleischman who served as positive influences and as guiding lights for her in her youth. As she went to college and started her career, numerous others came alongside her to give her opportunities for growth.
“I have been lucky to be included on teams of scientists and engineers that bring differing perspectives not only to the job, but to life,” Spalinger said.
In a letter of recommendation for Spalinger, Rob Hanson shared, “Her care for others is exemplified in her choice to make a career of assessing, remediating and monitoring contaminated sites and damaged lands. This work is all about making places safer and healthier for people and wildlife and improving the water, land and air quality in Idaho and beyond. Bottom line, Susan has been an Idaho business leader in her field. Her career track demonstrates her success.”
When she’s not at work, Spalinger has several civic and nonprofit affiliations, including being a member of the Association for Environmental Health and Sciences Foundation. She has also been a board member for the last decade for the Society of Inland Northwest Environmental Scientists.
Derek Forseth, one of her business partners at Alta Science and Engineering said, “Susan’s story is one of a successful Idaho business owner, a beloved company mentor, and a trustworthy scientist who helped improve the health of Idaho’s communities and children when it was deeply needed.”
When she thinks about the future of her career and impact in Idaho, Spalinger said that she simply won’t stop giving her all.
“I apply a positive approach combined with persistence, especially in challenging situations,” she said. “I simply show up and don’t give up.”
This post was originally published on here
