RLI Training Course Lecturers and Consultants

Mr. Aldrich is an internationally recognized expert in Laser Safety and is currently a senior laser safety expert for the United States Navy. He is Chairman of the ANSI Z136.6 Standard for the Safe Use of Lasers Outdoors and a voting member of the ANSI Z136 ASC general committee and several other Standards subcommittees.

Mr. Aldrich is a United States Delegate and co-chair of the NATO Laser Safety Panel for the development of laser range guidance for Allied Forces associated with STANAG 3606. He has also contributed to the development of the IEC 60825 series of standards.

Mr. Aldrich is a participating member of the SAE G10T Subcommittee on Laser Safety; an organization that provides guidance to FAA and the laser user community regarding the safe use of lasers in the navigable airspace. Additionally, Mr. Aldrich is a past member of the laser safety committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and served a term on the United States Technical Electronic Product Radiation Safety Standards Committee, a Congressionally mandated FDA advisory oversight committee).

Mr. Aldrich has been published in the Journal of Laser Applications and Proceedings of International Laser Safety Conferences. A graduate of the West Virginia University – Tech, and is the primary developer and instructor for the U.S. Navy Laser Safety Specialist Certification Course. Additionally, he is certified as a Naval Laser Range Safety Specialist.

Mr. Clark has been active in clinical light applications since 1988. Pat moved from his first administrative and clinical exposure of laser use and control at the University of North Carolina Memorial Hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to being a member of the team to first accomplish and teach routine laser laparoscopic cholecystectomy in several Northeast states. A Texas native, Pat returned home in 1992 to be selected as the founding director of the laser program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the allied hospitals. In that position he refined a teaching and administrative process that included the control of some 117 laser and light sources in a myriad of applications and a recurring education process for physicians, residents, nurses, and paramedicals. Numbers of internationally known facilities and organizations call upon Pat to assist in development, testing, application and safety of light on tissue worldwide.

Pat has direct experience in complete hospital programs, outpatient and freestanding surgery centers, the beginnings of office and spa applications, and the development of light applications for nonprofessional and home use. His commercial experience includes being Vice President of Clinical Affairs and Product Development for both a national publically held mobile laser-surgical services company, Medical Alliance, and with the device division of an international pharmaceutical company, ICN. Often called upon by laser manufacturers and having given over 400 clinical and lay lectures in the last 20 years, Mr. Clark brings a world of experience to the laser industry.

Jay Eastman is an applications engineer and served as the laser safety officer for a leading engineering and technology organization, where he also ran research and development projects. He has more than twenty-five years of materials joining experience, and has developed an expertise in the novel application of lasers for the purpose of materials processing. He has worked with Nd:YAG, fiber, disk, CO2, and diode lasers.

Jay also worked as a welding engineer at an international manufacturer of gas and fluid systems components, where he specialized in orbital gas tungsten arc welding of tubes and fittings. He also worked at a leading global supplier of pressure cylinders where his activities involved arc and resistance welding of pressurized cylinders. He holds a B.S. and a M.S. in Welding Engineering from The Ohio State University.

Jay has taught an introduction to laser processing course, both in-house and onsite, for more than ten years.

Ben Edwards is a certified health physicist, certified laser safety officer, and certified medical laser safety officer with over a quarter century of experience in industry, academia, and medical settings. He has a B.S. physics degree from the University of North Carolina and a M.S. in occupational health & safety from East Carolina University.

Ben has been a member of the ANSI Accredited Standard Committee Z136 on laser safety for over a decade and currently serves on several Z136 standards subcommittees and technical subcommittees, including chairing the TSC5 Non-Beam Hazards technical subcommittee. He is also a member of the Health Physics Society, has published several papers on various aspects of laser safety and presented numerous abstracts and training courses at both HPS meetings and International Laser Safety Conferences.

Joe Greco serves Rockwell Laser Industries as an independent consultant. Joe has over 25 years of diversified experience working with sources of ionizing and non‐ionizing radiation and management of their safe use in medical, manufacturing, R&D, and fusion reactor environments. He has served as Laser Safety Officer at a major corporation as well as at a Plasma Physics Lab in New Jersey. He also provides laser safety, health physics, and non‐ionizing radiation safety services to several Fortune 500 companies as well as local universities.

Joe received his MS in Radiological Hygiene from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is certified by the American Board of Health Physics and is a Certified Laser Safety Officer. Joe has presented numerous short courses on Laser Safety and Non‐Ionizing Radiation at various conferences, including the nternational Laser Safety Conference, Health Physics Conferences, and Industrial Hygiene Chapter meetings.

Joe currently has served on several committees, including the ANSI Z136 Laser Safety Committee, the CLSO Exam Review Board, and the American Board of Health Physics Part 1 Exam Committee (Chair). He is a Plenary member of the Health Physics Society. Joe is a native of Buffalo NY, is married, has 3 active sons, and a mixed breed dog named Rudy.

Jamie King is a Certified Laser Safety Officer with over 28 years practicing laser safety. He has served as a full time LSO for NASA and the Department of Energy. Jamie serves on the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) Z136, is a member of the Z136 Administrative Committee and is on the SSC-1, SSC-8, and TSC-4 subcommittees. He has authored several papers and articles including the DOE Laser Lessons Newsletter with worldwide distribution.

Jamie is very active in the community playing prominent roles at the International Laser Safety Conferences and DOE Laser Safety Workshops. He is the 2019 recipient of the R. James Rockwell, Jr. Educational Achievement Award and was elected to the Laser Institute Board of Directors for the 2020-22 term.

Mr. Marshall is an internationally recognized expert in Laser Safety. Before he retired from the US Army after 37 years of service, he was in charge of the US Army Laser Safety Program. He chaired the ANSI Z136 SSC-6 during the production of the first and subsequent edition of the ANSI Z136.6 Standard for Safe Use of Lasers Outdoors. He also chaired the SAE G-10T Laser Safety Hazards Subcommittee and was instrumental in the publication of AS 6029A, containing FAA acceptable criteria for safe operation of lasers in airspace. He currently chairs the ANSI Z136 TC-7, which maintains the example calculations sections in the series of ANSI Z136 standards.

Mr. Marshall has taught laser safety classes for organizations such as the US Army, NATO, NIST, and OSHA. He has also provided briefings and lectures on Laser Safety at the International Laser Safety Conference, the DOE Laser Safety Officer Workshop, and other international meetings and conferences.

Mr. Marshall is a fellow of LIA, and recipient of the 2017 Wilkening Award. He has published over 50 peer reviewed articles on laser hazard calculation methods in Journals such as Applied Optics, the Health Physics Journal, the American Industrial Hygiene Journal, and the Journal of Laser Applications.

Mr. Marshall holds a MS in physics, and a BS in physics and mathematics from Eastern Illinois University and is a certified laser safety officer.

Barb O’Kane began her laser safety career 20 years ago while working as an industrial hygienist/safety professional for Colorado manufacturing companies. She earned her Environmental Health, Masters of Science degree from Colorado State University. Throughout her career she has focused on educating workers about hazards in the workplace and helping employers effectively mitigate risk.

Barb is a Certified Industrial Hygienist, Certified Safety Professional and Certified Laser Safety Officer. She is currently an executive board member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, Rocky Mountain Section.

Patti Owens provides consultation services in the areas of aesthetic and medical safety programs along with in-office management services. She has been the Nursing/Allied Health Chairperson of ASLMS and in 1999 and 2014 received the Nurse Excellence Award. She served a three year term as the ASLMS Nursing-Allied Health Representative to the board and is presently the Laser Safety representative for 2013-2016.

Patti is a national consultant for a variety of laser companies and professional organizations including appointment as the principal medical and aesthetic instructor for Rockwell Laser Industries. Patti also has been an active member of the Laser Institute of America (LIA) and presently is involved with the Board of Laser Safety redesigning the LSO national certification examination. Patti is an active member on the ANSI Z136.3 committee where she has been appointed as the acting secretary. She also serves as a member of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) TC 76 WG4 and ISO/WG12 committee.

Patti Owens is presently working with a plastic surgeon as an aesthetic nurse and surgical consultant in Rancho Mirage, CA. Patti’s previous employer for 11 years was a dermatologist in Olympia, WA. Patti’s experience also includes 13 years’ experience as a Laser Manager at a major hospital in in Olympia, WA. Her responsibilities included program development, education and supervision of 13 laser systems, implementation of the laser perioperative role, development of a multi-system laser in-house and mobile program, and enforcement of safety policies as the facility’s acting Laser Safety Officer.

Patti received her BSN from the University of Colorado in 1976 and graduated with her Master’s degree in Health Administration from Chapman University in 1996. Patti Owens is well published in numerous clinical journals. Her co-authored book with Pamela Hill, Milady’s Aesthetician Series, Laser and Light Therapy, was published in 2009 by Cengage Learning.

Randy has been a Professional Engineer of Ontario, Canada since 1991. His engineering skills include practical applications of innovative solutions and providing mission critical team leadership for project execution, on time, within budget and exceeding performance objectives.

He has over 30 year of experience in applications engineering, materials processing and special purpose machine design and build for industrial automation. His expertise in this field has grown into macro-laser materials processing and safety consulting.

He is currently serving as Vice-Chair on the ANSI Z136.9 “Safe Use of Lasers in Manufacturing Environments” and is a member of the American Welding Society, Subcommittee on Laser Welding (AWS C7C).

Randy graduated with First Class Honours in May 1989, University of Waterloo, B.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering with a minor in Management Science. He is also a lifetime member of the Laser Institute of America (LIA) and a former member of the Board of Directors for the LIA.

Carol A. Tomczyk, Ph.D., CLSO has over 35 years of experience working with various types of lasers, optics, and detectors in very diverse environments and a wide range of disciplines.

Most recently, she was the site LSO at a company developing and manufacturing laser-based portable and handheld chemical analysis devices for use by Emergency Responders. Carol also spent 10.5 years at a leading-edge manufacturer of semiconductor lithography equipment where, she developed high power UV lasers for use in microlithography applications in Class 1 clean room environments. While there, she also conducted laser damage and materials outgassing studies. Before that, she managed the Facility for Laser Spectroscopy in the Chemistry Department at Cornell University, where she coordinated laser use and safety training for six research groups engaged in a wide variety of Physical Chemistry and Biophysical Chemistry research projects.

Her Ph.D.in Physical Chemistry is from The Pennsylvania State University, her M.S. in Physical Chemistry is from New York University, and her A.B. in Biochemistry is from Smith College.

Dr Trevor Wheatley is a researcher and the Chief LSO at UNSW, has an Electrical Engineering PhD in quantum optics focusing on quantum optical metrology and control for applications in quantum systems.

In 2016 received the prestigious IEC 1906 award for his contributions to international laser safety standardisation since 2007.

He is the Head of the Australian delegation on IEC TC 76, the body which writes and maintains International laser safety Standards. He is also the Chairman of the Standards Australia SF-019 Committee on laser safety which publishes the AS/NZS laser safety standards.

Dr Wheatley has developed and taught Australia’s premier laser safety training course for more than 12 years. He teaches and consults in laser safety in both Australia and Internationally. Dr Wheatley is a life member of the LIA, is on the International advisory board for the International Laser Safety Conference and is a BLS certified laser safety officer. He is the UNSW Canberra representative on the ANSI Z136 Accredited Standards Committee and is a member of several Z136 standards subcommittees and technical subcommittees.

Mary F. Zimmerman received her B.S. in electrical engineering in 1997 from Johns Hopkins University and her M.S. in electrical engineering in 1999 from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.

While attending the University of Maryland, Mary worked as an electro-optics research assistant jointly for the University of Maryland and the Army Research Laboratory. In 2000, Mary accepted a position at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), Virginia as a System Safety Engineer. She began working for the Laser Safety Program in 2001 as a Laser Safety Specialist. Her duties included performing laser safety evaluations for laser systems to be fielded for the Navy and Marine Corps and presenting her finding and recommendations to the Navy Laser Safety Review Board. She has worked with the Marine Corps as a subject matter expert for laser designator and rangefinder source selections and was tasked by MARCORSYSCOM Armor and Fire Support Systems to perform a rapid response System Tradeoff Study in support of the Joint Effects Targeting System. In 2006, Mary began working for the Directed Energy Technology Office on high energy lasers (HEL). Part of her responsibilities included addressing the unique safety issues presented by outdoor HEL testing and was an integral part of the first outdoor HEL test performed on NSWCDD. She worked on designing and establishing requirements for the laser housing and backstop, worked with range control, the safety and environmental office, and public works to facilitate the testing and prepared the range documentation and procedures for the testing while serving as the group’s laser safety specialist, providing required safety training and keeping the group abreast of safety requirements. During the testing, her duties would range from Test Setup Engineer to Test Director.

Mary has presented at the International Laser Safety Conference and Lasers on the Modern Battlefield Conference. She has served as a member of the Navy Laser Safety Review Board. She served as the Secretary of the Technical Subcommittee (TSC1) on Laser Bioeffects and Medical Surveillance of the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI), Accredited Standards Committee Z136 (ASC Z136). She has been a contributing member of the ANSI Z136.1 Subcommittee responsible for the Standard for Safe Use of Lasers and the Z136.4 Subcommittee responsible for the Recommended Practice for Laser Safety Measurements for Hazard Evaluation and Classification. Mary has worked on the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 76 in several Working Groups. This committee works on international standards for the safe use of laser products.