Professional Work History and Education

For purposes of open access and interoperability, and as an anti-authwall alternative to other professional networking website platforms, please use this webpage to identify Allen Barkkume and his professional work history and education.

WORK HISTORY

Industrial Hygiene Consultant
Self-employed private consultant (2017-2026)

• Providing industrial hygiene assistance and health and safety recommendations to public worker union representatives and especially education association members in the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), mostly via the non-profit labor-environment advocacy coalition New Jersey Work Environment Council (NJWEC).
• Work includes offering technical guidance on environmental health exposures, researching and influencing public policy, investigating health and safety issues in public schools, creating health and safety documents and training materials for state workers, coordinating and facilitating meetings and trainings among various stakeholders, testifying in legal depositions, communicating with a broad network of labor union members, organizers, administrators, local officials, state agencies and environmental consultants, speaking to the public via local and national news networks both televised and in print about issues ranging from electronic air cleaners to mercury in gym floors. 
• Coordinating team of industrial hygienists and environmental health and safety specialists. 
  
• Assisting with pandemic-related health and safety issues, specializing in indoor air quality and ventilation, for over 150 local education associations in schools throughout NJ, as well as labor representatives in several states across the nation.
• Testifying as expert witness in three court cases involving local education associations and the State of New Jersey on matters of adequate ventilation for building re-occupancy during a respiratory infectious disease pandemic.
• Working with the New Jersey Department of Health to set the current health-based recommended limits for mercury vapors from multipurpose rubberized flooring in public schools, instrumental in finalizing New Jersey law S1370/A1514 which requires new flooring for schools, community centers, and childcare centers to be certified mercury-free.
  
• Spotlight On America: Mercury in Gym Floors - Live interview for the Sinclair Media Group. Jan 13, 2022 https://wchstv.com/news/spotlight-on-america/haz-mat-at-the-gym-aging-school-floors-may-conceal-a-toxic-threat-to-students-staff
   

New York State Licensed Mold Assessor
Microecologies, New York City (2018-2019)

Licensed to investigate, identify and assess mold affecting the indoor environment, to conduct bioaerosol sampling, to interpret sampling results, and to provide remediation strategies for indoor spaces and building materials impacted by mold growth, as well as performing assistance and oversight to New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) building supervisors responding to tenant reports of damp conditions or suspected mold growth. Other work included collection of potentially asbestos-containing materials and XRF sampling for lead-based paint surfaces.

Instructor

Big Apple Occupational Services, New York City (2019, 2026)

Researching, designing, and delivering in-person training on Federal OSHA HAZWOPER, Federal EPA lead hazards, and New York State Department of Labor mold regulations to a classroom of students ranging from licensed professionals to trades workers to recent college graduates.
 

Indoor Air Quality Inspection Project Manager
Healthy Buildings, New Jersey (2017-2018)

Assessing indoor environmental quality in commercial buildings, recording and organizing data including air sampling and monitoring for particulate matter, bioaerosols, total volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde; mechanical ventilation system audits using smoke tubes, anemometers, and balometers; surface sampling for moisture using moisture meters and infrared cameras. 

Sustainable Design Consultant
Newwork (2009-2010)
Generated all LEED documentation for commercial real estate property, calculated and tabulated all required metrics for submission, researched solar rebate programs for commercial use.

 

Writer-Producer
Limbic Signal, LLC (since 2015)

• Writing for science-fiction and science-based media producers.
• (HBO, 2021) Developing the outline, researching topics, identifying interviewees and institutions of interest, generating questions for interviewees, and organizing resulting transcripts for a series of 10-minute documentaries juxtaposing the science fiction of the Raised by Wolves HBO series with science fact, as presented by scientists from cutting edge laboratories and universities; topics include exoplanets, space travel, robots, androids, artificial intelligence, artificial empathy, social engineering, genetic engineering, synthetic biology, sensory prosthesis, advanced materials science, and social and cultural dynamics of spacefaring civilizations. See one example here, with Hakeem Oluseyi: Raised by Wolves, Science Facts Extra, Showmax Series, Feb 2022
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5F6TNfkQa4 According to executive producer Ridley Scott, science fiction is the most wonderful platform to explore a show – but #RaisedByWolves is based in science FACT, including AI and robotics. Learn about iterative learning and much more in this online special. (Chapters - Intro, Robots and AI, Diversity, Self Awareness, Human Intelligence, Conclusion)
• (Gestalten, 2020) Researching, developing, writing and revising chapter inserts on the topic of human olfactory perception for The Essence: Discovering the World of Scent, Perfume & Fragrance. (ISBN-10: 3899552555, ISBN-13: 978-3899552553, https://gestalten.com) This book was nominated for Fragrance Book of the Year 2021, alongside Harold McGee's Nose Dive, by the Perfumed Plume https://perfumedplume.com/2021-finalists.html
• (Robin Robinson, 2018) Collated data on hundreds of whiskey expert sampling notes for use in this veritable encyclopedia of whiskey by renowned whiskey educator Robin Robinson: The Complete Whiskey Course: A Comprehensive Tasting School in Ten Classes - A Cocktail Book, authored by Robin Robinson and published by Union Square and Co., 2019. (ISBN:9781454921226, https://www.unionsquareandco.com/9781454921226/the-complete-whiskey-course-by-robin-robinson/)
• (Private Consultant, 2018) Provided the executive summary of the Fare-Free Study Report for San Joaquin Regional Transit District, which reviewed the feasibility of the SJRTD implementing a fare-free system to its riders. 
  
• (Self-Published, 2015) Hidden Scents: The Language of Smell in the Age of Approximation. I wrote a book about the language of smells because you can't Google smells. In a world where we have reverse engineered almost all of our senses and uploaded them into a burgeoning artificial intelligence, one is left out, and that bothers me. The main body of the text explores olfactory phenomena from a neurolinguistic perspective, detailing its complex lexicography, and exploring the interaction of culture, language and sensory experience. In a concluding series of essays the work takes a turn away from science and towards science fiction. The olfactory system is then used as a paradigm for navigating issues on the threshold of public discourse: space and dimensionality, artificial intelligence, quantum theory, and the future of the internet. In addition to writing this book, I also researched, copyedited, directed the book cover design, commissioned original artwork and marketed the work. Read more at limibicsignal.com, and check out the book at https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/hiddenscents
  
  

Art Teacher
Bloomfield High School, New Jersey (2005-2016)

Instructing all course levels in department’s fine arts curriculum, designing and maintaining art education website, directing student exhibitions, establishing annual talent show on school premises, publishing literary-arts magazine of student work, organizing and leading tours of local and NYC galleries and museums, supervising department budget including purchasing/inventory, interviewing new department members, and designing curriculum for all courses offered. Awarded Teacher of the Year among 250 faculty members for integrating students and the arts into the community, collaborating across disciplines and developing authentic, and establishing rewarding relationships with students.

Art Teacher
TASIS The American School in England (Summer of 2008)
Designed the entire curriculum and then taught visual arts to 6 classes of international students, led group tours to London museums, supervised campus activities.

Studio Assistant, Teacher and Apprentice
Platypus Pottery Studio, New Jersey (1999-2003)
Maintaining pottery studio, organizing supply inventory, managing student ceramics work, loading kilns, refurbishing kilns, formulating glazes, developing new glazes, teaching kids ceramics classes, developing and co-facilitating summer arts program, studying wheel-thrown Japanese-style pottery under Master Potter Donald Thieberger.

 

 

EDUCATION
 

CUNY Graduate School of Public Health (2016 - 2018)
Master of Public Health Program, Industrial Hygiene focus , GPA 3.8

Rutgers University (one course in 2017)
Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, Site Visits

New Jersey Institute of Technology (2005 - 2010)
Master of Science in Architectural Research and Sustainable Design Certification, GPA 3.8

Kean University (1998 - 2004)
Bachelor of Arts, Dual Degree, Fine Art, Art History, Art Education Certification, GPA 3.8

Northumbria University (one semester in 2000)

Psychology, Art History, Environmental Studies and British Culture 

 

 

ACHIEVEMENTS and AWARDS

• New Jersey Work Environment Council Honoree 2024
• Contributing Author Nominee for Fragrance Book of the Year by the Perfumed Plume 2020
• Teacher of the Year at Bloomfield High School New Jersey 2015

CERTIFICATIONS and MEMBERSHIPS

• University of Delaware Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety (ACTS) 40-hr training 2025
• NYC Building Energy Exchange Strategic Decarbonization 3-Day Planning Workshop 2025 
• Master Tree Steward, Rutgers Co-operative Extension of Union County since 2022
• Member of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists since 2020
• Member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association since 2020
• New York State Department of Labor Asbestos Inspector 2018-2020
• New York State Department of Labor Mold Assessor 2018-2021, 2026
• OSHA HAZWOPER 40-hr certified from 2016-2026
• Certified LEED Green Associate 2010-2014
• Certified New Jersey Art Educator since 2005

 

NOTES OF INTEREST 

My first book, which is not referenced here, is a work of fiction about the transfer of humankind to the anthroposphere, and was digitally loaded to a cubesat launched in late 2017 on the Antares-230 Cygnus CRS-8 mission on behalf of Asgardia the space nation to orbit the planet in outerspace. See: Krebs, Gunter D. “Asgardia 1”. Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved September 09, 2025 https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/asgardia-1.htm

 

CONTACT
If you'd like to contact me, please send an email to my first initial last name at gmail dot com (unless you're not actually a real person, in which case please send an email to professionalaccessibility@gmail.com, which is the placeholder address for this weblog). Thanks for visiting.