Technical Program
See the Schedule for the 2025 Center for Hydrogen Safety Americas Conference
Preliminary Technical Program
This schedule is subject to change
| Day 1 - October 14, 2025 - Tuesday | |||
| 8:30 AM | 6:00 PM | Badge Pick-Up & On-site Registration | |
| 9:00 AM | 9:15 AM | Conference Welcome | |
| 9:15 AM | 9:55 AM | Keynote Presentation Dr. Sunita Satyapal - Hydrogen Leader and Former US Department of Energy | |
| Session 1 - Fundamental Safety Considerations & Best Safety Practices 1 | |||
| 9:55 AM | 10:15 AM | Hydrogen Safety Fundamentals: facts, fictions and real-world implications | |
| 10:15 AM | 10:30 AM | Hydrogen Pilot Projects: Lessons Learned in Operations and Codes Timothy Harris - ENTrust Solutions Group | |
| 10:30 AM | 10:45 AM | Hydrogen Safety in Confined Spaces: Comparing Modeling Approaches for Hydrogen Dispersion and Explosion Trixie Secillano - DNV | |
| 10:45 AM | 11:00 AM | Q&A panel | |
| 11:00 AM | 11:30 AM | Break | |
| Session 2 - Fundamental Safety Considerations & Best Safety Practices 2 | |||
| 11:30 AM | 11:50 AM | Considerations for Ventilation Rates to Mitigate Hydrogen Releases Danielle Murphy - WHA International | |
| 11:50 AM | 12:05 PM | Advancing Hydrogen Ignition Probabilities: Current State, Gaps, and Research Directions Alex Gupta - Electric Power Research Institute | |
| 12:05 PM | 12:20 PM | Operational Safety for Hydrogen Fueling Installations Aaron Harris - AcuTech Group, Inc. | |
| 12:20 PM | 12:35 PM | Q&A panel | |
| 12:35 PM | 1:50 PM | Lunch | |
| Session 3 - Process Safety Management & Safety Culture | |||
| 1:50 PM | 2:10 PM | Gaurav Sharma - Shell | |
| 2:10 PM | 2:30 PM | David Moore - AcuTech Consulting Group | |
| 2:30 PM | 2:45 PM | Hydrogen in the Oil, Gas, and Chemical Industry – a Process Safety Management Perspective Don Lanier - Safety First Group | |
| 2:45 PM | 3:00 PM | Safety Culture & Effective Leadership - Understanding & Implementation James Senddon - Risktec Solutions | |
| 3:00 PM | 3:15 PM | Safety Design and Management in Hydrogen Projects - a Norwegian Perspective Deshai Botheju - Wood Group Norway | |
| 3:15 PM | 3:40 PM | Q&A panel | |
| 3:40 PM | 4:10 PM | Break | |
| Session 4 - Regulations, Codes and Standards | |||
| 4:10 PM | 4:30 PM | Hazards Associated with the Delayed Ignition of Hydrogen Releases Lee Phillips - Shell Research Ltd. | |
| 4:30 PM | 4:50 PM | Seizing the Moment: Advancing Hydrogen Standards in a Shifting Industry Landscape Laura Brumsey - CGA | |
| 4:50 PM | 5:05 PM | Phmsa and State Regulation of Hydrogen Pipeline Safety: A Review of Past and Potential Future Approaches James Curry - Babst Calland | |
| 5:05 PM | 5:20 PM | CSA Group Research Initiatives - Hydrogen Pipelines Delivery Brett Weinkauf - CSA Group | |
| 5:20 PM | 5:40 PM | Q&A panel | |
| 5:40 PM | 7:30 PM | Welcome Reception | |
| Day 2 - October 15, 2025 - Wednesday | |||
| 8:30 AM | 4:00 PM | Badge Pick-Up & On-site Registration | |
| 9:00 AM | 9:05 AM | Morning Welcome | |
| 9:05 AM | 9:45 AM | Keynote Presentation Tom Drube - Chart Industries | |
| Session 5 - Safety in Production & Electrolyzers | |||
| 9:45 AM | 10:05 AM | From Design to Operation: Ensuring Safety in Hydrogen Production Plants Christian Plume - Siemens Energy | |
| 10:05 AM | 10:20 AM | Best Practices for the Safe Operation of Electrolyzers Rob Early - Compressed Gas Association | |
| 10:20 AM | 10:35 AM | Customized Testing of Electrolyzers: Lessons Learned Achim Wechsung - Exponent, Inc. | |
| 10:35 AM | 10:50 AM | Q&A panel | |
| 10:50 AM | 11:20 AM | Break | |
| Session 6 - Hydrogen & Natural Gas Blending & Pipeline Safety 1 | |||
| 11:20 AM | 11:40 AM | Rob Hiestand - Chevron | |
| 11:40 AM | 11:55 AM | VCE Testing of Methane/Hydrogen Blends Darren Malik - BakerRisk | |
| 11:55 AM | 12:10 PM | Overcoming Limits of Detection for Identifying Leaks in Buried Hydrogen Pipelines David Peaslee - National Renewable Energy Laboratory | |
| 12:10 PM | 12:25 PM | Q&A panel | |
| 12:25 PM | 1:45 PM | Lunch | |
| Session 7 - Incidents, Investigations, & Lessons Learned | |||
| 1:45 PM | 2:00 PM | Dave Farese - Durham Consulting | |
| 2:00 PM | 2:15 PM | Lessons Learned for Hiad 2.0 Incidents Database: What Were the Failed or Missing Barriers? Hesham Hanafy - Monaco Engineering Solutions | |
| 2:15 PM | 2:30 PM | Unexpected Fire Beneath a Steam Methane Reforming Furnace in a Hydrogen Plant Ken Wohlgeschaffen - Chevron | |
| 2:30 PM | 2:45 PM | Increase in Loss of Primary Containment of Hydrogen in a Paraffin Hydrotreating Unit: Root Cause Investigation and Lessons Learned Layane Oliveira - Acelen | |
| 2:45 PM | 3:05 PM | Q&A panel | |
| 3:05 PM | 3:30 PM | Break | |
| 3:30 PM | 5:30 PM | Networking Session (Next Door: HIT Poster Session) | |
| Day 3 - October 16, 2025 - Thursday | |||
| 8:30 AM | 12:00 PM | Badge Pick-Up & On-site Registration | |
| 9:00 AM | 9:05 AM | Morning Welcome | |
| 9:05 AM | 9:25 AM | CHS Presentation Nick Barilo - Center for Hydrogen Safety | |
| 9:25 AM | 10:05 AM | Keynote Presentation | |
| Session 8 - Hydrogen & Natural Gas Blending & Pipeline Safety 2 | |||
| 10:05 AM | 10:25 AM | Jin Zhang - SoCalGas | |
| 10:25 AM | 10:45 AM | Alex Fridlyand - GTI Energy | |
| 10:45 AM | 11:00 AM | Speaker to be announced | |
| 11:00 AM | 11:15 AM | Q&A panel | |
| 11:15 AM | 11:45 AM | Break | |
| Session 9 - Safety Training & First Responder Education | |||
| 11:45 AM | 12:00 PM | First Responder Education and Public Communication on Hydrogen Fueling and Production Facilities Danielle Press - HTEC | |
| 12:00 PM | 12:15 PM | Speaker to be announced | |
| 12:15 PM | 12:30 PM | Bridging the Gap: Training a Hydrogen Technician Workforce By Upskilling Adjacent Trades and Partnering with Colleges for Future Readiness Owen Owens - HTEC | |
| 12:30 PM | 12:45 PM | Q&A panel | |
| 12:45 PM | 1:45 PM | Lunch | |
| Session 10 - Hydrogen Safety in Other Applications | |||
| 1:45 PM | 2:05 PM | Hydrogen in Weather Balloons Martin Gresho - FP2FIRE, INC. | |
| 2:05 PM | 2:20 PM | Sensor Placement and Safety Assessment for an Indoor Hydrogen Facility William Buttner - NREL & Munjal Shah - NREL | |
| 2:20 PM | 2:35 PM | Inert Gas Composition Effects on Flammability of Hydrogen Duane Myers - Trimeric Corporation | |
| 2:35 PM | 2:50 PM | Q&A panel | |
| 2:50 PM | 3:05 PM | Innovative Solution for Enhanced Safety in Onsite Hydrogen Storage Andrew Cassidy - Vallourec USA Corporation | |
| 3:05 PM | 3:20 PM | Hydrogen Station Safety – a Paper Trail of Due Diligence Norman Barmeier - HTEC | |
| 3:20 PM | 3:35 PM | Mitigating Risk in Hydrogen Refueling: The need for a second barrier to promote safe refueling and prevent incidents from misuse Annie van Beurden - Shell & Peter Roth - Shell | |
| 3:35 PM | 3:50 PM | Q&A panel | |
| 3:50 PM | 4:10 PM | Wrap-up Discussion | |
| 4:10 PM | 4:15 PM | Closing Remarks | |
