UNHInnovation (UNHI) recently traveled to Palm Springs, California for the 61st Annual Meeting of the Campus Safety Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) to promote our homegrown chemical inventory management system, UNHCEMS®. After our success at last year’s meeting in Orlando, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback on the system from our licensees, we were excited to attend the event and encourage even more higher education institutions to evaluate and implement our system. Prepared with promotional materials and iPad demonstrations, Philip Collins, a UNH Research and Computing Center (UNHRCC) software engineer, and I manned the booth and engaged with industry and academic attendees from across the country.
What is UNHCEMS?
UNHCEMS software is a web-deployed chemical inventory management system developed in the fall of 2001 by software engineers at the UNHRCC in conjunction with campus Environmental Health & Safety, and with input from the Durham Fire Department. UNHCEMS records and manages information about the quantity, location, and properties of chemicals, biological agents, radioactive materials, and hazardous wastes throughout a campus. UNHCEMS software has been endorsed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as a “Best Management Practice” and is currently licensed by UNH to nearly 20 different higher education institutions across the United States.
At the UNHCEMS Booth
Many CSHEMA attendees we spoke to confessed to using simple spreadsheets to manage their chemical inventory and were genuinely impressed with the features and functionality of UNHCEMS. The smaller institutions were enthusiastic about our tiered pricing structure and the flexibility to either host a solution at UNH or at their own institution using their own IT professionals for administration. Attendees were also intrigued to know that UNHCEMS can track and report exact quantities of specific chemicals in a given lab and allows users to mark and search for surplus chemicals. Over time, these specific features can result in less waste and reduced costs. For example, UNH estimates that UNHCEMS® saved the Durham campus close to $80,000 in reduced waste fees and more efficient ordering of materials during the first year of use.
This year’s CSHEMA meeting was a huge success, and we will be following up with all the great contacts we made in coming months. I am already looking forward to next year’s meeting in Washington, D.C.
Tristan Carrier, Licensing Manager
UNHInnovation
More information about UNHCEMS software can be found at http://cems.info.sr.unh.edu. For licensing opportunities or further questions about UNHCEMS®, please contact me at Tristan.carrier@unh.edu or 603.862.2022.
