WFI 2020 Press Release

Waterloo Filtration Institute’s - 2020 Annual Conference a resounding success!! WFI’s 2020 Annual Virtual Conference (WFI 2020) "IAQ Health and Safety Solutions Associated with COVID-19" on December 15-16 had nearly 200 people attending to discuss air filtration responses and their critical roles for clean air solutions in the Pandemic!

Toronto Canada, December 23, 2020: The conference was moderated by Jay Forcucci, Conference Co-Chair, Vice President of Cerex Advanced Fabrics. 16 distinguished expert speakers from academia and the industry presented their topics and answered questions very well live as scheduled. It featured four sessions to address the latest developments of facemasks and air filtration in response to COVID-19. 1. Emerging Challenges and Responses 2. IAQ and the Built Environment 3. Facemask Technologies and Latest Developments 4. Facemask/Air Filter Test Methods and Standards

Product of the Year Awards were presented and announced by Mitch McCreary, Director of Sales, WFI. He acknowledged the product award committee and all the 20 nominations we received. He also introduced key factors the committee used in evaluating each of the products. “We would also like to extend our thanks and recognize all of the participants”, as Mitch said, “but a special thanks to our Product of the Year winners; Hollingsworth and Vose – (NanoWaveä XT) for New Media Design category and Donaldson Torit – (Rugged Pleat Baghouse and Filter) for Filter or Device category.”

“We are very honored to win this Award" ― Joe Kiolbasa, Donaldson Co. “I am very proud to receive this Award on behalf of Holingsworth and Vose” ― Suzana Vidakovic, Holingsworth and Vose

Innovative Product of the Year Awards were also awarded and the winners were four global companies: Pure Air Filtration in the USA (FiberShield™), Hangzhou Special Paper Industry Co., Ltd. In China (Akso & Hermes® Multi-function loop scarf), Camfil in the USA (Durafil Compac), and IFTS in France (GLP/LEP Porometer). Student of The Year – CFSS 2020 Certification Ceremony were moderated by Christine Sun, Co-Conference Chair, President of WFI. She introduced the Certified Filtration & Separation Specialist (CFSS) 2020 program which included 9 required courses and 8 elected courses. Student of the Year was awarded to the student who achieved the highest score for the CFSS exam required for the certification. We would like to recognize that Student of the Year 2020 is Kiarash Kiantaj, LMS Technology in Minneapolis, MN. Congratulations to all 32 CFSSs in 2020!Thanks to all of our speakers, instructors, panelists, attendees, and CFSS students for their participation and support in 2020.Happy Holidays from our Team at Waterloo Filtration Institute!! Some Comments from Attendees “The program really exposed me to a number of areas in filtration hat I was not aware of before the course…I will definitely try my best to be more involved in the field as much as possible”

― Kiarash (Kia) Kiantaj, LMS Technology

“Wonderful Conference and the Certified Filtration and Separation Specialist program was really worth the time”

― Kate Wilson, Senior Advanced Materials Engineer, Knowlton Tech., LLC

“Thank you, I enjoyed listening to some of the other talks and definitely enjoyed presenting and the questions! I’m looking forward to future involvement.”

― Janelle R. Bentz, M.S., Department Scientist, Nelson Labs

“PureAir is honored to receive this award from WFI. Our product launch team has been working tirelessly to bring this proven COVID killer to market. This helps recognize the countless hours that they have dedicated in our efforts against the pandemic. We also thank WFI for their assistance in regard to our accelerated communications plan for this product.”

― Kevin Jameson, President, Pure Air Filtration

“Many thanks and congratulations to this successful event. Happy holidays and hopefully a better next year for all of us.”― Dr. Thomas Caesar, Freudenberg “I think the whole conference went very well all things considered! Well done to all for your good work, and thanks for your help and support.”

― Hunter Most, AAF/Flanders

“Thank you for inviting us to your conference. It definitely helps in better understanding the needs and requirement of how to minimize the impact of COVID-19 through the use of appropriate filtration system and equipment in providing cleaner air and protection to the population. We also learn that new regulatory measures may be introduced, and testing procedures may be implemented. Congratulations on the success of the conference.”

― Michael Wong, Hong Kong Nonwovens Association