Although Faith Roberts’ business has been mostly a one-woman show for almost 40 years, she has always been a firm believer in the power of networking.

It was late in the day, rain was threatening, and Edward Skrzynski needed to cover a boat that was on an elevator lift before the storm hit. All the available workers were out, so telling no one he was leaving, he headed out to handle the task alone. Just as he arrived, it started drizzling. Climbing onto the boat after removing his shoes, he made his way to the (freshly waxed) bow with the cover. Standing there, he lost his footing and started sliding toward the bow rail at a speed that made going overboard a certainty.

As the world adjusted to life during COVID restrictions, tents were in greater demand; however, finding people willing and able to take on the work during those early months of the pandemic was particularly difficult, says David Darby, wedding and event rental specialist at Colonial Heights, Virginia-based Rent-E-Quip.

Geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) are multi-component materials commonly used in hydraulic barrier systems in applications ranging from different types of landfills to waste ponds to additional liquid containment applications. Conventional GCLs consist of a thin layer of montmorillonite clay (i.e., bentonite) typically encased between two geotextile layers and in some cases an additional geofilm layer attached to one of the geotextile layers. Sodium (Na) montmorillonite (i.e., Na-bentonite) is the main clay mineral in GCLs manufactured and used in North America. Figure 1 presents a GCL installed along the slope of a bottom liner component in a municipal solid waste landfill.

It takes less than a five-minute conversation with Andrea Lynn to appreciate her earnest enthusiasm for shade sails—which is why her reflection on a decades-long career in the industry may come as a surprise. “I jumped into the business with rose-colored glasses on,” she muses. “This journey has been more than worthwhile, but if I could have foreseen all the challenges I would face, I don’t know if I would have chosen this path.”

NASA has a long history of backing the research necessary to deliver fabrics that could withstand the extraordinary rigors of Space. Evelyne Orndoff is the Soft Goods Development and Testing Lead, Crew and Thermal Systems Division, for NASA. In her presentation at the Emerging Technologies Conference at ATA’s Expo, she discussed these historical fabrics, explaining how and why some are still in use, and some are not.