Rebecca Keasey, a senior research/data analyst with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Environmental Quality, has been selected as the department’s Team Member of the Month for June 2025. She was selected for her service to the department and her efforts while developing a system to replace an aging Air Quality Monitoring database.
As part of her usual duties, Keasey is half of a two-person team tasked with maintaining the data management systems within the department’s Environmental Services Program. The program generates and tracks large amounts of data used to meet client needs and fulfill regulatory reporting requirements.
“Part of the Environmental Service Program’s mission is to provide high quality and defensible data,” said Lynn Millberg, the director of the Environmental Services Program who nominated Keasey for the award. “This includes operating approximately 200 instruments at 43 air monitoring sites, performing more than 125,000 chemical laboratory analyses each year, conducting around 800 sampling events at over 400 water quality monitoring sites each year, and much more.”
Recently, an aging database system used by the air quality monitoring section was deemed to be end-of-life. Estimates for a new, custom system to replace the old one came in at more than $100,000. Under tight deadlines, Keasey developed a replacement solution by using the Laboratory Information Management System, also known as Titan, that was already in use by another section. She was able to take a spider web of inputs and create an effective, efficient and user-friendly platform that allowed for the uninterrupted collection and reporting of air quality monitoring data.
In addition, Keasey also began assisting the water quality monitoring section with transitioning its data system to Titan in a similar manner, which will save approximately $16,000 per year in subscription fees.
“Rebecca voluntarily took on these two projects when we were told solutions didn’t exist, couldn’t be developed within time constraints or were too expensive,” said Will Wetherell, the air quality monitoring section chief who also nominated Keasey for the award. “She collaborated with staff through every step of the process to not only recreate the functionality of the old databases, but also to improve functionality while prioritizing the user interface for field technicians.”
Keasey joined the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in May 2023 and resides in Jefferson City.
