C
Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff
Bruce Rittmann, Chair, is the John Evans Professor and Program Coordinator of Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University. He received a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Stanford University in 1979 and spent more than 12 years on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His expertise is in environmental biotechnology and its application to bioremediation, treatment of water and wastewater, and detoxification of hazardous organic chemicals. His research emphasizes the kinetics of biodegradation reactions, biofilm processes, and interdisciplinary approaches. He chaired the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Committee on In Situ Bioremediation and served as vice-chair of the Water Science and Technology Board.
Michael Barden is principal geologist with Geoscience Resources Ltd. in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He provides consulting on the evaluation of natural attenuation of contaminants, hydrogeologic characterization and interpretation, risk assessment, and soil and groundwater modeling. Mr. Barden was previously a senior hydrogeologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, where he was responsible for development of Wisconsin’s soil cleanup regulations, application of risk-based corrective action approaches, and policies for use of natural attenuation in the cleanup of contaminated soil and groundwater. Mr. Barden has been involved with numerous sites, ranging from leaking underground storage tanks to Superfund sites, and has worked extensively with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the military, and various state regulatory
agencies. He has been involved with evaluating natural attenuation at numerous sites, ranging from fuel hydrocarbon releases to landfills.
Barbara Bekins is a research hydrologist in the U.S. Geological Survey’s Water Resources Division. She received her Ph.D. in hydrogeology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1993. Her research focuses on integrating field and laboratory observations using computer models. Her recent work has focused on modeling anaerobic microbial populations and the importance of using the correct microbial kinetic expressions in estimates of natural attenuation. She serves on the editorial advisory boards of Ground Water and the Hydrogeology Journal.
David Ellis is bioremediation leader for DuPont. He received his M.Phil. in geology and geophysics in 1973 and his Ph.D. in geochemistry in 1977 from Yale University. At DuPont, he leads a biotechnology group that develops techniques for the biodegradation of hazardous chemical wastes in soils and groundwater. His group has made several discoveries in the area of anaerobic treatment of chlorinated ethenes and in intrinsic bioremediation. Dr. Ellis is founder and chair of the Remediation Technologies Development Forum Bioremediation Consortium.
Mary Firestone is a professor in the Department of Soil Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her M.S. in microbiology in 1977 and her Ph.D. in soil science in 1979 from Michigan State University. Her expertise is in the physiological ecology of soil microorganisms, especially in the control of nitrogen transformations in soil and microbial responses to soil water stress. She was a member of the NRC Committee on Global Change Working Group on Fluxes of Trace Gases and Nutrients to and from Terrestrial Ecosystems.
Stephen Lester is science director for the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice. He received his M.S. in environmental health from the New York University Institute of Environmental Medicine in 1976 and his M.S. in toxicology from the Harvard University School of Public Health in 1977. He is responsible for providing scientific and technical assistance to community groups affected by hazardous waste sites across the country.
Derek Lovley is a professor of microbiology at the University of Massachusetts. He received his Ph.D. in microbiology in 1982 from Michigan State University. Formerly, he conducted research for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Water Resources Division. His work focuses on the physiology and ecology of novel anaerobic microorganisms; molecular analysis of anaerobic microbial communities; and bioremediation of metal and
organic contaminants. He has published in the journal Nature on the biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbons using iron reducing organisms and on the microbial reduction of uranium.
Richard Luthy is the Silas H. Palmer Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and spent more than 24 years on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University. His research interests include physicochemical and microbial processes and aquatic chemistry with application to waste treatment and remediation of contaminated soil and sediment. His research emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to understand phase partitioning behavior and availability of organic contaminants and the application to environmental quality criteria. Dr. Luthy is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He serves on the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board and was a member of the NRC Committee on Innovative Remediation Technologies.
Douglas M. Mackay is research associate professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Waterloo and is a member of the Waterloo Centre for Groundwater Research. His work focuses on transport, fate, and remediation of chemicals in surface and groundwaters. His research includes development of active and semipassive groundwater remediation technologies, development of tracers for groundwater contamination, and use of automated technologies for monitoring organic contaminants in water. His prior work experience includes positions in the University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Civil Engineering and Public Health; in the environmental engineering department at Stanford; and at the EPA. Dr. Mackay received his B.S. degree in engineering from Stanford University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in environmental engineering and science, also from Stanford University.
Eugene Madsen is assistant professor of microbiology at Cornell University. He received his Ph.D. in microbiology, soil science, and ecology from Cornell University in 1985. Dr. Madsen’s research interests are in documenting the “who,” “what,” “how,” “where,” “when,” and “why” of microbiological processes in water, soil sediments, and groundwater. Ongoing research projects have objectives that include characterizing soil and subsurface microorganisms and their activities, documenting anaerobic metabolic pathways for degrading organic compounds, using molecular biology in discerning horizontal gene transfer and other mechanisms of metabolic adaptation to pollutant compounds, understanding geochemical and physiological characteristics that both prevent and foster
microbial activity, and developing an understanding of the biogeochemistry of field sites. He serves on the editorial board of Applied and Environmental Microbiology. He was a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on In Situ Bioremediation. He was rapporteur for that committee, a position that required writing the first draft of the committee’s report and recommendations during a one-week committee workshop.
Perry McCarty is an emeritus professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Stanford University and director of the Western Region Hazardous Substance Research Center. He received his Sc.D. degree in sanitary engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1959. Dr. McCarty’s research focuses on biological transformations of environmental contaminants and biological processes for the treatment of wastes. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has been a member of numerous NRC committees.
Eileen Poeter is a professor at the Colorado School of Mines. She received her Ph.D. in engineering science in 1980 from Washington State University. Her research focuses on groundwater modeling and parameter estimation. Several current projects involve identification and characterization of aquifer heterogeneities using a variety of hydraulic and geophysical techniques. Other projects involve simulation of groundwater flow and contaminant transport in heterogeneous aquifers.
Robert Scofield is a principal with Environ Corporation in Emeryville, California. He received his Ph.D. in public health and environmental science from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1984. His work emphasizes toxicology, health risk assessment, and environmental fate and transport of chemicals. He has managed or performed health risk assessments for major Superfund sites, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act sites, agricultural chemical spill sites, and petroleum release sites, among others. Recently, he has been working with states to evaluate the risks posed by chemicals in the period during which natural attenuation is taking place to help states determine whether natural attenuation is appropriate as a remedial alternative.
Art Warrick is professor of soil physics at the University of Arizona. He received his Ph.D. in soil physics from Iowa State University in 1967. His major research topics include modeling of unsaturated flow, movement of potential pollutants in the vadose zone, application of geostatistics in the management of soil and water, and modeling of trickle irrigation. His research involves the use of geostatistics to study soil variability and to develop efficient sampling schemes. He has addressed a broad array of
research topics in an effort to blend mathematical rigor with the quantitative aspects of water and contaminant transport in variably saturated soils.
John Wilson is a research microbiologist at the Environmental Protection Agency’s R. S. Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in microbiology from Cornell University in 1978. His research emphasizes quantitative description of the biological and physical processes that control the behavior of hazardous materials in soils and groundwater. He has received several awards, including a 1996 Newsmaker Award from Engineering News-Record and EPA bronze and silver medals. He served on the NRC Committee on In Situ Bioremediation.
John Zachara is chief scientist and associate director of the Environmental Dynamics and Simulations Group at Battelle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories. He received his Ph.D. in soil chemistry from Washington State University in 1986. His research focuses on adsorption reactions between organic, metal, and radionuclide contaminants and solid matter in the subsurface. His research has ranged from fundamental surface chemical studies to site evaluations of solute mobilization and transport in the field. His current research is focused on the geochemical behavior of metals and radionuclides complexed by organic ligands and on the influence of subsurface microbial processes on mineral surface chemistry and contaminant binding in groundwater.
Staff
Jacqueline A. MacDonald is an engineer at RAND and former associate director of the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board. She directed the studies that led to the reports Groundwater and Soil Cleanup: Improving Management of Persistent Contaminants; Innovations in Ground Water and Soil Cleanup: From Concept to Commercialization; Alternatives for Ground Water Cleanup; In Situ Bioremediation: When Does It Work?; Issues in Potable Reuse: The Viability of Augmenting Drinking Water Supplies with Reclaimed Water; Safe Water from Every Tap: Improving Water Service to Small Communities; and Freshwater Ecosystems: Revitalizing Educational Programs in Limnology. She received the 1996 National Research Council Award for Distinguished Service. Ms. MacDonald earned an M.S. degree in environmental science in civil engineering from the University of Illinois, where she received a university graduate fellowship and Avery Brundage scholarship, and a B.A. degree magna cum laude in mathematics from Bryn Mawr College, where she received an alumnae regional scholarship and the Scott Prize in mathematics.
Ellen A. de Guzman is a senior project assistant at the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board. She received a B.A. from the University of the Philippines and is currently taking classes in economics at the University of Maryland. She also worked on reports such as Valuing Groundwater, Innovations in Ground Water and Soil Cleanup: From Concept to Commercialization, Issues in Potable Reuse, Improving American River Flood Frequency Analyses, New Directions in Water Resources Planning for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Watershed Management for Potable Water Supply: Assessing New York City’s Approach.
Kimberly A. Swartz is a former project assistant with the National Academy of Science’s Water Science and Technology Board. She has a B.S. in sociology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
