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Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research (2004)

Chapter: Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
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Appendix H
Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff

Henry J. Vaux, Jr., chair, is a professor of resource economics, emeritus, at the University of California and associate vice president emeritus of the University of California system. He is currently affiliated with the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to serving as associate vice president, Agriculture and Natural Resources, he previously served as director of the University of California Water Resource Center. His principal research interests are the economics of water use and water quality. Prior to joining the University of California, he worked at the Office of Management and Budget and served on the staff of the National Water Commission. He received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. Dr. Vaux served on the NRC Committee on Western Water Management and the Committee on Ground Water Recharge, and he was chair of the Water Science and Technology Board from 1994 to 2001.

J. David Allan is a professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. He received a B.S. from the University of British Columbia and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Dr. Allan is a member of the Ecological Society of America, the North American Benthological Society, and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. He has served on the board of editors of Freshwater Biology and the Journal of the North American Benthological Society. He serves as an advisor to American Rivers and The Nature Conservancy. His current research examines the influence of land use and landscape setting on the ecological status of streams and rivers, flow variability and its influence on the biological community, and indicators of stream ecosystem condition.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×

James Crook is an independent environmental engineering consultant specializing in the area of water reuse. He has previous experience in state government and consulting engineering arenas, where he developed and executed a broad range of engineering services for water and wastewater agencies in the public and private sectors in the United States and abroad. Dr. Crook developed California’s first comprehensive water reuse criteria, has authored numerous technical papers and reports, and is an internationally recognized expert in the area of water reclamation and reuse. He was the principal author of water reuse guidelines published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Agency for International Development and was the American Academy of Environmental Engineers’ 2002 Kappe Lecturer. He has served on the Water Science and Technology Board and several National Research Council committees. Dr. Crook received his B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts and his M.S. and Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Joan G. Ehrenfeld is a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University. She is also the director of the New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute. She received her B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University, magna cum laude with honors in biology, her M.A. in biology from Harvard University, and her Ph.D. in biology from City University of New York. Dr. Ehrenfeld is associate editor for the journal Restoration Ecology and has served on the editorial board of Wetlands. Her research is centered on the overlap between ecosystems ecology and plant ecology, emphasizing wetland ecology and exotic species invasions. She is involved in research in a wide variety of ecosystems in New Jersey, including the Pinelands, the hardwood forests of the northwestern hills, and the red maple swamps of the northeastern Piedmont province. Her teaching includes lecture courses on general ecology, wetland ecology, ecosystems ecology and global change, research methods in ecology, and restoration ecology.

Konstantine P. Georgakakos is the managing director of the Hydrologic Research Center in San Diego, California. He is also an adjunct full professor with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California, San Diego, and an adjunct full professor with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Iowa. Previously, he was an associate professor at the University of Iowa and with the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, as well as a research hydrologist with the National Weather Service. He holds M.S. and Sc.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Honors and awards include the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation and the NRC-NOAA Associateship Award from the National Research Council. He is the primary author of several software packages pertaining to real-time flow prediction, which are in various stages of implementation for operational use by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National

Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×

Weather Service. He is a consultant for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and he served as associate editor of the ASCE Journal of Engineering Hydrology and the Journal of Hydrology. He was elected the U.S. Expert in Hydrologic Modeling for the World Meteorological Organization Commission for Hydrology (1997–2000).

George R. Hallberg is a principal with the Cadmus Group, Inc., in Watertown, Massachusetts, conducting environmental research, regulatory analysis, and management services in the public sector. Previously he was associate director and chief of environmental research at the University of Iowa’s environmental and public health laboratory and at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Dr. Hallberg is a long-time participant in NRC activities, including chairing the WSTB Committee on Opportunities to Improve the USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program. He has served on EPA’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology and on the Office of Water’s Management Advisory Group. Awards include the EPA Administrator’s Award for Excellence in Pollution Prevention, the Soil Conservation Award from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Geological Society of America. His research interests have included environmental monitoring and assessment, agricultural-environmental impacts, fate and transport, contaminant occurrence and trends in drinking water, and health effects of environmental contaminants. Dr. Hallberg received a B.A. in geology from Augustana College and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Iowa.

Debra S. Knopman is a senior engineer at RAND and associate director of RAND Science and Technology. Her expertise is in hydrology, environmental and natural resources policy, systems analysis, and public administration. From 1997 to 2003, she was a member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, which has oversight of the Yucca Mountain scientific and engineering program, and she chaired the Board’s Site Characterization Panel. From 1995 to 2000, she served as director of the Center for Innovation and the Environment at the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. She served as deputy assistant secretary for Water and Science at the Department of Interior from 1993 to 1995. Prior to 1993, she worked for the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. She has a B.A. in chemistry from Wellesley College, an M.S. in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is the 2001 recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association’s Woodrow Wilson Award for Distinguished Government Service.

Lawrence J. MacDonnell is an environmental and natural resources attorney with the firm of Porzak, Browning & Bushong in Boulder, Colorado. His practice

Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×

emphasizes water law and the Endangered Species Act. He is active in several nonprofit organizations involved in community-based conservation in Colorado. Between 1983 and 1994, he served as the initial director of the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado School of Law, where he also taught courses in environmental and natural resources law. He has published and spoken widely. His most recent book is From Reclamation to Sustainability: Water, Agriculture, and the Environment in the American West. He is a past president of the Colorado Riparian Association. Dr. MacDonnell served on the NRC Committee on the Future of Irrigation, and the Committee on Riparian Zone Functioning and Strategies for Management. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan, his J.D. from the University of Denver, and his Ph.D. from the Colorado School of Mines.

Thomas K. MacVicar is a private consultant specializing in the water resources of south Florida. He has been president of MacVicar, Federico & Lamb, Inc., since its inception in 1994. Prior to beginning his consulting practice, he spent 16 years on the staff of the South Florida Water Management District. From 1989 to 1994, he was second in command of the 1,500-employee agency with direct responsibility for all water resource issues in a 16-county jurisdiction from Orlando to Key West. His firm is currently involved in numerous complex water resource-related processes for both public and private sector clients. Mr. MacVicar participated in the multiyear process to develop the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan on behalf of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and a broad cross section of agricultural landowners, businesses, and associations. He currently serves as chair of the Miami-Dade County Flood Management Task Force, created by the County Commission in response to back-to-back floods in 1999 and 2000. He received a B.A. in political science from the University of South Carolina, a B.S. in agricultural engineering from the University of Florida, and an M.S. in water resource engineering from Cornell University. Mr. MacVicar was a member of the NRC Committee on the Future of Irrigation in the Face of Competing Demands.

Rebecca T. Parkin is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health with a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health and Health Services at The George Washington University. She is also the associate dean for research and public health practice for the school and the scientific director of the Center for Risk Science and Public Health at the university. Previously, Dr. Parkin was director of Scientific, Professional and Section Affairs at the American Public Health Association and the assistant commissioner of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Health at the New Jersey Department of Health. Her areas of expertise include environmental epidemiology, public health policy, and risk assessment and communication. She has been a member of the NRC’s Water

Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×

Science and Technology Board. Dr. Parkin received her A.B. in sociology from Cornell University; her Certificate in Science, Technology and Policy from Princeton University; and her M.P.H. in environmental health and Ph.D. in epidemiology from Yale University.

Roger K. Patterson is director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. He was appointed by Governor Mike Johanns in January 1999. Prior to his appointment with the State of Nebraska, he spent 25 years with the Bureau of Reclamation, working in several of the western states. His last assignment with the Bureau of Reclamation was as regional director of the Mid-Pacific Region in Sacramento, California. Mr. Patterson has been honored with numerous awards throughout his career, among them the 1995 Presidential Rank Distinguished Executive Award, the highest award bestowed on a federal career employee. In 1999, Mr. Patterson received the DOI’s Distinguished Service Award for achievements in addressing engineering, environmental, and public concerns as regional director of the Mid-Pacific Region. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska with degrees in civil and sanitary engineering. In addition to being agency director, Mr. Patterson is chair of the Nebraska Boundary Compact Commission and is the state representative to the Missouri River Basin Association, the State Environmental Trust Board, the Blue River Compact, the Republican River Compact, and the Upper Niobrara River Compact.

Franklin W. Schwartz is a professor and the Ohio Eminent Scholar in hydrogeology at The Ohio State University. Dr. Schwartz’s research interests encompass field and theoretical aspects of mass transport, contaminant hydrogeology, and watershed hydrology. He is coauthor of the texts Physical and Chemical Hydrogeology, published in 1990 and 1998, and Foundations of Ground Water, now in production. He has received various awards recognizing his contributions to hydrogeology, including the O. E. Meinzer Award, the Excellence in Science and Engineering Award, and the M. King Hubbert Science Award. He was elected as a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1992. In addition to his teaching and research, Dr. Schwartz acts as a consultant to government and industry, and he acts in various advisory capacities. He has served on various NRC panels and as a member of the Water Science and Technology Board. He received his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Illinois.

Amy K. Zander is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Clarkson University. She received a B.S. in biology and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota. Her areas of expertise include drinking water treatment, treatment process design, membrane systems in environmental separations, life cycle assessment, and industrial ecology. Dr. Zander has received numerous awards for her research and teaching, including the 2003 Samuel Arnold Greeley Award from the American Society of

Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×

Civil Engineers for the paper that makes the most valuable contribution to the environmental engineering profession, the 2000 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors/McGraw Hill award for Outstanding Teaching in Environmental Engineering and Science, and the 2001 Boeing Outstanding Educator Award. Prior to her academic career Dr. Zander was a water quality specialist with the Texas Water Commission, 1984–1986, and an engineer with James M. Montgomery Consulting Engineers in 1989. Dr. Zander served on the NRC Committee on Small Water Supply Systems.

Laura J. Ehlers is a senior staff officer for the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Research Council. Since joining the NRC in 1997, she has served as study director for nine committees, including the Committee to Review the New York City Watershed Management Strategy, the Committee on Riparian Zone Functioning and Strategies for Management, and the Committee on Bioavailability of Contaminants in Soils and Sediment. She received her B.S. from the California Institute of Technology, majoring in biology and engineering and applied science. She earned both an M.S.E. and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. Her dissertation, entitled RP4 Plasmid Transfer Among Strains of Pseudomonas in a Biofilm, was awarded the 1998 Parsons Engineering/Association of Environmental Engineering Professors award for best doctoral thesis.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×
Page 305
Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×
Page 306
Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×
Page 307
Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×
Page 308
Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×
Page 309
Suggested Citation:"Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11031.
×
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In order to confront the increasingly severe water problems faced by all parts of the country, the United States needs to make a new commitment to research on water resources. A new mechanism is needed to coordinate water research currently fragmented among nearly 20 federal agencies. Given the competition for water among farmers, communities, aquatic ecosystems and other users—as well as emerging challenges such as climate change and the threat of waterborne diseases—Confronting the Nation's Water Problems concludes that an additional $70 million in federal funding should go annually to water research. Funding should go specifically to the areas of water demand and use, water supply augmentation, and other institutional research topics. The book notes that overall federal funding for water research has been stagnant in real terms for the past 30 years and that the portion dedicated to research on water use and social science topics has declined considerably.

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