Review of the St. Johns River Water Supply Impact Study: Report 1 (2009)

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Appendix B Biographical Sketches for Committee to Review the St. Johns River Water Supply Impact Study Patrick L. Brezonik, Chair, is professor and Fesler-Lampert Chair of Urban and Regional Affairs in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research interests are focused on the impacts of human activity on water quality and the biogeochemical cycles of important elements (nitrogen, phosphorus, trace metals) in large natural aquatic systems. Field studies, including experimental manipulations in large systems, and modeling approaches are emphasized. Dr. Brezonik is a former program director for environmental engineering at the National Science Foundation and has served on numerous NRC committees, including the Committee to Review the Corps of Engineers Restructured Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Water Draft Feasibility Study, the Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, and is a past member of the Water Science and Technology Board. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Marquette University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in water chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. M. Siobhan Fennessy is a professor of biology at Kenyon College. Her areas of expertise are in aquatic ecology, wetland plant community dynamics, and landscape ecology. Dr. Fennessy’s primary areas of research are freshwater ecosystems, their plant communities and restoration, how ecosystems respond to human impacts, and the role of temperate wetlands in the global carbon cycle. She previously served on the faculty of the Geography Department of University College London and held a joint appointment at the Station Biologique du la Tour du Valat (located in southern France) where she conducted research on human impacts to Mediterranean wetlands. She recently co-authored a book on the ecology of wetland plants. Dr. Fennessy is a 2001 recipient of the Robert J. Tomsich Science Award for excellence in scientific research. She received her B.S. in botany and Ph.D. in environmental science from the Ohio State University. Ben R. Hodges is an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. His primary areas of interest are in the fields of environmental fluid mechanics and surface water hydraulics; coupled field and model investigations of hydrodynamics in lakes, rivers, and estuaries; relationships between river hydraulics and instream flow for aquatic habitat; and linkages between water quality and hydrodynamics in natural systems. His recent research has focused on hydrodynamic and transport modeling of the stratification in Corpus Christi Bay, which impacts episodic hypoxia development. Also, Dr. Hodges is familiar with Florida river systems through his outside peer review of the Lower Peace River and Shell Creek modeling for minimum flow requirements for the Southwest Florida Water Management District. He received his B.S. in marine engineering and nautical science from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, his M.S. in mechanical engineering from George Washington University, and his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Stanford University. 82 

Appendix B 83 James R. Karr is Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Environmental Policy at the University of Washington, Seattle. His primary areas of interest span from tropical forest ecology to aquatic ecology and watershed management, with a specific focus on fostering use of ecological knowledge to resolve complex natural resource and environmental disputes. Dr. Karr’s recent research has focused on the ecology of fish and invertebrates in streams, on plants and invertebrates in shrub steppe, and the demography of tropical forest birds. He has served on numerous review teams for both the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He served on the NRC Committee to Assess the Scientific Basis of the Total Maximum Daily Load Approach to Water Pollution Reduction. Dr. Karr received his B.Sc. in fish and wildlife biology from Iowa State University and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in zoology from the University of Illinois. Mark S. Peterson is a professor in the Department of Coastal Sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi. His primary areas of expertise are in fisheries ecology, population biology, sustainable coastal development, habitat loss, invasive species, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Dr. Peterson’s current research interests are broadly focused on habitat use in nekton, with particular emphasis on factors affecting recruitment success and distribution in estuarine-dependent fishes and the tradeoffs made by nekton when living in different habitats. He has also recently begun addressing habitat loss and environmental variability and impacts on fish recruitment and distribution using GIS. He served on the NRC Committee to Review the Florida Keys Carrying Capacity Study. He received his B.S. in marine science from Coastal Carolina University, his M.S. in bioenvironmental oceanography, and his Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Southern Mississippi. James L. Pinckney is a professor of marine and biological sciences at the University of South Carolina. His research interests are focused on marine and microbial ecology, microalgal ecophysiology, phytoplankton–nutrient interactions, harmful algal blooms, and ecosystem eutrophication in estuarine and coastal habitats of Texas. His specific interests are centered around the ecophysiological factors and processes that influence carbon partitioning, allocation, and interspecific competition in multispecies assemblages. Dr. Pinckney’s current research is being conducted in local estuarine, riverine, and intertidal habitats, as well as in pelagic systems in the Gulf of Mexico and hypersaline lagoons in the Bahamas. He received his B.S. in biology and his M.S. in marine biology from the College of Charleston, and his Ph.D. in ecology from the University of South Carolina. Jorge I. Restrepo is a professor of geohydrology and director of the Hydrological Modeling Center of the Department of Geography and Geology at Florida Atlantic University. His current research interests include evapotranspiration in southern Florida; modeling recharge, evapotranspiration, and runoff; development of a wetland simulation model; modeling of seepage in the Everglades Nutrient Removal Site Test Cells; development of a generalized computer model to represent physical and operational behavior of a stream–aquifer system for evaluating conjunctive management of surface water and groundwater; and development of an optimization model to support the planning of a regional aquifer storage and recovery facility along a canal system. Dr. Restrepo served on the NRC Committee on Sustainable Underground 

84 Review of the St. Johns River Water Supply Impact Study: Report 1 Storage of Recoverable Water. He received his B.A. from the Universidad Nacional, Facultad de Minas, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Colorado State University. Roland C. Steiner is the regional water and wastewater manager for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC). He is responsible for developing and maintaining the major functional and financial relationships between WSSC and adjacent utilities, including management and funding of cost-shared water supply reservoirs and advisory services, water curtailment agreements, and reconciliation of WSSC’s capital funding at several wastewater treatment plants. Previously he was associate director for Water Resources and Director of Cooperative Water Supply Operations on the Potomac for the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. There he was responsible for directing the water resources program of the Commission including covering coordinated drought supply management of river and reservoir resources for the Washington, DC region. He is a licensed professional engineer in Maryland. He served on the NRC Committee on Water Resources Activities at the U.S. Geological Survey. He has a B.Sc. in civil engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and M.Sc. in civil engineering from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Johns Hopkins University. J. Court Stevenson is a professor at the Horn Point Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. His primary areas of interest are coastal zone resources and water quality management issues; ecology of marsh and sea grass systems; effects of sea-level rise on wetlands and coastal shorelines; and the environmental history of Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Dr. Stevenson received his B.S. in biology from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and his Ph.D. in botany from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 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 the study director for 13 committees, including the Committee to Review the New York City Watershed Management Strategy, the Committee on Bioavailability of Contaminants in Soils and Sediment, the Committee on Assessment of Water Resources Research, and the Committee on Reducing Stormwater Discharge Contributions to Water Pollution. Ehlers has periodically consulted for EPA’s Office of Research Development regarding their water quality research programs. 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 from the Johns Hopkins University.