Joshua Lipton supervises the firm’s environmental sciences and natural resources group, as well as its natural resource damage assessment work area. Dr. Lipton is an environmental toxicologist with expertise in aquatic and terrestrial toxicology, applied ecology and fisheries biology, and uncertainty analysis.

His toxicological research activities have included investigations into the bioavailability of metals to fish and plants, sublethal and behavioral responses of organisms to hazardous substances, effects of acclimation and adaptation on sensitivity to metals, community/ecological responses to chronic contamination, lethal and sublethal effects of petroleum hydrocarbons on marine organisms and communities, and reproductive, sublethal, and behavioral effects of chlorinated organics. Dr. Lipton also directs field studies on fish and wildlife populations, field studies on aquatic and terrestrial habitat and community composition, and extensive environmental sampling and monitoring programs. He has served as lead scientist on many of the prominent natural resource injury and damage investigations performed in the United States.

Dr. Lipton has published peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals such as the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Ecotoxicology, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, Environmental Management, and Aquatic Toxicology, and has been an invited speaker and lecturer at conferences and universities and for government agencies. He has served on the editorial boards of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and Science of the Total Environment, and has served as a peer reviewer for other scientific journals. Dr. Lipton also served as a Research (Full) Professor at the Colorado School of Mines. He holds a PhD in natural resources/environmental toxicology and an MS in natural resources from Cornell University, and a BA in ecology from Middlebury College.

Charles N. Herrick has more than 17 years of experience in environmental information policies and applications, environmental program management and evaluation, applied environmental policy analysis, and science/policy assessment in an environmental context. Before joining the firm, he was vice president of Princeton Economic Research, associate director of the Council on Environmental Quality, and assistant director of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program. He has published articles in journals such as Global Environmental Change, Issues in Science and Technology, andScience, Technology, and Human Values. Most recently, he contributed two invited essays to a book from Island Press titled Prediction: Science, Decision Making, and the Future of Nature. He also serves as a peer reviewer on several NAS and USGCRP panels.

Robert D. Rowe specializes in environmental and natural resource economics, econometrics, risk assessment, and survey research. He is a nationally recognized expert on the measurement and valuation of health and welfare effects of environmental pollutants. Dr. Rowe has served as the lead economist on some of the most prominent natural resource damage assessments conducted in the United States under CERCLA statutes. Dr. Rowe also served as the project manager for the New York State Electricity Externalities Study and the recent transportation externality studies. He has designed numerous stated preference surveys concerning a wide range of health and welfare effects of pollution. The author of three books, Dr. Rowe has also published more than two dozen articles in leading peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Land Economics, International Economic Review, and Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association. Dr. Rowe has served as a consultant member of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, and as a board member of the Association of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists. Formerly, Dr. Rowe was an economics faculty member at the University of Wyoming and Denver University.

David Chapman is a natural resource economist with over 20 years of experience in natural resource damage assessment (NRDA), environmental valuation, and policy analysis. At Stratus Consulting, Mr. Chapman leads natural resource valuation and NRDA projects for both state and federal clients. He is currently leading resource valuation projects to determine the value of protecting coral reefs, right whales, and improved weather forecasts. Mr. Chapman has worked on the conceptual and empirical estimates of the value of water for the American Water Works Research Foundation. Before joining Stratus Consulting, he was a senior economist for the NOAA Damage Assessment Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he had been actively involved in both economic and natural science studies for many NRDAs and restoration planning activities undertaken by NOAA throughout the United States. Mr. Chapman provided management and direction on NRDA projects related to oil spills, mine sites, contaminated industrial waterways, and vessel groundings. He participated in the development of the habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) technique for scaling restoration, was intimately involved in the development and review of travel cost, conjoint, and contingent valuation studies and technique development. His other economics experience includes providing economic analysis related to industrial and commercial sector water conservation practices, estimating ecosystem values, measuring economic impacts of development activities, developing fair market valuations of fiber optic cable rights-of-way through National Marine Sanctuaries, estimating economic impacts of coastal oil and gas development, and participating in numerous recreational fishing use assessments. Mr. Chapman was a testifying expert in the American Trader oil spill case and has been a regularly invited speaker for agencies and at conferences on issues related to NRDA, natural resource economics, non-market and recreational use valuation, oil spill response, restoration scaling, and integration of restoration planning into the NRDA process, and has taught courses in non-market valuation, HEA, and cooperative NRDA assessments. He holds a BA in economics from the University of California at Irvine, and an MS in natural resource economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Nimmi Damodaran has over 15 years of experience in quantitative and qualitative analysis focusing primarily on environmental and economic issues. Her current research interests are the phaseout of ozone depleting substances, the assessment of economically and technically feasible alternatives to ozone depleting substances, the estimation of methane (a potent greenhouse gas) emissions at the local and national levels, ensuring the quality of environmental information, and assisting in the development of processes that incorporate external costs into decision-making on drinking water infrastructure. Her methodological expertise covers economic, statistical, and decision analyses. Dr. Damodaran’s current clients include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the American Water Works Association Research Foundation. Before joining Stratus Consulting, Dr. Damodaran was a project manager at Princeton Energy Resources International, a senior energy and environmental analyst at DynCorp I&ET, and a lecturer at Cornell University where she taught economics and statistics. She has presented talks at international conferences on solid waste and methane emissions and published articles in journals such asManagement Science, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, and Energy Systems and Policy.

Jamie Holmes is an environmental scientist and hydrologist who has worked on natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs), contaminant fate and transport analyses, surface and groundwater assessments, ecological effects assessments, and natural resource restoration planning since 1991. Mr. Holmes has assessed habitat and groundwater damages at chemical manufacturing sites, refineries, mine sites, and nuclear sites throughout the country. He has managed NRDA activities for Stratus Consulting at dozens of sites nationwide, and co-authored expert reports assessing natural resource injuries and damages as part of the ASARCO bankruptcy proceedings. He has written expert reports and provided expert testimony on groundwater and habitat injuries and damages at three sites in New Jersey and two sites on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. As a research hydrologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mr. Holmes worked on hydrograph separation in stormflow, geochemical mixing models, and contaminant source analyses. He has provided NRDA training to multiple Trustee agencies and has presented on NRDA methods at professional meetings both in the United States and internationally. He is the lead author of a case study published in Equivalency Methods for Environmental Liability in the European Union, and was an invited speaker on assessment methods in groundwater NRDA at the 2008 International Conference on Soil, Sediments, and Water. Mr. Holmes holds an MS in earth sciences from Dartmouth College and a BA in environmental biology from Middlebury College.

Diana Lane is a terrestrial ecologist with specific experience in restoration ecology. Her work focuses on all aspects of restoration planning, management, and evaluation. She has been involved in identifying, screening, scaling, selecting, and designing ecological restoration projects for a variety of natural resource damage assessment sites throughout the United States. Dr. Lane has expertise in designing and applying habitat equivalency analyses and resource equivalency analyses to quantify natural resource injuries and determine the amount of restoration required to compensate for injuries to state and federal trust resources. Her research includes restoration project evaluation, including novel techniques for evaluating the functional consequences of prairie restoration on soil heterogeneity and vegetation dynamics. She has worked on the evaluation of environmental projects and programs, such as those focusing on Gulf of Mexico coastal habitats; Pacific salmon and coastal dune habitats; Great Lakes wetland, upland, and lake habitats; invasive species management; marine conservation; and climate change mitigation in agriculture. Dr. Lane holds a PhD in ecology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an MS in rangeland ecosystem science from Colorado State University, and a BA in biology from Harvard University.

Dr. Robert Raucher, a founding partner and principal at Stratus Consulting, specializes in economics, risk management, strategic planning, and regulatory policy analysis related to water utilities, water resources, and environmental quality. He is a noted expert on water resources management, benefit-cost analysis and water-related valuation issues, regulatory policy, and climate change-related vulnerability assessment and adaptation strategies for water resource management. Dr. Raucher has been involved in desalination and water reuse planning and implementation issues, and is actively engaged in research assessing reliability values associated with water supply portfolio diversification through desal and other “new” water options that offer drought-resistant yields. Dr. Raucher is an active member of the water supply and wastewater community, serving on numerous expert panels and committees, including three workgroups for the National Drinking Water Advisory Council. He is a member of the WateReuse Foundation’s Research Advisory Committee.

Joel B. Smith has been analyzing climate change impacts and adaptation issues for more than 25 years. He is and has been a coordinating lead author or lead author on the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Mr. Smith is a member of the U.S. National Climate Change Assessment Federal Advisory Committee and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences “Panel on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change.” He has provided technical advice, guidance, and training on assessing climate change impacts and adaptation to people around the world and to international organizations, the U.S. government, states, municipalities, and the nonprofit and private sectors. Mr. Smith worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1984 to 1992, where he was the deputy director of the Climate Change Division. He joined Hagler Bailly in 1992 and Stratus Consulting in 1998. He was a coeditor of The Potential Effects of Global Climate Change on the United States (1989), As Climate Changes: International Impacts and Implications (1995), Adaptation to Climate Change: Assessments and Issues (1996), Climate Change, Adaptive Capacity, and Development (2003), and The Impact of Climate Change on Regional Systems: A Comprehensive Analysis of California (2006). Mr. Smith has published more than 30 articles and chapters on climate change impacts and adaptation in peer-reviewed journals and books, and has edited a number of books. He received a BA from Williams College in 1979, and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan in 1982.

Constance Travers is a hydrogeologist with 17 years of experience in hydrogeology, water resources, and environmental chemistry. She has extensive experience in the development, testing, and application of numerical models used in predicting the mobility of water and inorganic and organic contaminants in the subsurface, as well as in surface water. Ms. Travers has developed vadose zone, surface water, and groundwater models ranging in complexity from conceptual hydrologic models to 3-dimensional numerical models of regional flow systems. Her expertise in groundwater flow, contaminant chemistry, and transport and fate processes has been used extensively by litigation teams involved in environmental lawsuits. At sites throughout the United States, Ms. Travers has worked on subsurface fate and transport issues to support site characterization, remedial investigations, and feasibility studies. She has assessed the mobility of free-phase petroleum and dissolved petrochemical constituents at sites in Washington, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Colorado, Texas, and Nevada. At sites in Oregon and Florida, she has evaluated the migration and fate of pesticides in soils and groundwater as part of the assessment and selection of remedial alternatives. Ms. Travers has directed multidisciplinary teams to assess the water quality impacts of mining operations, including assessment of the water quality and ecological risks associated with the lakes that form in dewatered open pits, the effects of tailings impoundments and waste rock storage facilities on receiving waters, and the impact of mine dewatering on groundwater and surface water resources. She has managed hydrologic field investigations including sampling of surface water, sediments, and groundwater; monitoring well installation; cone-penetrometer; and Geoprobe work.

Karen Carney is a terrestrial ecologist with over 20 years of experience in various aspects of environmental science, including global climate change analysis, terrestrial ecosystem ecology, and biodiversity conservation. She currently leads a wide range of analytical efforts at Stratus Consulting, many of which are focused on understanding, mitigating, and adapting to the impacts of climate change on ecosystems. Dr. Carney’s recent work includes analyses of (1) the impacts of climate change on ecosystem services in the United States, (2) the impacts of climate change on critical ecosystem threshold dynamics, and (3) the performance of forest management offset protocols developed for voluntary carbon markets. She has also been extensively involved in Stratus Consulting’s evaluation practice, serving as both a team leader in real-time evaluations and a lead evaluator. Dr. Carney has also conducted academic research related to carbon cycling in natural ecosystems, including a study that demonstrated for the first time that elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide causes soils to lose carbon over time by enhancing microbial degradation of soil organic matter. Her research has also addressed how land use change and plant diversity in tropical forests affect the amount of carbon stored by ecosystems, a factor that is critical to predicting and mitigating the contributions of land use to climate change. Dr. Carney holds a PhD in geological and environmental sciences from Stanford University and a BA in biology from Kalamazoo College.

Lauraine G. Chestnut specializes in environmental and natural resource economics, risk assessment and survey research, focusing on the economic valuation of human health, visibility, and other welfare effects of environmental pollutants. She has designed contingent valuation surveys concerning visibility at national parks and environmental risks to human health. She has reviewed the economics literature concerning the value of reducing risks to human health, and has conducted an epidemiological study concerning the effects of ambient air quality on respiratory health. She has synthesized the epidemiological literature concerning the human health effects of air pollutants and applied this information in numerous risk assessments. Ms. Chestnut has published three books as well as several articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Land Economics, Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Archives of Environmental Health, and Journal of Forensic Economics. Ms. Chestnut was recently appointed to a two-year term on EPA’s Science Advisory Board’s Advisory Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis. She was also elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. She has an MA in economics from the University of Colorado and a BA in economics (Phi Beta Kappa) from Earlham College.

Eric English specializes in the economics of valuing natural resource services. He has conducted numerous economic valuation studies involving damages associated with oil spills and chemical releases, services provided by habitat restoration to both humans and the natural environment, and values derived from the recreational and commercial use of natural resources. Dr. English is a leader in the field of recreation valuation, and has assisted government trustees with most major studies of recreation impacts under the Oil Pollution Act and Superfund law over the last 15 years, initially with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and later with Stratus Consulting. He has published and lectured on the econometrics and theory of recreation choice and compensation for natural resource impacts, completed a book on the economics of compensatory restoration for the Coastal Response Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, and served as a U.S. delegate to the International Maritime Organization to draft damage assessment guidance for member nations. Dr. English holds a PhD in economics from Cornell University, an MA in public administration from Cornell University, and a BA in classics from Williams College.

James Henderson is a natural resource economist with experience in emissions control modeling and water resource management. He constructs models that combine economic and environmental aspects of environmental policy and regulation. Mr. Henderson is managing the development of a model of control of carbon dioxide emissions from the global airline industry, and has constructed a model of emission control and permit trading in response to potential future multipollutant regulation in the electric utility sector. He has managed research teams investigating greenhouse gas mitigation opportunities in forestry and agriculture for EPA, and has conducted research into transaction costs related to carbon sequestration projects. Mr. Henderson is developing a financial planning module for development of a decision support system for water supply planning. This module will allow water utilities to evaluate the long-range financial impacts of alternative water supply planning scenarios. Mr. Henderson has assessed benefits of regulation to reduce impingement and entrainment of aquatic organisms in cooling water intake structures for power plants under section 316b of the Clean Water Act. He also has conducted research into water demand modeling, water customer response to changes in water quality, and water management under drought conditions.

Russell W. Jones is a specialist in geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing (RS), and cartography. He has more than 20 years of experience as a GIS/RS consultant, providing extensive mapping, analysis, and modeling support in the areas of ecology, sociology, economics, and climate change. Mr. Jones has worked on many projects related to climate change impacts, including several studies modeling impacts to the environment from global climate change, sea level rise and storm surge, and human responses to sea level rise. He has also worked on studies modeling the vulnerability of watersheds to climate change and the impact of climate change on transportation infrastructure in New Jersey. Mr. Jones also provides ongoing support to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change Division. In addition to his climate work, he has extensive experience integrating GIS with economic and environmental valuation models; providing extensive GIS/RS support for natural resource damage assessments and environmental risk assessments relating to the release of hazardous substances; quantifying point, mobile, and land use-induced sources of air pollutants for incorporation into regional air quality models; and preparing exhibits for litigation. Mr. Jones also has broad experience using RS data from a variety of platforms to identify and delineate spatial features and for geospatial modeling. He has published his work in a number of peer-reviewed journals, and was also a contributing author to chapters in Wildlife Conservation in a Changing Climate and The Impact of Climate Change on Regional Systems: A Comprehensive Analysis of California. He holds an MA in physical geography from the University of California, Davis; a BA in geography from the University of Colorado, Boulder; and a BA in philosophy from Regis University.

Dave Mills is an environmental economist with expertise in evaluating human health and biophysical impacts from climate-sensitive stressors such as extreme temperatures, air pollution, and wildfires. He has synthesized epidemiological and economic studies for qualitative reviews of these impacts, and has developed and applied models that quantify and monetize these impacts for future climates. Mr. Mills also has extensive experience developing, evaluating, and scaling projects that compensate the public for natural resource injuries resulting from releases of hazardous substances and oil. In this area, he has developed and applied habitat equivalency analyses, resource equivalency analyses, and benefits-transfer approaches to summarize elements of natural resource injuries and the potential benefits of restoration projects. Mr. Mills’ work in both areas has been published in peer-reviewed journals and government reports. He holds an MA in economics from the University of Colorado and a BA in economics from Colby College.

Jeff Morris is an aquatic toxicologist with experience in aquatic biology, biogeochemistry, contaminant fate and transport, and environmental remediation. Dr. Morris has more than 15 years of experience conducting laboratory and field investigations on the fate and effects of contaminants on fish, invertebrates, and biofilm, as well as developing unique technologies to enhance bioremediation of groundwater and sediments impacted by acid mine drainage and petroleum hydrocarbon contaminants. His research has focused on acute and chronic investigations of the effects of oil, metals, ammonia, and bacterial infections on freshwater and marine invertebrate and fish species, as well as the development of bioremediation technology using biofilms and microbial fuel cells. Dr. Morris has published peer-reviewed manuscripts in numerous scientific journals, including Aquatic Toxicology; Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry; Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology; Water, Air, and Soil Pollution; Biogeochemistry; Hydrobiologia; Mine Water and the Environment; Journal of Environmental Science and Health; Journal of Hazardous Materials; and Chemical Engineering Journal. He holds a PhD in zoology and physiology, and a BS in wildlife and fisheries biology and management from the University of Wyoming.

Jeff Oxenford has been providing innovative solutions to the water supply industry to improve service, protect public health, and reduce costs for more than 25 years. He combines a strong technical background in water quality and treatment with extensive business experience in knowledge management, technology transfer, business process management, and customer service. He developed the knowledge management program and research applications program for the Water Research Foundation. While at the Foundation, he managed pioneering research on disinfection by-products, arsenic, asset management, algal toxins, membranes, granular activated carbon, distribution system water quality, and natural organic matter. He specializes in meeting facilitation, research project management, technology transfer, and training designed for adult learning.

Jennifer Peers specializes in providing technical and strategic support on natural resource damage assessments, Superfund cleanups, and environmental litigation; planning field and laboratory research; and conducting environmental data analyses. Ms. Peers’ work is concentrated in the areas of mining impacts, aquatic and terrestrial contamination, aquatic toxicity, ecological risk, and injury assessment. She has extensive experience working on injury assessments for tribal clients, including the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. Ms. Peers has published the results of her research in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Geochemistry and Health. She holds an MA in geography from the University of Colorado and a BA in environmental studies from Middlebury College.

Joanna Pratt has over 12 years of experience in environmental information policy and management, regulatory impact analysis, environmental planning, survey development, benefit-cost analysis, program evaluation, and market analysis of the chemical industry. She currently provides support to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Information to develop and assess approaches for providing public access to environmental information. This includes conducting in-depth assessments of the usability of environmental web sites based on expert review, and local and regional level focus group analysis. Before joining Stratus Consulting, Ms. Pratt held positions at PERI Environmental Associates, A.T. Kearney Inc., and Centaur Associates, all in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She managed and conducted projects relating to environmental information management, toxic substances, occupational health standards, energy conservation, and economic development for a variety of federal agencies, including the EPA, the Department of Energy, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Economic Development Administration.

Kaylene Ritter is an environmental geochemist with expertise in the fate, transport, and effects of contaminants in groundwaters, surface waters, sediments, soils, and biological resources. She works with state and federal agencies and tribes on natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs), and is involved in regulatory and policy support work related to climate change effects and mitigation. Dr. Ritter has worked on numerous NRDA sites, including ocean and inland oil spill sites, southwestern sites contaminated with metals and radionuclides, and midwestern and eastern urban/industrial sites contaminated with organic and metal pollutants. At these sites, she has provided support in injury assessments, damage assessment, and restoration planning. Her work on climate change effects and mitigation has focused on the evaluation of vulnerabilities associated with the geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide. Dr. Ritter holds a PhD in applied chemistry and geochemistry from the Colorado School of Mines, an MS in earth sciences from the University of Waterloo, and a BS in earth sciences from Laurentian University.

Dr. Michael Welsh is a natural resource economist with over 25 years of experience in environmental economics, nonmarket valuation, NRDA, survey design and implementation, and litigation support. Dr. Welsh serves as a project manager on economic valuation and NRDA projects for federal and state clients. In addition to his experience in NRDA settings he has conducted numerous survey-based valuation studies on a variety of topics including, riparian ecosystem in the Grand Canyon, salmon habitat in the Pacific Northwest, salmon fishing in the northeast US, electric, gas and water service reliability, grassland bird habitat, and visibility at National Parks. Dr. Welsh’s work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Land Economics, and the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. He holds a BS in economics from the Colorado State University and an MS and PhD in natural resource economics from the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Cameron Wobus, managing scientist, is an earth scientist with approximately 15 years of experience in surface and groundwater hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, and numerical modeling. His recent work has focused on climate change impacts to landscapes and ecological resources; for example, he developed a statistical model of flood damages in the United States that was used to estimate changes in monetary damages from flooding under various climate change scenarios. Dr. Wobus modified an existing model of coral reef mortality and bleaching to be used to estimate coral cover trajectories at multiple sites throughout the United States under climate change. He developed models to quantify changes in the magnitude of extreme precipitation events throughout the continental United States to assist water utilities with their preparedness for extreme events. Other projects at Stratus Consulting have included assisting state and federal trustees with quantifying damages from a large oil spill; providing environmental litigation support to the U.S. Department of Justice on Clean Water Act matters; and modeling the hydrology and hydrogeology of proposed mine sites to evaluate the potential ecological effects of hard rock mining. Before joining Stratus Consulting, Dr. Wobus was a research scientist at the University of Colorado, where he was the lead principal investigator on a multi-institution project to quantify the effects of climate change on coastal erosion in northern Alaska. His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in journals such as Nature, Geophysical Research Letters, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Geology, and the Journal of Geophysical Research. Dr. Wobus holds a PhD in earth sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MS in hydrogeology from Dartmouth College, and a BA in economics and geology from Bowdoin College.

Michael Brody, senior policy analyst, is a senior environmental scientist, adjunct professor of environmental science, and international consultant. He is an expert in emerging environmental issues, and has more than 20 years of experience at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Dr. Brody is a subject-matter expert in sustainability and strategic planning, environmental policy and risk assessment, climate change, technology outlooks and impacts, and capacity building. He has broad international scientific networking experience with a focus on the former Soviet Union, especially Russia and Ukraine, as well as Africa. Dr. Brody has extensive public and private sector consulting experience partnering with the World Bank, USAID, the State Department, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations Environment Programme, the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and governments in Africa and Eastern Europe. He recently organized the groundbreaking Technology Market Summit, a cooperative effort of the EPA and American University to better mobilize private capital in support of the environment. He received his PhD in biology/ecology from the University of Texas at Austin.

David Cacela is a statistician with expertise in applied statistics and computing. He has more than 20 years of experience as a consulting statistician, providing statistical analysis of data in various fields, including ecology, sociology, and economics. His specific training includes linear modeling, multivariate analysis, experimental design, statistical computing, and geographic information systems. Mr. Cacela was qualified as an expert witness by a Colorado State Water Court and has provided expert testimony regarding statistical interpretation of scientific data. He has six years of experience teaching university-level courses on investigative biology, introductory statistics, and computing. He has four years of laboratory and field experience in aquatic ecology and fisheries science, including a study of the population dynamics of a major sport fishery in Oneida Lake, New York. He served the National Marine Fisheries Service as a fisheries observer aboard foreign vessels operating in the Bering Sea, and while employed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he assisted with laboratory and field work for a study on the impacts of agricultural runoff on fish populations in the San Joaquin River in California. Mr. Cacela’s practical experience in regulatory frameworks includes data analysis and experimental designs for numerous national resource damage assessments related to the ecological effects of hazardous substance releases, as well as contributions to various studies that involve ecotoxicology and environmental risk assessment. He has presented research at professional conferences and has coauthored articles published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Aquatic Toxicology, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, and Environmental Management, as well as two book chapters on ecological risk assessment. Mr. Cacela holds an MA in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley; an MS in fishery science from Cornell University; and a BS in wildlife and fisheries biology from the University of California, Davis.

Janet Clements specializes in economics and strategic planning in relation to water utilities, water resources, climate services, and environmental quality. She conducts benefit-cost and triple bottom line analyses to evaluate the financial, social, and environmental impacts of environmental policies and programs, and is experienced in nonmarket valuation and regional economic impact analyses. Ms. Clements has conducted economic and environmental impact analyses of large water supply projects (including water reuse and desalination projects) and green infrastructure programs, evaluating effects on irrigated agriculture, water quality, air quality, municipal water rates, recreation, and regional economies. She has evaluated water use across sectors and applied that information to help water utilities with water conservation, water demand management, and drought planning. Ms. Clements earned her MS in agricultural and resource economics from Colorado State University, and her BS in sustainable resource management was awarded by The Ohio State University. Before attending graduate school, she worked as a water and natural resources planner in a rural California county.

Karen Dean is a comparative endocrinologist with experience in toxicology, physiology, and biochemistry. She has more than 20 years of experience designing and implementing laboratory and field studies on the responses of endocrine systems to seasonal change, endocrine disruptors, and pharmaceuticals in birds, mammals, and amphibians. While much of this research has focused on reproduction and stress physiology, Dr. Dean has also undertaken a considerable amount of work in thyroid function, endorphins, and the endocrine control of color change. She has worked on formulation development and stability testing for pharmaceuticals, particularly for delivery of anti-cancer agents and steroid hormones. Much of her work has focused on the development of bioassays, novel animal models, and assay systems for the measurement of low levels of both peptide and steroid hormones in various matrices such as blood, saliva, urine, and feces. Dr. Dean been published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry; Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Part B: Critical Reviews; General and Comparative Endocrinology; Hormones and Behavior; Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology; and Brain, Behavior and Evolution. Dr. Dean has a BSc (Hons) and PhD in zoology from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Joe Donahue is an environmental policy analyst specializing in climate change mitigation and stratospheric ozone protection. His primary area of focus is evaluating and reducing the climate impacts of short-lived climate pollutants (including black carbon, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons). Mr. Donahue has experience providing policy-focused research and analytical support for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clients, especially in the areas of short-lived climate pollutant emissions mitigation, stratospheric ozone protection, carbon capture and sequestration, and local government clean energy best practices. He has assisted EPA clients in evaluating international opportunities to mitigate climate change impacts in the Arctic, South Asia, and Latin America. In addition, he has supported various EPA voluntary programs, especially the GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership, for which Mr. Donahue manages a project that focuses on assisting the supermarket industry in its transition away from refrigerants with high global warming potential. He holds a master’s degree in public policy and a BA in government from Georgetown University.

Colleen Donovan specializes in qualitative research design and development for resource and water economics, natural resource damage assessment, and climate change policy. She has experience in developing and designing materials for focus groups, cognitive interviews, and surveys; analyzing and coding open-ended survey responses; moderating focus group sessions and one-on-one interviews; and developing information collection request materials for the Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Donovan is experienced in applying stated preference nonmarket valuation methods, including contingent valuation and conjoint studies, and has used these methods to measure the value of threatened and endangered species, coral reefs, and water resources. She provides research and analytical support for the climate change practice to assess adaptation options at the local, state, federal, and global levels, particularly with respect to water and coastal resources. Ms. Donovan holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Science, and a BA in environmental studies and environmental biology from the University of Colorado.

Allison Ebbets is a biologist with expertise in plant physiology, ecology, and biochemistry with an emphasis on the effects of climate change. Ms. Ebbets is involved in conducting natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs), restoration planning and evaluation, and habitat equivalence analyses, and has worked on NRDA sites throughout the United States. She has also contributed to projects evaluating large-scale ecological impacts from major vegetation changes, new energy development, and climate change mitigation technologies. Prior to Stratus Consulting, she peer-reviewed studies evaluating the effects of climate change on plant biochemistry, physiology, and ecology and the effects of nutrient stress on plant biochemistry. Ms. Ebbets holds an MS in biology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a BA in biochemistry from the University of Colorado.

Heather Forth, senior scientist, is an environmental scientist with an emphasis in the areas of toxicology, geochemistry, and contaminant fate and transport in aquatic systems. Before joining Stratus Consulting, she worked as an environmental toxicology intern with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she assisted with policy formation, rule writing, and guidance on engineered nanomaterials under the Toxic Substances Control Act. She has experience in environmental monitoring, fish and benthic invertebrate surveys, and water quality testing for both marine and freshwater systems. Dr. Forth holds a PhD in environmental science and engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a BA in biology from Whitman College. The results of her research have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Environmental Science and Technology, Analytical Chemistry, and Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Ms. Garvin has over 25 years of experience designing and managing databases to ensure accuracy and usability in applications which include nonprofit management, clinical trials, and economic surveys. She has extensive experience developing tracking systems using meta-data to enable control and monitor completion of data processing steps. Ms. Garvin has written and implemented SOPs for all phases of data management as well as version control systems. She specializes in determining the most efficient production of the highest quality data by designing systems with built-in quality control and error prevention features. She holds a BA in environmental biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an MA in education from Regis University.

Tom Hodgson is a database software programmer and geographic information systems (GIS) analyst specializing in relational database development, cartography, and geographic analysis. Mr. Hodgson designs user-friendly, graphical user interface (GUI) data entry forms to make data entry more accurate and efficient and develops relational databases to store the data. Mr. Hodgson also specializes in the creation of three-dimensional GIS maps and video to better represent spatial data in a real-world context. Mr. Hodgson has conducted work related to GIS, programming, and database architecture for the private sector and federal, state, and local governments. Some of the applications that he has created include a GIS-integrated street light outage call center application, a GIS-integrated street tree inventory application that incorporates hand-held global positioning system (GPS) data collection units, and an application which, using oblique aerial photography, combines user input with automated counting of a population (temporally) across several hundred miles of coastline. Mr. Hodgson holds a BA in english from Florida State University.

Terill Hollweg is an environmental scientist with expertise in aqueous geochemistry, trace metal cycling, and oceanography. She has experience with natural resource damage assessments and the use of habitat equivalency analysis and resource equivalency analysis methods for scaling restoration projects to natural resource injury categories. Dr. Hollweg’s dissertation research focused on the biogeochemical factors that affect mercury methylation in coastal and marine sediments, and the importance of the mid-Atlantic coastal zone as a source of methylmercury to the oceanic environment. She has published her research in peer-reviewed scientific journals, including Marine Chemistry and Limnology and Oceanography, and has presented at national and international conferences. Before joining Stratus Consulting, Dr. Hollweg spent two years at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Restoration Center in Silver Spring, MD, which included one year as a Knauss Fellow, where she assisted in restoration planning, monitoring, and evaluation. She received her PhD and MS in oceanography, with a focus in marine chemistry, from the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, and her BS in marine science from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL.

Eric Horsch is an environmental economist with a specialization in environmental valuation. He provides research and analytical support to several practices at Stratus Consulting, including natural resource economics, water resource economics, and climate change policy. Mr. Horsch has applied valuation methods to support natural resource damage assessments and policy evaluation for federal and state agencies, as well as tribal clients. He has experience estimating losses in public value due to oil spills and chemical releases, as well as benefits from restoration projects and policy actions that enhance recreation opportunities, property values, and water quality. Mr. Horsch has applied a variety of revealed and stated preference nonmarket valuation methods, including discrete-choice models of recreational use, hedonic models of property values, benefit-transfer methods, and habitat equivalency analysis. He is experienced in several survey methods, including focus groups and telephone, internet, mail, and intercept-based surveys. Mr. Horsch received his master’s degree in environmental and natural resource economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and holds a BA in economics from Kalamazoo College.

Michelle Krasnec is a biologist with expertise in chemical ecology, behavioral ecology,sensory ecology, and entomology. Dr. Krasnec has more than 10 years of experience designing and conducting field and laboratory research that integrates chemistry, behavior, and sensory biology in several species of arthropods. Her research has focused on using analytical chemistry techniques to answer questions about ecology and behavior. Dr. Krasnec has presented her research at professional conferences, published her work in various peer-reviewed scientific journals, and co-authored a book chapter on sensory systems in nature. She holds a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a BS in molecular environmental biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Megan Lawson is an economist who specializes in statistical analysis and data management. She is experienced in the use of discrete-choice modeling, hedonic modeling, benefit-cost analysis, regulatory impact assessment, methods for evaluating uncertainty, and nonmarket valuation. Dr. Lawson also has experience in the design and use of survey methods to estimate values for natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs) and endangered species management. Her research includes the development of an innovative model of community development under several land use policy scenarios, demonstrating the interactions between land conservation and residential development. She provides analytical and research support for a broad range of disciplines, including natural resource economics, NRDA, public health economics, water resource economics, and climate change policy. Dr. Lawson holds a PhD and MA in economics from the University of Colorado, and a BA in ecology and environmental studies from Williams College.

Claire Lay is a plant evolutionary ecologist and community biologist with expertise in plant-insect interactions, field ecology, and rapid evolutionary change. She has extensive training and experience in statistics, data management, and experimental design, including linear modeling, multivariate analysis, and Bayesian analysis. Dr. Lay’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Annals of Botany, American Journal of Botany, and American Midland Naturalist (forthcoming), and has been presented at meetings of the Botanical Society of America. She holds a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Brian Lazar specializes in the characterization and mechanics of integrated and multi-phase hydrologic systems.  His work is concentrated in the areas of surface and groundwater hydrology, snowpack modeling, glaciology, and contaminant fate and transport.  He has extensive field experience collecting and analyzing snowpack and glacier data, and has developed, tested, and applied snowpack and hydrologic models for use in assessing potential impacts of climate change at sites in Colorado, Utah, Vermont, and Oregon.  His glaciology work includes characterizing integrated ice-snow-water hydrologic systems in Alaska, and climate change impact assessments for sites in Asia.  Mr. Lazar provides scientific litigation support, and has several years of experience assessing the migration and fate of free-phase petroleum and the dissolved chemical constituents. The results of his research have been presented at the American Geophysical Union Hydrology Days, the International Snow Science Workshop, the Western Snow Conference, and in conference proceedings and peer-reviewed journals including Geophysical Research Letters and Cold Regions Science and Technology. Mr. Lazar holds an MS in environmental/water research engineering and a BS in environmental science, both from the University of Colorado.

Heidi Ries manages multiple projects, specializing in climate change mitigation and analysis, as well as the benefits of renewables and energy efficiency. She has conducted energy, environmental, and quantitative analyses, with a particular focus on electric utilities, environmental policy analysis, and financial analysis. Ms. Ries has managed many projects for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including clean energy analysis, offset program design and analysis across various sectors, development and road-testing of offset program accounting methodologies, and international offset program analysis. She has an MA in public affairs and a BA in political science from the University of Minnesota.

Richard Streeter is a geographic information systems (GIS) analyst who specializes in geographic analysis, cartography, and remote sensing. He has more than 12 years of experience in the energy and environment fields, performing analyses and creating maps for presentations and distribution on the web. Mr. Streeter’s series of maps showing areas of land and infrastructure in the United States subject to inundation from sea level rise have been used in government hearings, corporate meetings, and professional conferences. He has provided mapping, analysis, and database litigation support for environmental lawsuits involving oil spills and chemical releases. Mr. Streeter has presented his remote sensing work on the classification of forests in Armenia using Landsat data at the Association of American Geographers and other professional conferences. His maps of coastal inundation and his work on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) SAP 4.1 report on the impacts of sea level rise have been published on the Internet. Mr. Streeter recently completed a nationwide analysis of climate change impacts to infrastructure for EPA. He holds an ME in GIS from the University of Colorado, Denver, and BA in geography and geology from Boston University.

Ryan Takeshita is a cellular and molecular biologist specializing in toxicology, physiology, immunology, and infectious diseases. He has more than 10 years of experience designing and conducting laboratory and field investigations to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which infectious agents compromise vertebrate health, characterizing and measuring the biological effects of environmental contaminants in wild animals, and using genomic and biochemical techniques to evaluate exposure to infectious diseases and toxic substances. Dr. Takeshita has technical expertise in high-resolution fluorescence microscopy, high-throughput genetic assays, and the development of image and data analysis software. He has served as a lead investigator and manager for aquatic toxicology studies for a natural resource damage assessment related to a large oil spill. Dr. Takeshita has presented his research at international conferences and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He received his PhD in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of Colorado (Boulder) and his BA in biology from Pomona College.

Dr. Vogel is a social scientist (and former physical scientist) who specializes in the science/policy interface. He has engaged in extensive work on climate change, especially impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability analysis. Dr. Vogel has performed climate change work supporting all levels of government, from adaptation planning for municipal and state governments, to evaluations of national-scale vulnerability assessment methodologies for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to the incorporation of climate risks into funding mechanisms for the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Program. He has engaged in project and program evaluation commissions, both on climate change and natural resource management. For example, he recently engaged in an assessment of water security and climate change in the Philippines as well as developing agency-wide guidance for incorporating climate change adaptation into a water resources project design. Dr. Vogel also led a technical team in developing the Boulder County Climate Change Preparedness Plan to address county-wide climate risks to water resources, emergency management, public health, and agriculture and natural resources. In addition to having a background in climate change sciences and atmospheric chemistry, Dr. Vogel was trained in qualitative and quantitative methods for policy analysis, including Q methodology, cluster analysis, statistics, and the policy sciences heuristics for analyzing the policy process, social process, and policy problems. He has published peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals such as the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, Climatic Change, Journal of Forestry, Policy Sciences, and Arctic. Dr. Vogel holds a PhD in environmental studies and an MS in astrophysical, planetary, and atmospheric sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder; as well as a BS in chemistry and a BA in humanities from the University of Texas at Austin.

Carolyn Wagner is an environmental economist who specializes in natural resource economics, water resource economics and management, regional economics, and climate change policy. She has experience developing processes for collecting, verifying, and managing data, including writing protocols and procedures; hiring, training, and supervising staff; and processing and analyzing data. Ms. Wagner also has experience in the design and use of survey methods, including developing and designing materials for focus groups, cognitive interviews, and surveys; coding and analyzing open-ended survey responses; and leading focus group sessions and moderating one-on-one interviews. She provides technical support to groundwater valuations, including methods development (market pricing and resource equivalency analyses), restoration cost analyses, and the broad range of activities involved in the restoration planning process. She is also experienced in the use of benefit-cost analyses, input-output modeling, and benefits transfer. Ms. Wagner holds an MA and BA in economics from the University of Colorado.