Former Independent Panel Reviewers and History

The following individuals have served on either the Independent Social Economic Technical Review Panel or the Independent Science Advisory Panel.

Sturgeon Specialist
Quinton E. Phelps, Ph.D.

Conservation Biologist
Mark D. Dixon, Ph.D.

Sturgeon Biology / Aquatic Ecology
Steven R. Chipps, Ph.D. Unit Leader
Adjunct Professor
U.S. Geological Survey
South Dakota Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit
South Dakota State University

Dr. Chipps is Unit Leader at the USGS, South Dakota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and an adjunct Professor at South Dakota State University (SDSU). His areas of expertise include bioenergetics modeling, sturgeon biology, aquatic nuisance species, and mercury contamination in fishes. Graduate student education plays a fundamental role in Dr. Chipps’ research program. He has served as a thesis or dissertation advisor for 40 graduate students. Research projects directed by Dr. Chipps have focused on understanding how habitat attributes, food availability, and water temperature variation influence growth dynamics of age-0 Pallid Sturgeon. He led efforts to develop Fish Bioenergetics 4.0, an R-based application that was used to estimate daily food consumption by age-0 Pallid Sturgeon and proved useful for evaluating habitat quality. Results from Dr. Chipps’ research program are being used by multiple Federal, State, and Canadian partners for management, including Lake Trout in Pactola Reservoir, Lake Sturgeon in Namakan Reservoir, and introduced trout in the Black Hills, SD.

Dr. Chipps’ work has been funded by state, federal and local organizations that include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, The National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, and the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Dr. Chipps is active in scientific societies and has served as President of the Education Section of the American Fisheries Society, President of the Dakota Chapter-American Fisheries Society, Science Editor for Fisheries, Editor for Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, and Associate Editor for Wetlands. He has authored or co-authored more than 115 scientific journal articles and book chapters in fish/aquatic ecology.

Large River Hydrology / Geomorphology
Melinda Daniels, Ph.D.
Associate Research Scientist
Director of Fluvial Geomorphology
Stroud Water Research Center

Dr. Melinda Daniels is an Associate Research Scientist and Director of Fluvial Geomorphology at the Stroud Water Research Center in Avondale, PA. Previously, Dr. Daniels was a tenured Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Geography at Kansas State University. She now teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. Her specializations include Fluvial Geomorphology, Hydrology, River and Watershed Restoration Science and Policy, Stream Ecosystem Ecology, and Natural Resource Management.

Dr. Daniels’ research program focuses on modern and legacy human influences on river and watershed dynamics and the complex interactions between hydrology, geomorphology and ecology that govern stream ecosystem dynamics. Her work has been funded by federal, state, local, and non-governmental organizations including The National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, The Nature Conservancy, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation. Her current projects focus on innovative science-based whole-watershed restoration strategies for ecological resiliency and flood control, the impacts of climate change on coupled human-watershed systems in the Central Great Plains, the effects of riparian reforestation on sediment and nutrient pollution reduction, the impacts of organic and conservation farming practices on surface water quality, and the role of biological ecosystem engineers in regulating stream sediment transport processes. She is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications and more than 200 conference papers. Dr. Daniels served on the USCAE Environmental Advisory Board, serves as a frequent panelist for several programs at the National Science Foundation, and is a member of the Army Science Board.

Indigenous Cultural and Natural Resources Management
John William Norder, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Michigan State University
Enrolled Member, Spirit Lake Tribe of North Dakota

Dr. Norder is an enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota Tribe and descendant of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. He received his B.S. in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin and his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan with an emphasis on North American Indigenous history and cultural and natural resource management. In addition to his faculty appointment in the Michigan State University Department of Anthropology, Dr. Norder served from 2015 to 2018 as the Director of the Native American Institute in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Michigan State University. Most recently, he served as an advisor to the Provost’s Office of Michigan State University on federal compliance under the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). In his professional service for the past 25 years he has served in a variety of capacities as an advisor and reviewer on issues related to NAGPRA, the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), and the Ontario Heritage Act.

Dr. Norder has extensive experience working on collaborative community-based research, assessments, and partnerships with a number of U.S. Tribes, Canadian First Nations, Indigenous organizations, and international scholarly working groups. Topics have ranged from historical Indigenous landscape use to the intersection of Indigenous Knowledge in environmental resource management and economic development projects. His most recent work has focused on the construction, valuation, and use of Indigenous knowledge as part of community and land-based education initiatives among tribes in the Great Lakes region. Specific topical examples include: assessment of the prevalence and use of Indigenous Knowledge in forest ecosystem management, the development of Indigenous methodologies for the reintroduction and management of wild rice (Zizania aquatica and palustris), consultation on the development of University/Tribal programs on the study and management of selected wildlife populations, and the development of an organic agribusiness model that aligns with Tribal values and beliefs.

Large River Ecology / Conservation Biology
Dennis D. Murphy, Ph.D.
Adjunct Research Professor
University of Nevada, Reno

Dr. Murphy has worked on conflict resolution in land-use planning on private property since the first federal Habitat Conservation Plan on San Bruno Mountain. He won industry's oldest and most respected prize in conservation, the Chevron Conservation Award, has been named a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment, and received the California Governor's Leadership Award in Economics and the Environment. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 scientific journal articles and book chapters in ecology, conservation biology, and applied sciences. Dr. Murphy has served a number of scientific societies and environmental organizations, and is Past President of the Society for Conservation Biology. He has served on the Water Science and Technology Board and Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology at the National Research Council (of the National Academy of Sciences). His professional activities outside of academia include service on the Interagency Spotted Owl Scientific Advisory Committee, enjoined by Congress to develop a solution to that planning crisis in the Pacific Northwest, as chair of the National Park Service's Scientific Advisory Committee on Bighorn Sheep, as co-chair of the State Department's American-Russian Young Investigators Program in Biodiversity and Ecology, as codirector of the statewide Nevada Biodiversity Initiative based at the University of Nevada at Reno, and as chair of the Scientific Review Panel to California’s first Natural Community Conservation Planning Program in southern California's coastal sage scrub ecosystem. He served the National Academy of Sciences on its Committee on Scientific Issues in the Endangered Species Act, on the Committee on Threatened and Endangered Species on the Platte River, and on the Committee on Hydrology, Ecology, and the Fishes of the Klamath River Basin.

Dr. Murphy’s activities in the area of conservation planning and adaptive management include service on the Science Board to the CalFed Ecosystem Restoration Planning Program for the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems, development of a conservation strategy for the imperiled Tahoe yellow cress for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, development of a watershed-based ecosystem management framework for the Truckee, Carson, and Walker hydrological units in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and in science design for the nation’s largest Habitat Conservation Plan under the Endangered Species Act, in Clark County, Nevada, and several other major HCP efforts in southern California and southern Nevada. Dr. Murphy served as team leader for the committee of scientists carrying out the Lake Tahoe Watershed Assessment, a Presidential deliverable to the Tahoe Federal Interagency Partnership via the U.S. Forest Service, and subsequently sat with the science committee of the Tahoe Science Consortium. He also has chaired a number of commissions and committees for NGOs, recently including the Commission on Performance Measures for State Wildlife Conservation Strategies at the Heinz Center in Washington, D.C. Dr. Murphy has testified more than a dozen times before Senate and House committees and subcommittees on issues mostly pertaining to implementation of the federal Endangered Species Act.

Least Tern / Piping Plover Specialist
Steve Dinsmore, Ph.D.
Professor
Interim Department Chair
Departments of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and Entomology
Iowa State University

Dr. Dinsmore is a Professor of wildlife ecology and Interim Department Chair in the Departments of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and Entomology at Iowa State University. His teaching responsibilities include undergraduate courses in Ornithology, Ecological Methods, Vertebrate Biology, undergraduate seminars on several topics, and numerous Study Abroad travel course offerings. He also teaches a graduate level Avian Ecology course. His administrative experience includes 6 years as an Associate Department Chair before becoming Interim Chair in 2019. He has served professional organizations such as the American Ornithological Society, of which he is a Fellow, the Biometrics Working Group of The Wildlife Society, and others. He has also served on several panels reviewing wildlife issues on the Upper Mississippi and Missouri River systems. He gives seminars and scientific presentations nationwide and enjoys teaching workshops on the use of Program MARK and the analysis of wildlife demographic data.

Dr. Dinsmore’s research program lies at the intersection of avian ecology and population biology. His primary interests are avian ecology, population biology, capture-recapture analysis, and monitoring animal populations. His research program at Iowa State University emphasizes studies of avian population biology although his work encompasses other taxa too. He has a special interest in shorebirds, as evidenced by his long-term work with the Mountain Plover. His past research has included work with the Piping Plover and Least Tern in Iowa, as well as work with the Least Tern in coastal Mississippi. Much of his work involves demographic studies of wildlife (estimating population size, survival and movement rates, etc.) and strives to provide practical solutions to wildlife management needs. Increasingly this is linked to the management of forests and grasslands to benefit diverse wildlife taxa.

Quantitative Ecology / Statistical Methods
William Warren-Hicks, Ph.D.

Dr. William J. Warren-Hicks is CEO of EcoStat, Inc, a small woman-owned company located in Mebane, NC. He holds a Ph.D. from Duke University in Environmental Statistics. He has over 35 years of consulting expertise in the areas of environmental data analysis, uncertainty analysis, Bayesian inference and decision, probabilistic risk methods, experimental and survey design, time-series modeling, messy data analysis, hypothesis testing, multivariate analyses, and model validation studies. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, 2 books, and 8 book chapters in the areas of environmental statistics, probabilistic modeling, decision sciences, and risk assessment. In all cases, his role was to support ecologists, biologists, toxicologists, and ecosystem modelers by supplying expertise in data analysis methods that lead to effective management decisions. Typical work products include developing monitoring programs in support of management decisions, geospatial analysis using advanced methods generally in three or more dimensions, assessment of population impacts using Bayesian and frequentist probabilistic methods, communication of complex results to decision makers, and working collaboratively with scientists of multiple disciplines including ecosystem ecologists and modelers.

Recently, he has focused on Natural Resource Damage (NRD) cases including the Deepwater Horizon oil, Hudson River (avian species), Passaic River (fish species), Tittabawassee River (sediments), Tennessee River (fish species), and Duwamish River (fish species). He has extensive experience with rare and endangered species. For example, in the Deepwater Horizon NRD, Dr. Warren-Hicks examined the effect of toxicants on endangered piping plover populations from oil spills along the gulf coast. And for NOAA, he provided an assessment of white sturgeon population response to toxicants in the Duwamish River mash areas. At issue in both of these projects is the generation of survey designs for somewhat rare species that are highly mobile with a large home range. In these projects, he focused on the creation of surveys to establish exposure of fish and avian species to toxic chemicals, restoration of selected portions of the river, and support of possible management actions.

Resource Economy / Sociology
John Loomis, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Colorado State University

Dr. Loomis’ expertise is in environmental and natural resource economics. He has over twenty years of experience with stakeholder driven scientific review panels including adaptive management in large watersheds such as the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center. He has brought his expertise to USACE independent external review (IEPR) processes in New Orleans and in the Cache-La Poudre River in Colorado. Dr. Loomis has authored over 250 scientific publications (e.g., Water Resources Research, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management) and five books including coauthoring Determining the Economic Value of Water, 2nd Edition, covering economic valuation of water in uses such as irrigation, hydropower, industrial uses, ecosystem services and recreation.

Dr. Loomis taught undergraduate recreation economics, and graduate courses in research methods, public lands management and environmental economics at Colorado State University for 25 years.

He has served as an expert witness for state and federal agencies in cases involving water, fisheries, wildlife and survey design. He has worked with University of Georgia and Portland State University in conducting training courses on natural resource economics for the U.S. Forest Service.

He is a Distinguished Scholar of the Western Agricultural Economics Association, a Fellow of Agricultural and Applied Economics Association as well as a Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

Adrian H. Farmer, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist
Wild Ecological Solutions

Independent Science Advisory Panel
Area of Expertise: Least Tern / Piping Plover Specialist
Dates Served:

Dr. Farmer conducts shorebird research, with an emphasis on effects of global change on migration schedules and fitness. As an integral part of his research on shorebird migration, he has collaborated with other scientists from North America and Europe to develop applications of dynamic programming in the study of bird migration. Management of large river systems is of particular interest to Dr. Farmer. He has had considerable experience over the last 30 years with water and habitat management issues of the Platte River of Nebraska. Most of this work has been on modeling relationships between hydrology and crane habitat. For many years, he conducted migratory shorebird research along the Missouri River in the state of Missouri, and is familiar with the system dynamics as well as the general issues affecting bird use of that system. He has developed habitat models for both Least Terns and Piping Plovers for the US Army Corps of Engineers and US Bureau of Reclamation for purposes of habitat management in the Platte River and along the beaches of Fire Island, NY.

William L. Graf, Ph.D.
Foundation University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography
University of South Carolina

Independent Science Advisory Panel
Area of Expertise: River Hydrologist/Geomorphologist
Dates Served:

Dr. Graf is University Foundation Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina. His B.A., MSc, Certificate in Water Resources Management, and Ph.D. in geography are from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His research addresses geomorphology and hydrology of rivers, and the intersection of science and policy for public land and water. He has conducted research and served in science review and oversight positions associated with water quality, water quantity, aquatic and riparian habitats, river dynamics, and endangered species in a variety of ecosystems including the Klamath River of California and Oregon, streams of the Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Rio Grande in New Mexico, Platte River in Nebraska, and the Everglades, as well as rivers in the Southeastern United States including the Savannah. He is a National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, and he has chaired or been a member of more than a twenty National Research Council committees and boards. He is a Past President of the Association of American Geographers; he was appointed to the Presidential Commission on American Heritage Rivers; and he has been a member and Chair of the Environmental Advisory Board to the Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His several books and more than 140 papers and book chapters have resulted from funding by agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Park Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Justice, and a variety of state and local agencies. His work has been recognized by awards from the Association of American Geographers and Geological Society of America. He has been awarded Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships and appointed to the Presidential Commission on American Heritage Rivers, and to briefing teams for the Executive Office of the President.

Gary Lamberti, Ph.D.
Professor of Biological Sciences
Director, Stream and Wetland Ecology Laboratory (SWEL)
University of Notre Dame

Independent Science Advisory Panel
Area of Expertise: Aquatic/Riverine Ecologist
Dates served:

Dr. Lamberti is Professor of Biological Sciences and Director of the Stream and Wetland Ecology Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches Biostatistics, Stream Ecology, and Restoration Ecology. He also directs the interdisciplinary GLOBES Graduate Program in Environment and Society. Dr. Lamberti has conducted research in complex terrestrial-aquatic systems from South Florida to Alaska and points in between. He served a a 6-year term as department chair from 2008-2014, and has held many professional and leadership positions as editor, officer, chair, board member, panelist, reviewer, judge, organizer, member, and volunteer in professional societies and university and community service. He serves on several advisory boards for aquatic research institutes around the Great Lakes. Dr. Lamberti is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a past-President of the Society for Freshwater Science.

Dr. Lamberti’s primary research interests are in stream and wetland ecology, and include identifying and remediating human impacts on aquatic ecosystems; the ecology of native and introduced Pacific salmon; and the control of invasive aquatic organisms. Of possible interest to MRRIC, Dr. Lamberti’s research includes: (1) factors that regulate nutrient cycling in streams, such as the decomposition of salmon in nutrient-poor streams of Alaska and the processing of organic carbon, (2) the ecological integrity of coastal wetlands in the Great Lakes and Alaska under climate change, (3) the biological transport of contaminants by anadromous fish, (4) the historical ecology of aquatic ecosystems in the Great Lakes watershed, and (5) the role of ecosystem restoration in modifying the impacts of human disturbance on streams and wetlands. He and collaborators are establishing and implementing a monitoring and assessment program to aid in adaptive management of coastal wetlands across the Great Lakes basin. Dr. Lamberti has over 175 publications dealing with various aspects of aquatic ecology, and has edited the Elsevier book entitled Methods in Stream Ecology, now in its 3rd edition.

Martin W. Doyle, Ph.D.
Director, Water Policy Program
Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
Duke University

Independent Science Advisory Panel
Area of Expertise: river hydrology, geomorphology
Dates Served: January 2011-November 2015

Martin Doyle is an environmental geographer with training in hydrology and engineering, specializing in rivers. His research is at the interface of science, economics and policy of environmental management and restoration, particularly focusing on the use of market mechanisms for environmental management and restoration. His research on infrastructure includes decommissioning dams and levees, as well as research on financing rehabilitation of aging drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure.

Dr. Doyle works collaboratively with ecologists, engineers, and economists, as well as with state and federal agencies, and private industry. He has developed long-term research programs in which he and his students work alongside entrepreneurial mitigation bankers in order to more fully understand the realities and financial motivations for private investment in environmental markets.

David L. Galat, Ph.D.
Emeritus Associate Professor
Department of Fishery and Wildlife Sciences
University of Missouri

Independent Science Advisory Panel
Area of Expertise: Aquatic/Riverine Ecologist
Dates Served: July 2013 - June 2014

David Galat's professional interests include ecology and restoration of large rivers and floodplain wetlands, ecology and conservation of native riverine fishes, science informing natural resource policy, and application of collaborative adaptive management to socio-ecological sustainability. David has pursued each of these throughout a broad career in research, teaching, and technical assistance.

David received his undergraduate degree in natural resources from Cornell University and master’s degree and Ph.D. in aquatic ecology from Colorado State University. He is author of over 100 professional publications and over 90 invited presentations in aquatic and restoration ecology.

For over two decades, David worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Missouri as a research fishery biologist and fisheries unit leader. Concurrently he served as a cooperative associate professor at the University of Missouri, where he remains as emeritus associate professor. He recently assisted The Nature Conservancy’s Great Rivers Partnership as science advisor, helping develop a global network of river scientists and policy experts.

Dr. Galat has served on numerous national and international committees and science advisory boards related to river-floodplain ecology and restoration. Among these are the U.S. Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee—which was formed after the devastating flood of 1993 on the Upper Mississippi River to examine existing management policies and make recommendations for improvement, the Upper Mississippi River System Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program‘s Science Panel, the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council Committee on Missouri River Recovery and Associated Sediment Management Issues, and the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program Independent Science Advisory Committee.

David is familiar with MRRIC, having served for two years as alternate member for Fish and Wildlife, and as a member of the Science and Adaptive Management Work Group.

Margaret A. Palmer, Ph.D.
Professor of Entomology and Biology
University of Maryland
Professor and Director
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory

Independent Science Advisory Panel
Area of Expertise: Aquatic/Riverine Ecologist
Date Served: January 2011- June 2013

Margaret Palmer received her Ph.D. in oceanography, but in the last 20 years has turned her attention to freshwater systems. The broad objective of Palmer's research is to understand what controls stream ecosystem structure and function. She specifically focuses on how land use and urbanization influence stream ecosystems and on producing the best science to guide ecologically effective restoration of rivers and streams.

Palmer has more than 90 peer reviewed publications and numerous awards including American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow. She currently has an active research lab of 12 graduate students, postdocs, and research technicians working on various aspects of stream ecosystem science, and is a national coordinator of the National River Restoration Science Synthesis Project.

Dr. Palmer has served on numerous advisory boards and scientific panels including for the Grand Canyon Research and Monitoring Program, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Freshwater & Marine Ecology Faculty of 1000, EcoHydrology Science Agenda Committee, National NEON Design Consortium and National Network Design Committee, and National Research Council Committee on River Science. Palmer led the Ecological Society of America’s committee to develop an action plan for the ecological sciences for the 21st century. She was Program Director of Ecology at the National Science Foundation from 1999-2000. She also has been actively involved in scholarly work on women in science.

Leonard A. Shabman, Ph.D.
Resident Scholar
Resources for the Future

Independent Social Economic Technical Review Panel
Area of Expertise: Economic analysis in the formation of water and related land resource policy, development of evaluation protocols for large-scale ecosystem restoration projects
Date Served: May –September 2014

After three decades on the faculty at Virginia Tech, Len Shabman joined RFF in 2002 as a resident scholar. His research and communications efforts are focused on programs and responsibilities for flood and coastal storm risk management, design of payment for ecosystem services programs, and development of evaluation protocols for ecosystem restoration and management projects, with special focus on the Everglades, Coastal Louisiana, and the Chesapeake Bay. Among the specific topics related to these broader themes is applied research on permitting under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, creating market-based incentives for water quality management and provision of ecosystem services, and design of collaborative water management institutions. In2004 Len was named an Associate of the National Academy of Sciences.

Christopher S. Guy, Ph.D.
Assistant Unit Leader
Affiliate Associate Professor
U.S. Geological Survey – Biological Resources Division
Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit
Montana State University

Independent Science Advisory Panel
Area of Expertise: Sturgeon Biology / Ecology
Dates Served: January 2011 – January 2020

Dr. Guy designs and conducts research funded by Federal, State, and private contracts and directs the research of graduate students and other personnel. He also leads research teams and serves as a bridge among resource managers and other researchers assuring appropriateness of research questions and hypotheses. The overall mission of the MTCFRU encompasses fish ecology, physiology, population dynamics, limnology, hydrology, wildlife, endangered species, habitat and landscape ecology, and environmental contaminants.

Dr. Guy’s research contributes to understanding ecosystem-level issues that are scientifically challenging because of scale, complexity, and spatial and temporal dynamism. Most of his research falls within the broad mission of ecology of fishery and aquatic resources. A major, consistent research theme has been on native fish assemblage restoration, a prominent ecological and societal issue in Rocky Mountain and Great Plains ecosystems. Habitat degradation, introduction of non-native species, and overexploitation have caused widespread decreases in ranges and abundances of native fish species at the same time that anglers and agency administrators are becoming aware of ecological concepts, biodiversity issues, and the importance of maintaining naturally structured and functioning ecosystems. He has a comprehensive native species research program involving life history, movements, habitat use, population ecology and dynamics, exploitation, hybridization, non-native eradication, and disease components. His research includes evaluation of post-stocking dispersal of hatchery-reared pallid sturgeon; movements, diet, and habitat use of pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon; spawning locations and early life history of shovelnose sturgeon; effects of spawning location on survival of pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon; impacts of flow modifications on distribution and spawning by pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon; interactions between sauger and sympatric non-native walleye; distribution and population characteristics of non-native lake trout in Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, with implications for suppression; landscape factors affecting the distribution and genetic diversity of bull trout and sympatric non-native lake trout in Glacier National Park; movement of resident and non-resident anglers and implications for transferring aquatic nuisance species; effects of angling on salmonids during high water temperatures; biogeographical and human influences on fish assemblages in prairie streams; and spatiotemporal dynamics of fishes in prairie streams.

Steven M. Bartell, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist
E2 Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Independent Science Advisory Panel
Area of Expertise: Quantitative Ecology / Statistical Methods
Dates Served: January 2011 – January 2020

Formerly a research scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dr. Steven M. Bartell is currently a Senior Principal and Practice Group Manager for Ecological Modeling with Cardno, Inc. He is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Dr. Bartell’s areas of expertise include systems ecology, ecological modeling, ecological risk analysis, risk-based decision analysis, vulnerability analysis, numerical sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, environmental chemistry, and environmental toxicology. He works with public and private clients in ecological risk assessment, environmental analysis, ecological planning, and ecosystem restoration. Dr. Bartell has conducted ecological risk assessments for a diverse set of environmental stressors: ecological disturbances from oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico (BP), commercial navigation on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers (USACE); risk of invasive species establishment (USDA); habitat alteration and degradation (USDOE, USACE); multiple chemical stressors in the Patuxent River and estuary (NOAA, USEPA); radionuclides and toxic metals (several Canadian mining companies); and herbicides and pesticides (Syngenta). Bartell has also managed and technically contributed to large-scale projects in adaptive management and restoration for the Florida Everglades (USDOI), the Lower Columbia River (USACE), and the Upper Mississippi River (USACE).

Background Materials

“Best Practices in Peer Review Assure Quality, Value, Objectivity” by Robert S. Turner, PhD.

“Independent Science Review Concepts and Practices.” Presentation to MRRIC, Partner Agencies, and the National Center, February 3, 2010, Robert Turner, Ph.D.

National Academy of Sciences. 2003. Policy and Procedures on Committee Composition and Balance and Conflicts of Interest for Committees Used in the Development of Reports. May 2003.

This page was last updated 5/30/2025.