Environmental Engineering Advisory Board

John Durant, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tufts University. He has a secondary appointment in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine in the Tufts University School of Medicine. His research uses water quality and air quality measurements and modeling to inform decision-making on water and air pollution problems, exposure mitigation and environmental engineering design. He has published many journal articles and two book chapters on these subjects. He received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Civil and Environmental Engineering, where he developed methods to identify and quantify genotoxic chemicals in surface water, soil, and sediments. Prior to his current appointment, he was a post-doctoral scholar with the MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences where he worked on the development of bioassay-directed fractionation methods to analyze complex environmental mixtures. Previously, he was an environmental scientist at Camp Dresser and McKee in Boston, a visiting researcher with the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and he worked as a foreign fisheries biologist on Japanese and Korean fishing boats in the Bering Sea for the National Marine Fisheries Service. He is a licensed professional environmental engineering in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. From 2005 to 2014, he was the director of the environmental engineering undergraduate degree program at Tufts, and he is currently co-director of the Water: Systems, Science and Society graduate certificate program, which is also at Tufts.

Geoffrey Grant, P.E. is a Vice President and National Client Director with Brown and Caldwell and serves as BCs CSO Abatement subject matter expert. Geoff has helped utilities across North America solve wet weather and aging infrastructure challenges through the development of well-planned watershed based wet weather programs that integrate combined sewer overflow (CSO), sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) and stormwater projects using solutions that range from local green infrastructure projects to large diameter tunnels - typically in response to a consent order obligation. Geoff has also supported settlement negotiations by providing key technical and strategic guidance to communities as they engage in discussions with state and federal regulatory agencies. Geoff's asset management experience includes project work in the United States and New Zealand on a variety of condition assessment and vulnerability programs for road infrastructure and buried infrastructure assets. His background in marine and freshwater systems is beneficial in evaluating the impacts of point and non-point source pollutants on receiving waters.  Geoff received both his B.S. in Marine and Freshwater Biology and his M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire.  He is a registered professional engineer in New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and New York and he is a NASSCO certified user-trainer. 

Tiffany Knapp, King County Wastewater Treatment Division, Seattle, WA

Dr. James R. Mihelcic , PhD, BCEEM, is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and State of Florida 21st Century World Class Scholar at the University of South Florida (Tampa).  Dr. Mihelcic is a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Chartered Science Advisory Board.  He is a past board member and president of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), a Board Certified Environmental Engineering Member, and a current Board Trustee with the American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists (AAEES).   At the University of South Florida, Dr. Mihelcic directs the Peace Corps Master's International Program in Civil & Environmental Engineering (http://cee.eng.usf.edu/peacecorps) which allows students to combine their graduate studies with service and research in the Peace Corps as water/sanitation engineers (in developing world settings). He is also director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency supported National Research Center for Reinventing Aging Infrastructure for Nutrient Management.  His teaching and research interests are centered around engineering and sustainability, specifically understanding how global stressors such as climate, land use, and urbanization influence water resources, water quality, water reuse, and selection and provision of water supply and sanitation technologies. Dr. Mihelcic is also an international expert in provision of water, sanitation, and hygiene in developing world communities.   He is the lead author of 4 engineering textbooks, has authored close to 100 peer reviewed journal articles, and currently directs over $7 million of federal research funding.

Kathy Murtagh, Massachusetts Water Resource Authority

Leah Stanton*, P.E. is currently a Vice President at Weston & Sampson.  She is the Discipline Leader of the Water Program which consists of approximately 70 scientists and engineers who specialize in municipal water system engineering and supply, water resources, environmental permitting, climate resiliency, HVAC and electrical systems.   She has over 20 years of experience working in the drinking water field primarily with municipal water systems.  She is experienced in the study, design and construction of water supply, storage, distribution, and treatment systems as well as water distribution system modeling.  She has assisted many communities with long-term capital and fiscal planning for water supply and distribution utilities.  She graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a BS in Civil Engineering and an MS in Environmental Engineering. *Chair Environmental Engineering Board

 

Michael Wimsatt, NHDES Waste Management Division