Bob is an environmental scientist with over 20 years of experience in environmental and aquatic chemistry, EPA regulatory issues, site-specific criteria, water quality modeling, and chemical modeling. His recent work has focused on developing mechanistic models to explain and predict the bioavailability and toxicity of metals in the environment. This work has included the development of the Biotic Ligand Model (BLM), which has been used by EPA as the basis for the ambient water quality criteria for copper. Bob has led efforts in developing BLM versions for a variety of metals and environmental media, for both freshwater and marine environments. These efforts have resulted in a number of software packages that provide easy-to-use approaches to assess metal bioavailability when setting site-specific water quality criteria and assessing ecological risk associated with metals in the environment.
Bob and his wife Kate stay busy with their two teenage sons. When not working, Bob enjoys swimming and “messing about” on the St. Lawrence River and is an avid home brewer.