About Us

The PNW-SETAC Board is an all-volunteer group of scientists from all walks of the organization, including academia, students, agency staff, and industry. We serve for a 2-year term. You may contact any of the officers or board members below by clicking on their titles.

Officers

Past President
Vicki Marlatt
University of the Fraser Valley

Vicki Marlatt obtained an M.Sc. in Zoology+Toxicology at the University of Guelph and a Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Ottawa with a research focus on endocrine disruption in vertebrate models.  Subsequent to her graduate studies she was an NSERC Industrial Research and Development Fellow and Environmental Toxicologist with Nautilus Environmental in Burnaby, BC specializing in implementing, advancing and developing standardised guidelines in the commercial sector relevant to a variety of environmental assessment scenarios.  Currently she is a faculty member in the Department of Biology at the University of the Fraser Valley where she teaches and continues her research examining the impacts of environmental contaminants, including endocrine disruptors, on wildlife and humans.

VicePresident
John Stark
Washington State University - Puyallup

John Stark is an ecotoxicologist who specializes in ecological risk assessment of threatened and endangered species. He runs the WSU Salmon toxicology research laboratory and has recently started work on the effects of pesticides on endangered butterfly species. John is also a population modeler and has developed population-level risk assessments based on matrix models and differential equation models. John is the current Director of Washington State University - Puyallup and a member of the Puget Sound Partnership Science Advisory Board.

Treasurer
Ryan Loveridge
CH2M Hill

Ryan is an ecological risk assessment consultant with CH2M Hill. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biology from Simon Fraser University. Ryan is also an R.P. Bio in British Columbia. Ryan has supported CH2M Hill’s operations in California and New England, focusing primarily on contaminated sediments investigations. Currently, his primary interests are PCB and methyl mercury fate and toxicity. His personal interests include spending time with family, playing soccer, and enjoying the Pacific Northwest, especially since returning to live here in 2011.

Co-Secretaries
Maggie Dutch
Washington Department of Ecology
and
Teresa Michelsen
Avocet Consulting

Teresa is an environmental scientist specializing in the development of sediment and tissue quality guidelines, geochemistry, sediment cleanup and source control, and the development of regulatory programs for aquatic areas.  She has provided technical assistance and oversight of investigations and cleanups at more than 70 contaminated sediment sites in Washington, Oregon, BC, and Alaska, and recently assisted Ecology in revision of the Washington State Sediment Management Standards, including development of freshwater sediment quality criteria and guidance on technical issues such as bioaccumulation assessments for protection of wildlife, fish, and human health. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from Caltech, an M.S. in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences from MIT, and a D.Env. in Environmental Science and Engineering from UCLA.

Elections

Elections for Board members and Directors are typically held in the fall.

Board of Directors

At-Large (Industry)
Jerome Lourandie
Maxxam Analytics

M. Laroulandie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology with a major in Ecotoxicology from the University of Bordeaux, France. He obtained his Master's degree in Ecotoxicology and Waterscience from the INRS-ETE, University of Quebec, studying the influence of macrophytes and sediment on gaseous mercury production. At Maxxam, he is responsible for directing NON-GLP studies in Ecotoxicology, where he designs, executes, interprets and manages projects involving environmental and industrial toxicology issues. His training encompasses a variety of toxicity tests with organisms such as fish (e.g. Rainbow Trout, Sheepshead minnow, Fathead minnow), and invertebrates (e.g. Daphnia magna, E.estuarius, mysids shrimp, Hyalella, Chironomids).

At-Large (Government)
Patrick Moran
US Geological Survey

Patrick Moran is a Biologist and Water Quality Specialist with the US Geological Survey where he specializes in water quality and toxicology studies within Washington State and nationally.  His primary research interests focus on mechanisms underlying changes in water chemistry and subsequent changes in aquatic communities, namely fish, invertebrates, and algae in freshwater ecosystems.  Conducting and using broad scale biomonitoring to inform and guide more focused, experimental, confirmatory approaches has been a common theme.  Nutrients as well as more toxic contaminants, such as mercury, metals, and pesticides, have been the focus of his studies in these systems. He holds a M.Sc. in Toxicology from Oregon State University and a B.Sc. in Biology from Gonzaga University.

At-Large (Academia)
Ruth Sofield
Western Washington University
Ruth is an Aquatic Toxicologist with a PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from Colorado School of Mines.  She has been a professor in the Environmental Sciences Department at Huxley College of the Environment, Western Washington University since 2003.  Her primary research interests are at the intersection of environmental chemistry and toxicology, with an emphasis on metals.  Ruth recently completed her sabbatical with the Environmental Toxicology research group at Eawag in Switzerland, where she worked on nanoparticle toxicity and fate and transport.


At-Large (Student)
Lindsay Du Gas
Simon Fraser University

Lindsay is a Master of Environmental Toxicology (MET) student at Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, BC) working under the supervision of Dr. Chris Kennedy and Dr. Peter Ross. Her research aims to examine the effects of current-use pesticides on sockeye salmon development and alevin emergence.

Volunteers

Webmaster
Teresa Michelsen
Avocet Consulting

Registered Agent and Chapter Mom
April Markiewicz
Western Washington University

April is the Associate Director of the Institute of Environmental Toxicology at Western Washington University (WWU).  She received her B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University and M.S. in Aquatic Toxicology/Aquatic Ecology from WWU.  April directs, manages, and supervises the day-to-day operations of the Institute.  She also serves as a technical and informational resource for students, staff, faculty and the general public, teaches classes in environmental toxicology, writes grant proposals, and co-authors publications.  Research interests include aquatic and stream ecology with emphasis in ecotoxicological effects on community- and ecosystem-level interactions, as well as chemical partitioning to water and sediments, effects on nutrient cycling, and microbial degradative processes.