• Research Team

Research Team

Kathryn Kuivila (kkuivila@usgs.gov) is an environmental organic chemist who has been working with the USGS since 1989. She has a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Hope College (1978), and M.S. (1982) and Ph.D. (1986) in Chemical Oceanography from the University of Washington. Her research interests include the transport, transformation, and bioavailability of pesticides in aqueous ecosystems, especially in estuarine and coastal environments. In addition to overseeing the California Pesticide Fate Research Group, she also leads a national project on pesticides for the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program.

Michelle Hladik (mhladik@usgs.gov) is an environmental organic chemist who has been working with the USGS since 2005. She has a B.A. in Chemistry from Vassar College (1999) and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University (2005). Her research focuses on the fate and transport of current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates in aqueous systems. She is interested in developing new methods to measure pesticides and their degradates in water and sediment. Additional interests include the transformation of pesticides during drinking water treatment.

Kelly Smalling (ksmall@usgs.gov) is an environmental organic chemist who worked for the USGS since 2004. She has a B.S in Chemistry from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (1998) and a M.S. in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of South Carolina (2003). Her research focuses on the fate and transport of pesticides in the environment and associated ecological impacts due to pesticide exposure. She is currently developing methods to analyze pesticides in sediment, aquatic organisms (fish and invertebrates) and bird eggs.

James Orlando (jorlando@usgs.gov) has been working as a hydrologist with the USGS Pesticide Fate Research Group since 1998. He received his M.S. in Geology from California State University: Sacramento in 2006. Jim is the GIS and field sampling specialist for the group. His research focuses on examining spatial and temporal trends of pesticide applications, and the concentrations of pesticides and other contaminants found in surface waters. Jim's research interests include using GIS to display, analyze and model environmental and anthropogenic variables in an effort to better understand their impacts on sensitive ecosystems.

Jason Cooper (jcooper@usgs.gov) began working with the USGS in 2006 as an undergraduate at California State University: Sacramento.  He graduated in 2008 with a B.S. in Chemistry and a minor in Physics.  His current research for the USGS includes method development for the detection and quantification of diuron and its degradation products in surface water, separation and classification of colloids in natural waters, and validation of passive samplers for detection of ultra-trace concentrations of pesticides in aquatic environments.

Kristi Hayward (khayward@usgs.gov) has been a student intern working as a lab assistant with the USGS since the fall of 2007. She is an undergraduate at California State University: Sacramento and is working on her B.S. in Geology.

Madeline Stoddard (mstoddar@usgs.gov) began work with the USGS as a student intern in the fall of 2007. She is currently an undergraduate at California State University: Sacramento pursuing a B.S. degree in Geography and a minor in Geology. She assists with water data tracking, GIS, and other project support.