The ESPCoR External Advisory Board, comprised of leading scientists from academia, national labs, state agencies and industry, provides strategic comment and guidance to the PI of the EPSCoR RII on scientific, administrative, and other matters relevant to the INBRE program and to the EPSCoR State Director with regard to state infrastructure development.

The EAB meets on a regular basis in Delaware to review program progress and recommend mid-course modifications where necessary.  The EAB also serves as a scientific review board to the Center for Critical Zone Research.

The Members of the Delaware EPSCoR EAB are:  

• Jeffrey M. Bross; President, Duffield Associates
• Kevin Donnelly; District Coordinator for the New Castle County Conservation District
• Michael Hochella, Jr;  University Distinguished Professor of Geosciences, Virginia Tech
• Alexandra Navrotsky; Edward Roessler Chair in Mathematical and Physical Sciences, UC Davis
• Stephen R. Sutton; Senior Scientist, Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
• Robert W. Taylor, Dean, School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Director, Center for Environmental Research and Training, Alabama A&M University

From left: Stephen Borleske, Jeffrey Bross,  Alexandra Navrotsky, Michael Hochella, Jr., Stephen Sutton, Donald Sparks (Not Pictured: Kevin Donnelly and Robert Taylor)

Jeffrey M. Bross is president of Duffield Associates, Inc., a Delaware-based consulting firm with expertise in water resources and infrastructure, geotechnical and coastal engineering, environmental services, and solid and hazardous waste. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Delaware, Nebraska, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and is a fellow of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). Bross has served as past president of ACEC Delaware, chaired the board of the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, co-chaired the New Castle County Economic Development Council, and served on the board of the Associated General Contractors of Delaware. He holds appointments to the state’s Workforce Investment Board, Stormwater Management Task Force, Clean Water Advisory Council, Livable Delaware Infill and Redevelopment Subcommittee, and New Castle County Executive’s Task Force on Redevelopment. An adjunct instructor in civil and environmental engineering at UD, Bross has authored numerous technical articles and is a national speaker on environmental and construction issues. He was named Delaware’s Engineer of the Year in 2006.

Kevin Donnelly is the director of the Division of Water Resources within the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). His responsibilities include wastewater infrastructure planning and financing, the state’s environmental laboratory, water supply and allocation, programs addressing discharges into the state’s surface and ground waters, wetlands and subaqueous lands, and water-quality monitoring and assessment, including the total maximum daily load program. Formerly, he served as the environmental program administrator for district operations in DNREC’s Division of Soil and Water Conservation, as a planner in the Delaware Department of Agriculture’s Aglands Preservation Section, and as a forester with the State Forest Service. He was a Governor’s Management Fellow in 1989–1990, chaired the Camden-Wyoming Sewer and Water Authority from 1991–1992, and served as staff to the Commission on Government Reorganization and Effectiveness in 1993. Donnelly has a B.S. with distinction in forestry and a minor in land-use planning from the University of Maine.

Michael F. Hochella, Jr., is a University Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at Virginia Tech. His area of concentration is environmental chemistry. Hochella received his B.S. and M.S. from Virginia Tech and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Germany, served as president of the Geochemical Society, received the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award and Fellowship, and was awarded the Dana Medal by the Mineralogical Society of America. He was named Virginia Scientist of the Year in 2005 by Gov. Mark Warner and elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2006. He has served on the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Geosciences and currently serves on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Earth Sciences Council. Hochella has written more than 125 professional publications and edited two books. Currently, he also is the principal editor of the science magazine Elements.

Alexandra Navrotsky is the Edward Roessler Chair in Mathematical and Physical Sciences and director of the Nanomaterials in the Environment, Agriculture and Technology (NEAT) research unit at the University of California, Davis. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Navrotsky’s research focuses on relating microscopic features of structure and bonding to macroscopic thermodynamic behavior in minerals, ceramics, and other complex materials. A fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geochemical Society, and the Mineralogical Society (Great Britain), she has published over 480 scientific papers and served as editor of the journal Physics and Chemistry of Minerals. Navrotsky has received the Mineralogical Society of America Award, the Ross Coffin Purdy Award from the American Ceramic Society, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth Science, an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden, and the Urey Medal of the European Association of Geochemistry. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago.

Stephen R. Sutton is a senior scientist at the University of Chicago’s Department of Geophysical Sciences. His research focuses on X-ray fluorescence microprobe development and applications in the Earth, planetary and environmental sciences, including studies of extraterrestrial materials. In particular, he is working on the development and application of synchrotron X-ray microanalysis instrumentation, as well as methods for trace-element quantification and chemical speciation using X-ray fluorescence microproscopy and X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy. He has been involved in synchrotron radiation research for over 20 years, currently as co-project leader for the GeoSoilEnviroCARS beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source (Argonne National Laboratory) and as spokesperson for beamline X26A at the National Synchrotron Light Source (Brookhaven National Laboratory). He received his B.S. in physics and his Ph.D. in Earth and planetary sciences from Washington University in St. Louis.

Robert W. Taylor is Dean of the School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Alabama A & M University and Director of the University's Center for Environmental Research and Training. His past research focus was mainly in the areas of screening soybeans and Bradyrhizobium for tolerance to soil chemical stresses; studying the mechanism and kinetics of phosphate and zinc sorption on soil and mineral surfaces; use of wastewater algal biomass as nitrogen fertilizer using N15-technique; and effects of residual levels of sludge-borne toxic heavy metals and phosphate on soil pollution and phytotoxicity. His current interest focuses on the mechanism(s) of toxic heavy metal sorption on soil media particles using classical isothermic techniques, coupled with cutting-edge high-technology methods such as synchrotron extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS). Dr. Taylor received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University.