What on earth does an environmental mathematician DO? As a member of the Environmental Engineering Division at Theta, a small business which specializes in providing support services to government agencies such as the US Department of Energy and private industries such as Westinghouse Environmental Management Company of Ohio, I usually work as a member of an interdisciplinary team tackling a specific problem on a particular Superfund site. The composition of Theta's team depends on the assignment. The team members must communicate effectively across many academic disciplines and must be able to adequately summarize their work in writing. The work is never boring, occasionally involves travel to interesting places, and has, thus far, used not only every bit of my mathematical and statistical background, but has drawn on all of my other life experiences. After spending approximately 25 years teaching mathematics, I find it fun, exciting, and, I hope, a contribution to our Mother Earth to work with others on environmental assignments.

For example, when Theta did an Environmental Assessment pursuant to the National Environmental Protection Act, our team consisted of an ecologist, an environmental engineer, an electrical engineer, and a hydrogeologist, with me, a mathematician, as team coordinator. In organizing this project, I used the same logical and quantitative thought processes I used in numerous mathematics courses I have taken or taught.

During another assignment, a Theta team devised a method for predicting measurements of a gas escaping from bermed storage tanks based on weather conditions.