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Mary E. Gonsoulin
Dr. Gonsoulin is a Supervisory Environmental Scientist in GWERD’s Applied Research and Technical Support Branch of the Ground Water and Ecosystems Restoration Division (GWERD). She leads a team of hydrogeologists, hydrologists, environmental engineers, environmental scientists, ecologists, and geophysicists. The primary activities of this branch are focused on applied research in the areas of thermal remediation, chemical oxidation, carbon sequestration, biofuels, in situ aquifer redox modification, hydrogeological assessments, natural attenuation of inorganic contaminants in the subsurface, light nonaqueous-phase liquid recovery, and providing technical assistance to EPA Regions and the states.
In addition to supervisory responsibilities, she provides technical assistance and serves as the project officer for a Congressional Earmark project entitled “Science and Technology – Water Well Perchlorate Treatment with in the City of Rialto, CA.” She also serves as an Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor and as Environmental Justice Coordinator for EPA’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory.
Dr. Gonsoulin has been a microbiologist in the Applied Research and Technical Support Branch since 1992 and has been involved in developing, organizing and conducting the natural attenuation short courses taught by GWERD. She has been involved in providing technical support to EPA Regions and state agencies concerning various proposed remediation plans at hazardous waste sites; researching the effects over time of high temperature on indigenous microbial populations; and conducting GWERD in-house research in support of risk-based ecosystem management and restoration practices. Other research projects include assessing lake water, beach, effluent and lechate areas for the present of E. coli, total coliform, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia, and researching the relationship between microfracture surface geochemistry and metabolic activity of attached microbes.
Before starting to work for EPA, Dr. Gonsoulin was the team leader for the bioremediation program at the Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, Alabama. There, her team researched microbial leaching of heavy metals and soils contaminated with pesticides. At Utah State University, Logan, Utah, she served as a project coordinator and supervisor for staff and graduate students involved in conducting laboratory and field-scale research projects.
Dr. Gonsoulin has a B.S. in Medical Technology and Microbiology, an M.A. in Chemistry, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology/Biochemistry from Mississippi State University. Previously, she worked as a Medical Technologist over the serology and bacteriology lab at North Mississippi Medical Center, Tupelo, Mississippi; as Chief of the Microbiology Laboratory for the Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory, Starkville, Mississippi; as a Research Chemist/Microbiologist for the Tennessee Valley Authority, Florence, Alabama; and as a Research Associate Professor at Utah State University, Logan, Utah.