The Science Advisory Committee will help ensure that future data collection, analysis, interpretation, and reporting is sound, rigorous, and meets the necessary standards for acceptance by DEQ.
Committee Members:
Dan Frisbee — Dan Frisbee is a Water Resources Specialist for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, where he has worked in the City’s Environmental Sustainability Division for fourteen years. He coordinates the City’s stormwater management program, most notably their Phase II MS4 Permit, and participates in stormwater retrofitting, urban stream restoration, local waterway and Chesapeake Bay TMDL related efforts, riparian stream buffer and urban forest management, urban watershed planning, and public education, outreach, and engagement. Dan graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia in 1998 with a B.S. degree in Geography, and enjoys spending quality time with his wife and two sons, mountain biking, hiking, playing golf, and partaking of good food and good drink with good friends.
John Murphy – John received a B.A. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia in 2001, graduating Magna cum laude. He founded StreamWatch in 2002 and served as the Executive Director until 2011. He served as an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors for several years. He is currently the Science Advisor for StreamWatch, providing technical guidance, data and project analyses, and working with staff on all projects.
Brian Richter –Brian Richter has been a global leader in water science and conservation for more than 25 years. He is the Chief Scientist for the Global Water Program of The Nature Conservancy, an international conservation organization, where he promotes sustainable water use and management with governments, corporations, and local communities. He is also the President of Sustainable Waters, a global water education organization. Brian has consulted on more than 120 water projects worldwide. He serves as a water advisor to some of the world’s largest corporations, investment banks, and the United Nations and has testified before the U.S. Congress on multiple occasions. He also teaches a course on Water Sustainability at the University of Virginia.
Ami Riscassi – Ami Riscassi received a B.S. in Mathematics from Wake Forest University in 1996. She worked in Yosemite National Park before returning to graduate school the following year at the University of Virginia (UVA) where she received an M.S. in Environmental Engineering (1999). Ami returned to UVA for her PhD in Environmental Sciences (2006-2011) followed by 3-yrs as a post-doctoral research assistant at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2011-2014). In both PhD and post-doc positions, her research focused on the controls of mercury mobilization from the watershed to the stream ecosystem. Once again, Ami returned to UVA in 2014 as Projects Coordinator for the Shenandoah Watershed Study-Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study where she intends to spend her remaining career focused on answering fundamental questions related to watershed hydrology and contaminant transport to facilitate informed decisions on pollution regulation and strategies to keep our water resources healthy.
Todd M. Scanlon – Todd Scanlon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. His areas of research interest include watershed hydrology, land-atmosphere interaction, and vegetation dynamics. He is currently the director of the Shenandoah Watershed Study and Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study, long-running research and stream monitoring programs in Shenandoah National Park and the surrounding national forests. Todd received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and and M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.
Jennifer Scott – Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology (’90) and a Master of Science degree in Aquatic Ecology (’94) from Virginia Tech. As a graduate student, she studied environmental impacts on freshwater mussel populations in rural southwestern Virginia. After graduate school, she worked as an environmental consultant to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in New York city. Currently, she is the Biology lab manager and teaches biology at Piedmont Virginia Community College focusing primarily on Environmental Biology. In addition, she is a certified Climate Reality Leader through the Climate Reality Project whose mission is to educate the public on climate change.
Jeff Sitler – For the past thirty years, Mr. Sitler has been employed as an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia. He is the President and founder of Jeffrey A. Sitler Environmental Services, Inc. (JAS), a Virginia Corporation he started in 1995 and continues to manage today. JAS provides independent environmental consultations and services to a wide range of clients including manufacturing industry, banks, petroleum industry, municipal governments, law firms and individuals. With JAS, Mr. Sitler has provided environmental expertise on projects including numerous investigations of releases from petroleum storage tanks, numerous Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments, environmental permitting, water quality sampling, water supply development, SPCC Plan development, and environmental training.
Andrea Terry — Andrea Terry originally joined Rivanna as Watershed Manager from 2004 until 2008. She then returned to the Authority as Water Resources Manager in December 2011. Andrea is responsible for all RWSA activities upstream of our dams. She focuses on reservoir water quality, manages our reservoir sampling program, and coordinates with our sister agencies on crucial watershed issues. In addition, Andrea provides support to our managerial team on environmental permitting and acts as a liaison with other environmental organizations in our community. In the past, Andrea worked as an Environmental Scientist in the consulting industry and as an Environmental Planner for a Virginia Planning District Commission. When Andrea is not out and about on our reservoirs or working in our streams, she loves spending time outdoors. She enjoys traveling, hiking, fishing, sewing and reading.
Bob Troy — Bob joined the St. Anne’s Belfield School in 1994. During his time there, he also served as a visiting associate professor at the University of Virginia and the Chief Administrative Officer of R-Comm Wireless Internet. He received his bachelors’ degree in physics from the University of Scranton and went on to the University of Virginia to get his Ph.D. in physics. Bob and his wife monitor the Rivanna for bacteria during the Summer.