Personal History
At the age of 15, I watched the Cuyahoga River burn from my back yard. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be in the environmental field. After thirty years of professional experience and management in the environmental field, I elected to return to school and work on my doctorate so that I could bring real world experiences into the classroom.
Research Interests
As a consultant, I’ve had the opportunity to observe the impact of contaminated groundwater on various surface water bodies. In many cases, the impacts were not as anticipated. Surface water quality should be directly linked to both the sources of contaminants and the water body’s capacity to interact with and adjust to changing environmental (hydrologic and geochemical) conditions. Unfortunately, the dynamics of surface and ground-water interactions are very complex and not well understood.
My research focuses on local-scale hydrology at a point bar system located on a tributary of the Muskegon River, where I am examining the relationships among groundwater, surface water, porosity, soil moisture, and hydraulic conductivity. To determine these local relationships, I developed a network of 20 monitoring wells, 2 stream gauging stations, four soil moisture stations and a weather station to collect the appropriate hydrologic data for my dissertation.
Education
M.Engineer, Geologic Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, 1983.
B.S., Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1975.
Publications
Bove, J. and L. M Cooper, 1990. “An Introduction to Geosynthetics: Fundamentals, Applications, and Design,” Short Course, 33rd Annual Meeting, Association of Engineering Geologists, Pittsburgh, PA.
Cooper, L. M. and R. Hosfeld, 1986. “Investigation and Remediation of a Pond Contaminated by Diesel Fuel,” 7th National Conference on Management of Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites, HMCRI, Washington, D.C.
Cooke, S. D.; Cooper, L. M and C. W Byrer, 1984. “A Site Characterization and Environmental Monitoring Approach for UCG Research and Development in Bituminous Coals,” 10th Annual UCG Symposium, DOE.
Howard, J. F., Komar, C. A. and L. M. Cooper, Editors, 1984. “Workshop on Remote Sensing/ Lineament Applications for Energy Extraction,” U.S. Department of Energy DOE/METC/84-9, Morgantown, WV
Cooper, L. M., 1983, “Applications of Geophysics to Hydrogeologic Studies in Routt and Jackson Counties, Colorado,” Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, prepared as an open-file report for the U.S. Geological Survey, Lakewood, Colorado. (Master’s Thesis)
Abstracts
Cooper, L. M., 2007, “Remediation of a “Free-Product” Contaminant Plume at a Leaking UST Site using In-Situ Bio-Remediation and SVE,” American Institute of Professional Geologists, Lansing, Michigan.
Cooper, L. M., 2004. “Dancing with Brownfields: The Zephyr Oil Story,” Association of Engineering Geologists Annual Meeting, Dearborn, Michigan.
Cooper, L. M., 1998. “Remediation of a Chlorinated Solvent Plume,” Association of Engineering Geologists Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington.
Cooper, L. M., 1996. “Quality Control and Quality Assurance in Environmental Consulting,” Association of Engineering Geologists Annual Meeting, New Brunswick, New Jersey.