Eden Again

International Technical Advisory Panel

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Mission & Goals

The International Technical Advisory Panel (ITAP) was convened in 2003 by the Eden Again Project for the purpose of beginning to develop scientific planning documents for the restoration of the Mesopotamian Marshlands. This distinguished panel volunteered their time to this project and have provided a great benefit to the marshlands. While we have relied upon the ITAP for scientific advice, the Eden Again Project retains sole responsibility for its projects and actions. Inclusion on the paragraphs below does not imply endorsement of the Eden Again Project or the Iraq Foundation by the scientists or their institutions.

Issam Ali
Mr. Ali has more than 24 years of professional civil engineering experience with various types of infrastructure projects. As a Senior Project Manager for Psomas, , an environmental engineering firm located in California, he is responsible for the technical supervision of his engineering team, coordinating design efforts among various consultants, and interfacing with other consultants, and public and private agencies during the planning process.Mr. Ali is experienced in hydraulic modeling using HEC-2 and HEC-1 models. He has also prepared environmental compliance reports for large construction projects and developed series of mitigation measures to reduce soil erosion and sediment/turbidity impacts.

Mr. Ali specializes in designing, supervising and preparing infrastructure drawings and studies for water resources projects.

Dr. Jim Bishop

Richard Beilfuss
Dr. Beilfuss has worked with the International Crane Foundation since 1988, and currently serves as Wetland Hydrologist and Africa Program Director. In collaboration with colleagues in Africa, Dr. Beilfuss spearheaded efforts for the restoration and sustainable management of the lower Zambezi Valley and Zambezi Delta in Mozambique. Dr. Beilfuss is an international specialist on ecological assessment and restoration of wetland ecosystems affected by dams and other water resources development projects, and has worked as field researcher or advisor for projects in Asia (Cambodia, China, Nepal, Vietnam), Australia, Africa (Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia), and North America (Canada, US). He has a Ph.D. in Land Resources (Wetland ecology), M.Sc. in Civil and Environmental Engineering-Hydrology, and M.Sc. in Water Resources Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Beilfuss is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Institute for Environmental Studies.

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John Callaway
Dr. John Callaway is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of San Francisco. His research expertise includes the following: Wetland plant and soil ecology, with recent focus on the effect of plant species diversity on ecosystem functioning; Development of restoration and assessment methods for wetland ecosystems; Ecology of non-native plants, including management implications for the control of non-native plant invasions; and Sediment dynamics and sea-level rise in coastal wetlands. Dr. Callaway was the Associate Director for the Pacific Estuarine Research Laboratory at the San Diego State University from 1998-1999, where he also was a post-doctoral fellow for three years. Dr. Callaway’s Ph.D. is from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA; his dissertation title is "Sedimentation Processes in Selected Coastal Wetlands from the Gulf of Mexico and Northern Europe.

Web Site: http://www.usfca.edu/envsci/undergrad/faculty/callaway/

Andrea Cattarossi
Mr. Andrea Cattarossi is a Senior Engineer in Exponent’s Civil Practice and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. He has experience in many aspects of hydrology, complex computer modeling, riverine and coastal hydraulics. Mr. Cattarossi is also familiar with the application of sediment transport and hydrologic principles to the design of constructed facilities.

During his professional career, Mr. Cattarossi has focused on the application of state of the art computer models in one and two-dimensional field for the evaluation of hydrodynamic and sediment transport parameter for complex environment location. Prior to join Exponent he spent a year working for the University of Padua, department of Maritime Hydraulics, as a consulting engineer for coastal environment projects such as beach nourishment and protection techniques and sediment transport analysis. He has extensive knowledge in the application of Corps of Engineers hydraulic computer models and during his tenure at Exponent he has been involved in modeling the restoration plans of very large aquatic environments. Currently, he is managing the modeling task of a project aiming at the restoration of the Mesopotamian Marshlands of southern Iraq as well as the rapid assessment task force for the evaluation of water resources conditions in Iraq.

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Brian W. Coad
Dr. Coad is an ichthyologist who has worked at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa since 1981. He was Curator of the National Fish Collection and is now a Research Scientist. In 1970, he received his B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Manchester, England. In 1972 he was awarded an M.Sc. in Biology from the University of Waterloo, Ontario and in 1976 a Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa. From 1976 to 1979 he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Shiraz University, Iran and led expeditions to most parts of that country, collecting fishes for his systematic research.He is the author of over 250 works on fishes including such books as "Expedition Field Techniques: Fishes" (2nd revised edition, 1998), "Encyclopedia of Canadian Fishes" (1995). Web Site: www.briancoad.com

Thomas L. Crisman
Dr. Crisman has been a faculty member at the University of Florida since 1977and currently is both Director of the Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands and Professor of Environmental Engineering Sciences. He is a broadly trained aquatic ecologist with over twenty five years experience conducting research on the ecology, conservation, management and restoration of subtropical and tropical wetlands, lakes, estuaries and streams. He is recognized as one of the leading researchers in littoral zone ecology and ecotonal relationships with an emphasis on benthic macroinvertebrates and zooplankton. His research currently is being conducted in Greece, Spain, Uganda and Brazil and Florida, where he has been a leader in acid rain, management of algal and weed problems in lakes, system restoration. He was selected as the University of Florida 1992 Teacher/Scholar of the Year, the highest honor given a faculty member at the university, and he is currently a member of the management boards for the Greek Wetland Center in Thessaloniki and the Centre for African Wetlands based in Ghana. He is co-author of two new books, Restoration of Mediterranean Wetlands and The Ecology, Conservation and Management of African Freshwater Ecosystems.

Thomas Dunne
Thomas Dunne is a Professor of Environmental Science and Management, and of Geological Sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara. He conducts field and theoretical studies of drainage-basin, hillslope, and fluvial geomorphology, and in the application of hydrology, sediment transport, and geomorphology to landscape management and hazard analysis.Since joining the University of California in 1996, he has been involved in: the National Research Council's Committee on Alluvial Fan Flooding; the State of Washington Panel on Salmon Conservation Validation Monitoring; the Independent Science Board of the Calfed Ecosystem Restoration Program; the Adaptive Management Forum for the San Joaquin River Basin of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game; and the Science Panel for the Columbia River Channel Improvement Project. He has gained experience of geomorphic and hydrologic processes through research and consultation in many parts of the world, and has expressed some of that experience in teaching courses, advising government agencies, publishing journal papers, and co-authoring two textbooks.

Marco Gonella
Marco Gonella is a Civil Engineer working in Turin, Italy. During his career, he has worked as technical director for Med Ingegneria, a privately owned company specializing in application of numerical models to hydraulic problems, design and construction of coastal and shore protection structures. Since 2001, he has been president of Med Ingengeria, leading the company in developing a successful market at the national and international levels.Throughout his professional career, he has shared his experience through several teaching positions at the master's and university level on the field of application of numerical models to environmental analyses. He recently concluded a master's course in Numerical Techniques for Remote Sensing and GIS application organized by the University of Bologna.

Doug Hamilton

Mr. Douglas Hamilton is a Principal Engineer in Exponent’s Civil/Structural Engineering practice and is based in Orange County, California. He has extensive experience in water resources, hydrology, and natural hazards in arid environments. He has developed and applied a wide range of analytical techniques in order to explain the hydrologic impacts of natural hazards. He is also an expert in the application of sediment transport, geomorphic and hydrologic principles to natural systems, and to the design of constructed facilities. Prior to joining Exponent, Mr. Hamilton worked for the Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC), which provides consulting and technology services to the civil works and military missions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. While in the Research Branch of HEC, Mr. Hamilton was responsible for conducting flood hazard, sedimentation, and debris flow studies. He was also in charge of the computer program HEC-6, Sediment Transport in Rivers and Reservoirs. Mr. Hamilton has taught a number of professional courses for hydraulic and sediment transport analysis techniques. He is a cooperating partner with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Mountain Disasters and Environment (Sichuan, China), and has served as a committee member for the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board. Mr. Hamilton traveled to Iraq in February 2004 on a fact-finding mission for the New Eden Project.

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Mary Kentula
Dr. Kentula is a Wetlands Ecologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She is based at EPA’s National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory in Corvallis, Oregon. From 1992 through 1996 she served as the national program leader for the Agency’s Wetland Research Program. Among Mary’s publications is the book, Wetland Creation and Restoration: The Status of the Science, which she co-edited with Dr. Jon Kusler in 1990. In 1991, Mary was part of the wetlands research team that was awarded a Bronze Medal by EPA’s Office of Research and Development. Because of her work in wetlands restoration and creation, Mary was chosen as a member of the U.S. Delegation attending the Fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (also known as the Ramsar Convention). In 1998 she was awarded the Science Achievement Award in Biology/Ecology for her leadership and advancement of wetland science and decision-making. Mary was elected to and served two terms on the first board of directors of the Society for Ecological Restoration. In addition, she served ten years on the editorial board of the Society’s journal, Restoration Ecology. Mary recently completed a second term as treasurer of the Society of Wetland Scientists.
Web Site:
http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/staff/kentula.htm

Ed Maltby
Dr. Maltby is Director of the Royal Holloway Institute for Environmental Research, Royal Holloway, University of London where he is also Head of the Wetland Ecosystem Research Group and Professor of Environmental and Physical Geography. He has served as Chair of the IUCN Wetlands Scientific Advisory Committee and was Chair of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (1997-2000). He has advised government and non-government organisations worldwide on wetlands and ecosystem management. He led an international study on the ecological and environmental stations of the marshlands of Mesopotamia which reported in 1994 and provided a major input to the subsequent assessments by UNEP. Dr. Maltby has extensive international experience of wetland restoration issues through his work in the Danube Delta, Mekong Delta and the Florida Everglades. he has written/edited 10 books and more than 160 scientific papers and articles.

Hassan Partow
Mr. Partow, a Swiss national with Iraqi heritage, is a senior Research Officer with United Nations Environmental Program currently stationed in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2001, he authored the seminal work, “The Mesopotamian Marshlands, Demise of an Ecosystem” (2001). This report provided objective, incontrovertible evidence of the destruction of the marshlands and offered balanced analysis of the causative mechanisms. Mr. Partow has been a leader in the restoration movement and is currently planning to employ remote sensing analysis to evaluate the recent re-flooding of the Mesopotamian Marshlands and its effects on the regional ecosystem.

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Augusto Pretner
Dr. Augusto Pretner is the Director of SGI, a water resources and water pollution consulting firm located in Padova, Italy. He graduated as a Hydraulic Engineer from the University of Padua in 1970. He has 34 years experience managing environmental and hydraulic engineering projects covering a wide range of sectors: hydrology, hydraulics, water quality (for drinking and industrial purposes), sanitary engineering and environmental impact assessment. Since the 1980's, he has specialized in the application of new technologies for the rehabilitation of water and sewer works including mathematical modelling, flow surveys, real time control and telemetry. He has implemented numerous projects to adapt northern European methodologies to typical Mediterranean situations. He also provides consultancy on the economic aspects of water related issues, combining expertise in project administration and project cycle management with specific knowledge of international norms and standardisation procedures. He has proven experience in the co-ordination of multidisciplinary projects funded by international organizations such as the European Commission and the World Bank. Mr Pretner has been personally involved in all the EC funded projects carried out by SGI. He serves as technical co-ordinator of the “Integrated LIFE Law” project carried out under DG XI, “Water Management Model – WAMM” project financed under DG Innovation and the on going projects “WAMARIBAS – Water Management at River Basin Scale” and “TILDE – Tool for Integrated Leakage Detection” financed under the DG Life Environment and DG Enterprise respectively.

Curtis Richardson
Dr. Richardson is an internationally acclaimed ecologist and wetland soil scientist who has devoted his career to conducting research in wetland ecosystems around the world. He is Professor of Resource Ecology and Director of the Duke University Wetland Center in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. Dr. Richardson earned his degrees from the State University of New York and the University of Tennessee. His research interests in applied ecology are centered on long-term ecosystem response to large-scale perturbations such as acid rain, toxic materials, trace metals, flooding or nutrient additions. As Director of the Wetland Center since its inception in 1989, Dr. Richardson has conducted a $12 million research effort on the role of hydrology, fire and nutrients on restoring ecosystem structure and function in the Everglades. Dr. Richardson has served on editorial review boards for many peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has sat on advisory committees for the EPA, USDA, and NSF and many other national and state organizations. He has produced more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications. He has been listed in Who's Who in Science as well as in American Men & Women of Science. He was elected Vice President and President of the Society of Wetland Scientists in 1986-1987 and 1987-1988 respectively.

Derek Scott
Dr. Scott completed his Ph.D. on the breeding biology of the Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus at Oxford University in 1970, and subsequently, worked for six years at the Department of Environment in Iran, as head of the Department's Ornithology Unit. Since then, he has worked as a consulting ornithologist and wetland specialist for international conservation bodies such as Wetlands International, BirdLife International, WWF and IUCN, as well as for the Ramsar Convention Bureau and various aid agencies. He has been involved in conservation projects in Western Europe, North and East Africa, the Middle East, South and East Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Insular Pacific. Much of his work has involved waterbirds and their wetland habitats; he has co-ordinated the compilation of inventories of internationally important wetland sites in over 120 countries in five continents. He authored "A Directory of Wetlands in the Middle East” including a chapter on Iraq, in 1995.

Barry Warner
Dr. Warner is a Professor of Biology, Earth Sciences and Geography and Director of the Wetlands Research Centre at the University of Waterloo. He has been a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki in Finland, a Research Fellow of the Swiss National Science Foundation at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, and a Research Fellow of the Ministry of Research of France at the University of Franche-Comte, Besancon, France. Dr. Warner is currently the Past-President of the Society of Wetland Scientists, and is on the Board of Directors of the International Mire Conservation Group, the Chair of the Canadian National Wetlands Working Group, and is a Council Member of the Canadian Society of Peat and Peatlands. He was on the Executive Committee of Wetlands Millenium Event in 2000 in Quebec City. He is a Certified Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) and a Certified Senior Ecologist (Ecological Society of America). He also consults for industries and the private sector and has served on several international and national advisory committees on wetlands. Dr. Warner's research focuses on wetland ecosystem dynamics of both natural, restored and created and constructed wetlands.

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George Zalidis
Dr. Zalidis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Land Reclamation, Soil Science, and Agricultural Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.. He is also associated with the Greek Biotope Center. He has a PhD in soil physics from Michigan State University and served as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering there. Dr. Zalidis has participated in advisory committees and directed research related to wetland restoration, wetland management, soil pollution and degradation. His recent work includes wetland management and restoration with special emphasis given to water resources management and soil pollution and degradation.

Joy Zedler
Dr. Zedler is the Aldo Leopold Professor of Restoration Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Botany Department and Arboretum. Zedler's research interests include restoration and wetland ecology, the role of biodiversity in ecosystem function, use of mesocosms in wetland research, invasive plants, and adaptive management. She helps edit three peer-reviewed journals (Ecological Applications, Wetlands Ecology and Management, and Ecological Engineering). As Director of Research for the UW-Madison Arboretum, she and her graduate students conduct research on ways to restore wetlands that are dominated by invasive plants. With staff at the Pacific Estuarine Research Laboratory, she continues research to improve the restoration of Tijuana Estuary and other southern California coastal wetlands. She is a member of The Nature Conservancy Governing Board; the Environmental Defense Board of Trustees; Wisconsin Natural Areas Preservation Council, and several professional societies (Ecological Society of America, Society for Ecological Restoration, Society of Wetland Scientists, American Ecological Engineering Society, and Estuarine Research Federation). The Estuarine Research Federation recently honored her with the first William Niering Outstanding Educator Award.
Homepage: http://www.botany.wisc.edu/zedler/bio.htm

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Dr. Suzie Alwash
Senior Project Advisor
e-mail: suzie@alwash.net

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