Dr. John Pardue is the Elizabeth Howell Stewart Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Louisiana State University. He directs the Louisiana Water Resources Research institute (LWRRI) and co-directs the EPA Hazardous Substance Research Center (South & Southwest), a multi-university consortium studying the remediation of contaminated sediments. Dr. Pardue’s research group investigates the fate and transport of chemicals in the environment focused primarily on chemicals in wetlands and aquatic systems, chemical fate at the groundwater-surface water interface and interactions between plants and microorganisms that result in chemical degradation. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, his group had been working on identification of critical chemical storage areas in Orleans and Jefferson Parish, identifying simple chemodynamic models that would predict acute hazards to first-responders in the event of a flood or hurricane inducted spill.   His group has been involved in a wide range of environmental sampling and analysis efforts post-Katrina and has published the first peer-reviewed scientific paper on Hurricane Katrina (Pardue, J.H., W.M. Moe, D. McInnis, L.J. Thibodeaux, K.T. Valsaraj, E. Maciasz, I. van Heerden, N. Korevec and Q.Z. Yuan. 2005. Chemical and microbiological parameters in New Orleans floodwater following Hurricane Katrina. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39:8591 – 8599). He has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers and conducted research for federal agencies such as EPA, NSF, NOAA, and DOD.  His research has led to development of a number of innovative technologies including the constructed wetland approach for treating contaminated groundwater. In addition, his research group works closely with international collaborators including the Environmental Engineering program at UCLAS at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, West Africa providing research opportunities for future faculty and working to further development of the environmental engineering in developing areas.

 

We have developed an approach for passively treating groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents in treatment wetlands. High activities of halorespiring bacteria have been observed in Phragmites marshes fringing the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. The activity of these organisms results in rapid attenuation of the chlorinated solvents in the marshes. Based on this natural scenario, we have developed design criteria for treatment wetlands for treating these persistent groundwater contaminants. Our greenhouse systems have dechlorinated chlorinated ethenes and ethanes from mg/L concentrations to below detection over very short (10’s of cm) travel distances within the peat soil. Our research has focused on the composition of the organic matter in the commercially available peats and compost materials and their ability to provide H2 to the halorespiring populations. Our existing microbial culture, developed from upflow greenhouse experiments using groundwater from a Connecticut Superfund site, is being studied to better understand why such high reductive dechlorination rates can be maintained. Based on the design criteria developed in our laboratory, a number of pilot and full-scale applications of the technology are being planned at sites around the country.

EDUCATION
Ph.D. (Civil Engineering) Louisiana State University, 1992

M.S. (Marine Sciences) Louisiana State University, 1987

B.S. (Biology) cum laude, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, 1983

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

2004-present 2002-present	Co-director, Hazardous Substance Research Center, South & Southwest Director, Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute, College of Engineering, Louisiana State University
1998-present	Elizabeth Howell Stewart Emerging Leader Professorship, College of Engineering, Louisiana State University
1998-present	Associate Professor (with tenure) Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Louisiana State University
1995-1998	Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Louisiana State University
1992-1995	Assistant Professor-Research, Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute, Louisiana State University

COURSES TAUGHT
CE 7700 Aquatic Chemistry
EVEG 4159 Design of Natural Systems for Wastewater Treatment
EVEG 4135 Water Quality Analysis for Natural Systems

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Gomez-Hermosillo, C., J.H. Pardue and D.D. Reible. 2006. Wetland plant uptake of desorption-resistant organic compounds from sediments. Environ. Sci. Technol. 40(10); 3229-3236

 

Kassenga, G.R. and J.H. Pardue. 2006. Effect of competitive terminal electron acceptor processes on dechlorination of cis-1,2-dichloroethene and1,2-dichloroethane in constructed wetland soils. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 57 (2): 311-323.

 

Pardue, J.H., W.M. Moe, D. McInnis, L.J. Thibodeaux, K.T. Valsaraj, E. Maciasz, I. van Heerden, N. Korevec and Q.Z. Yuan. 2005. Chemical and microbiological parameters in New Orleans floodwater following Hurricane Katrina. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39:8591 – 8599.

 

Dean, C., J.J. Sansalone, F.J. Cartledge, and J.H. Pardue. 2005. Influence of hydrology on storm water metal element speciation at the upper end of an urban watershed. J. Environ. Engr. ASCE 131:632-642.

           

Jackson, W.A., L. Martino, S, Hirsh, J. Wrobel and J.H. Pardue. 2005.  Application of a dialysis sampler to monitor phytoremediation processes. Environmental Monitoring & Assessment. 107:155-171.

           

Kassenga, G., J.H. Pardue, W.A. Moe, and K. Bowman. 2004. Hydrogen thresholds as indicators of dehalorespiration in constructed treatment wetlands. Environ. Sci. Technol. 38 (4): 1024-1030.

           

Tan, K., W. A. Jackson, T.A. Anderson, and J.H. Pardue. 2004. Fate of perchlorate-contaminated water in upflow wetlands. Water Research 38:4173-4185.

           

Jeon, Mi-An, W.A. Jackson, T. Anderson and J.H. Pardue. 2004. Perchlorate remediation by electrokinetic extraction and electrokinetic injection of substrates. J. of Bioremediation. 8:65-78.

           

Lee, S., R.R. Kommalapati, K.T. Valsaraj, J.H. Pardue and W.D. Constant. 2004. Bioavailability of reversibly-sorbed and desorption-resistant 1,3-dichlorobenzene from a Louisiana Superfund site soil. Water, Air, & Soil Pollut. 158:207-221.                                  

           

Lee, Sangjin, John H. Pardue, William Moe and K.T. Valsaraj. 2003. Mineralization of desorption-resistant 1,4-DCB in wetland soils. Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry, 22(10):2312-2322.

           

Shin, W.S., J.C. Park and J.H. Pardue. 2003. Oxygen dynamics in petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated salt marsh soils: III. A rate model. Environ. Technol. 24(7): 831-843.

           

Kassenga, G., J.H. Pardue, S. Blair and T. Ferraro. 2003. Treatment of chlorinated VOCs using treatment wetlands. Ecological Engineering 19(5):305-323.

 

OTHER LINKS
Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute (www.lwrri.lsu.edu)

Hazardous Substance Research Center (http://www.hsrc.org/hsrc/html/ssw/ )