Dr. Deborah French-McCay (PhD, Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, 1984) is an internationally recognized expert in oil and hazardous and noxious substance (HNS) spill fate and effects modeling for response planning, environmental risk assessments and impact evaluations. She leads development of RPS’s oil and chemical spill models (SIMAP and CHEMMAP), which are applied world-wide. She specializes in quantitative assessments and modeling of oil, chemical and other HNS releases for response planning, impact, risk, and natural resource damage assessments (NRDA), evaluating transport and fate, exposure, and effects of pollutants on individual organisms, populations and aquatic ecosystems. For example, in support of the US government’s NRDA for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of April-July 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, Dr. French-McCay led the effort of conducting oil transport, fate, exposure, and biological effects modeling using the SIMAP model to evaluate injuries for water column organisms.
Dr. French-McCay provides modeling contributions and technical documentation for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), Risk Assessments (RA), Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA), NRDAs, and similar applications. She has been principal investigator and primary author of more than one hundred technical reports and peer-reviewed published papers evaluating oil trajectory and fate, exposure, effects, and environmental risks. She has provided expert testimony in hearings regarding environmental risk and impact assessments.