![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Dr. Robin L. Dennis
AMD Staff Education:
- Ph.D in Physics, 1972, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- M.S. in Physics, 1969, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- B.S. in Physics, magna cum laude, 1966, University of Redlands
Professional Experience:
2008 - Present: Senior Scientist, USEPA/ORD/NERL/AMAD/AEIB, Research Triangle Park, NC
1998 - 2008: Senior Scientist, NOAA Atmospheric Sciences Modeling Division (in partnership with EPA/NERL), Research Triangle Park, NC
1984 - 1998: Physical Scientist, NOAA Atmospheric Sciences Modeling Division (in partnership with EPA/NERL), Research Triangle Park, NC
1979 - 1984: Staff Scientist, Environmental and Societal Impacts Groups, NCAR, Boulder, CO
1978 - 1979: Senior Fellow, Advanced Study Program, NCAR, Boulder, CO
1976 - 1978: Research Scholar, Environment Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
1972 - 1975: NSF Post-Doctoral Fellow, Environment Program, IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria
1972 - 1975: Project Associate, Energy Systems and Policy Research Program and Air Pollution Research Program, Institute for Environmental Studies, UW-Madison 1972-1975
Awards & Honors:
US EPA, Bronze Medal for Nitrogen and Mercury Watershed TMDL Assessments Team, 2008NOAA, NOAA Administrators Award, 2007
US EPA, NERL Science Achievement Award for Leadership in Atmospheric Deposition to Watersheds and Multimedia Modeling, 2006
US EPA, Bronze Medal for CMAQ Model Development and Evaluation, 2005
US EPA, Bronze Medal for Contribution to NARSTO PM Assessment, 2004
NOAA, Air Resources Laboratory Paper of the Year Award, 2001
US EPA/SETAC, Scientific Achievement Award for Air-Water Linkage for Chesapeake Bay, 1999
US EPA, Bronze Medal for Models-3/CMAQ Development and Evaluation, 1999
Smithsonian Computerworld Award, Finalist in Environment, Energy and Agriculture for Linking Air and Water Models Together for Chesapeake Bay, 1995
Selected Publications:
Dennis, R.L., R. Mathur, J. Pleim and J. Walker. Fate and transport of ammonia at the local to regional scale as simulated by the Community Multiscale Air Quality model, Air Pollution Research, submitted for publication.
Dennis, R., T. Fox., M. Fuentes, A. Gilliland, S. Hanna, C. Hogrefe, J. Irwin, S.T. Rao, R. Scheffe, K. Schere, D. Steyn and A. Venkatram. On the evaluation of regional-scale photochemical air quality modeling systems, Environmental Fluid Mechanics, submitted for publication.
Schwede, D.B., R.L. Dennis and M.A. Bitz, 2009. The Watershed Deposition Tool: A tool for incorporating atmospheric deposition in watershed analyses, Journal of the American Water Resources Association, Vol. 45, Nos. 4, 973-985.
Wu, Y. J. Walker, C. Peters-Lidard, D. Schwede, R. Dennis, and W. Robarge, 2009. A new model of bi-directional ammonia exchange between the atmosphere and biosphere: Ammonia stomatal compensation point. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 149: 263-280.
Pinder, R.W., A.B. Gilliland, R.L. Dennis, 2008. The Environmental Impact of Atmospheric NH3 Emissions under Present and Future Conditions in the Eastern United States, Geophysical Research Letters, 35, L12808. June 2008.
Pinder, R.W. R.L. Dennis, P.V. Bhave, 2008. Observable Indicators of the Sensitivity of PM2.5 Nitrate to Emission Reductions, Part I: Derivation of the Adjusted Gas Ratio and Applicability at Regulatory- Relevant Time Scales, Atmospheric Environment, Vol., 42, 1275-1286.
Dennis, R.L., P.V. Bhave and R.W. Pinder, 2008. Observable Indicators of the Sensitivity of PM2.5 Nitrate to Emission Reductions, Part II: Sensitivity to errors in total ammonia and total nitrate of the CMAQ-predicted nonlinear effect of SO2 emission reductions on PM2.5 nitrate. Atmospheric Environment, Vol. 42, 1287-1300.
Sullivan, T.J., B.J. Cosby, J.R. Webb, R.L. Dennis, A.J. Bulger, F.A. Deviney, Jr. Steamwater Acid-Base Chemistry and Critical Loads of Atmospheric Sulfur Deposition in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, 2008. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 137, No. 1-3, pp 85-99.
Sarwar, G., S. J. Roselle, R. Mathur, W. Appel, R. L. Dennis, and Bernhard Vogel, 2008. A Comparison of CMAQ HONO Predictions with Observations from the Northeast Oxidant and Particle Study, Atmospheric Environment, Vol. 42, 5760-5770.
Nolte, C.G., P.V. Bhave, J.R. Arnold, R.L. Dennis, K.M. Zhang, and A.S. Wexler, 2008. Modeling of urban and regional aerosols--Application of the CMAQ-UCD aerosol model to a coastal urban site, Atmospheric Environment, Vol. 42, 3179-3191.
Dennis, R.L., R. Haeuber, T. Blett, J. Cosby, C. Driscoll, J. Sickles and J.M. Johnston. 2007. Sulfur and nitrogen deposition on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems in the United States, Air & Waste Management Association Environmental Manager, December 2007, pp 12-17
Yu, S., P.V. Bhave, R.L. Dennis, R. Mathur, and B. Eder, 2007. Seasonal and regional variations of primary and secondary organic aerosols over the continental United States: Semi-empirical estimates and model evaluation, Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 41, 4690-4597.
Dennis, R.L., S.J. Roselle, R. Gilliam and J. Arnold, 2007. High Time-Resolved Comparisons for In-Depth Probing of CMAQ Fine-Particle and Gas Predictions, in C. Borrego and A-L Norman, editors, Proceedings of the 27th NATO/CCMS International Technical Meeting on Air Pollution Modeling and Its Applications XVII, October 25-29, Banff, Canada, Springer, NY, NY, pp 515-524.
Gilliland, A.B., K.W. Appel, R. Pinder, S.J. Roselle and R.L. Dennis, 2006. Seasonal NH3 emissions for an annual 2001 CMAQ simulation: inverse model estimation and evaluation, Third Annual Models-3 workshop special issue of Atmospheric Environment, Vol. 40, No. 26, pp 4986-4998.
Arnold, J.R. and R.L. Dennis, 2006. Testing CMAQ chemistry sensitivities to base case and emissions control runs at SEARCH and SOS99 surface sites in southeast U.S., Third Annual Models-3 workshop special issue of Atmospheric Environment, Vol. 40, No. 26, pp 5027-5040.
Yu, Shaocai, R.L. Dennis, S. Roselle, A. Nenes, J. Walker, B. Eder, K. Schere, J. Swall, 2005. An assessment of the ability of 3-D air quality models with current thermodynamic equilibrium models to predict aerosol NO3- , Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, vol 110, D07S13, doi:10.1029/2004JD004718.
Arnold, J.R., R.L. Dennis and G.S. Tonnesen, 2003. Diagnostic evaluation of numerical air quality models with specialized ambient observations: testing the Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ) at selected SOS 95 ground sites, Atmospheric Environment, 37, 1185-1198.
Gilliland, A.B., R.L. Dennis, S.J. Roselle and T.E. Pierce, 2003. Seasonal NH3 Emissions Estimates for the Eastern United States based on Ammonium Wet Concentrations and an Inverse Modeling Method, Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, vol 108, No. D15, 4477 doi:10.1029.2002JD003063, 2003.
Mathur, R. and R.L. Dennis, 2003. Seasonal and Annual Modeling of Reduced Nitrogen Compounds Over the Eastern United States: Emissions, Ambient Levels and Deposition Amounts, Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, vol 108, No. D15, 4481 doi:10.1029.2002JD002794, 2003.
Paerl, H.W., R.L. Dennis and D.R. Whitall, 2002. Atmospheric Deposition of Nitrogen: Implications for Nutrient Over-enrichment of Coastal Waters, Estuaries, 25, No. 4B, 677-693.
Meyers, T., J Sickles, R. Dennis, K. Russell, J. Galloway, and T. Church, 2001. Atmospheric nitrogen deposition to coastal estuaries and their watersheds, in R.A. Valigura, R.B. Alexander, M.S. Castro, T.P. Meyers, H.W. Paerl, P.E. Stacey and R. E. Turner (Eds.) Nitrogen Loading in Coastal Water Bodies: An Atmospheric Perspective, American Geophysical Union, Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Washington, D.C., 254 pp.
Dennis, R.L. and R. Mathur, 2001. Airshed domains for modeling atmospheric deposition of oxidized and reduced nitrogen to the Neuse/Pamlico system, 2001, Hydrological Science and Technology, Special Issue, 17, No. 1-4, 107-117.
Linker, L.C, G.W. Shenk, R.L. Dennis, J.S. Sweeney, 2000. Cross-Media Models of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and Airshed, Water Quality and Ecosystem Modeling, 1, 91-122.
A.G. Russell and R.L. Dennis, 2000. A NARSTO Critical Review of Photochemical Air Quality Modeling, Atmospheric Environment, 34, 2283-2324.
R.L. Dennis, Using the Regional Acid Deposition Model to Determine the Nitrogen Deposition Airshed of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, in Joel E. Baker, editor, Atmospheric Deposition to the Great Lakes and Coastal Waters, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, pp 393-413, 1997.
R.L. Dennis, J.N. Mchenry, W. R. Barchet, F.S. Binkowski, D.W. Byun, Correcting RADM's Sulfate Underprediction: Discovery and Correction of Model Errors and Testing The Corrections Through Comparisons Against Field Data, Atmospheric Environment, 27A, 975-997, 1993.
Selected Presentations:
Dennis, R.L. 2008. Air Quality Model Insights into Nitrogen Dry Deposition Missed by Networks, NADP Annual Meeting, October 14-16, 2008, Madison, Wisconsin.
Dennis, R.L. 2007. The Problem of Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition for Chesapeake Bay, ASA-CSSA-SSSA 2007 International Annual Meetings, November 4-8, 2007, New Orleans, Louisiana
Dennis, R.L. 2007. Model Estimated Oxidized Nitrogen Deposition Not covered by the Networks with a focus on Urban Deposition, NADP Scientific Symposium, September 10-14, 2007, Boulder, Colorado
Dennis, R.L. 2007. CMAQ Insight Discussion, EPA Science Advisory Board Integrated Nitrogen Committee, May 8, 2007, Washington DC (conference call)
Dennis, R.L. 2007. Atmospheric Loads, Scientific Summit on Impacts of Growth on Water Quality, UM Center for Environmental Sciences, Annapolis, Maryland
Dennis, R.L. and D. Schwede. 2006. The Watershed Deposition Tool: A Means to Link Atmospheric Deposition to Watersheds, NADP Meeting, October 24-26, 2006, Norfolk, Virginia
Dennis, R.L. and R. Mathur, 2006. Fate and Transport of Ammonia at the Local to Regional Level, Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality: State of the Science, Bolger Conference Center, June 5-8, 2006, Potomac, MD
Dennis, R.L. and P.V. Bhave. 2005, Uncertainties in CMAQ’s Prediction of the Nonlinear Effect of SO2 reductions on Aerosol Nitrate: Using the Gas Ratio as a Construct to Guide Inquiry, AAAR Supersite Specialty Conference, February 7-11, 2005, Atlanta, Georgia
Dennis, R.L. 2003. Air Quality Modeling of Ammonia: A Regional Modeling Perspective, NADP Ammonia Workshop, October 23-24, 2003, Washington, DC
Dennis, R.L. 2002, From Acidifying to Eutrophying Deposition: An Evolving Path and Evolving Model, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, October 17, 2002, The Hague, Netherlands
Dennis, R.L. 2002. Modeling and Policy Support: From RADM to CMAQ, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, October 17, 2002, The Hague, Netherlands
Dennis, R.L. 2001. Ammonia Deposition and Airsheds and Their Relation to Inorganic Nitrogen Deposition, Second International Nitrogen Conference: Optimizing Nitrogen Management in Food and Energy Production and Environmental Protection-N2001, October 14-18, 2001, Potomac Maryland
Narrative:
A key interest is environmental problem solving and bringing science to bear to inform and guide decision making. I was involved in setting the vision and conceptual development for EPA’s third generation air quality modeling system and the resulting Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model (CMAQ), a community model. I have been engaged in the diagnostic evaluation of regional models. I am engaged in and direct the application of regional models for assessments, particularly involving cross-media modeling, linking air and water for coastal estuarine assessments, (e.g., for Chesapeake Bay) with attention to atmospheric deposition. More recently I am engaged in linking air and fresh water/terrestrial ecosystems for critical loads assessments. I am the AMAD theme lead for ecosystem exposure modeling.