David Velinsky

Biography

David Velinsky, PhD is a Biogeochemist, Senior Scientist and Vice President of the Patrick Center for Environmental Research at the Academy of Natural Sciences. He obtained a BS Degree from the Florida Institute of Technology in Oceanography with a minor in Chemistry and was awarded his PhD degree from Old Dominion University in Chemical Oceanography. For his doctorate, Velinsky studied the cycling of selenium and sulfur in coastal marshes of the Delaware estuary. He then continued his studies as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware and at the Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington. He used the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to trace biogeochemical processes in estuaries and low-oxygen water bodies such as the Black Sea, Saanich Inlet and Farmvaren Fjord (Norway). He then worked on science and policy issues with the Potomac River Basin Commission researching issues related to sediment and water contamination in the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers and Chesapeake Bay. David Velinsky, PhD is the author of over 30 peer-reviewed publications and over 60 presentations at local, national and international scientific meetings. He was a member of the Chesapeake Bay Program (Toxics Subcommittee) and is currently a member of the Toxics Advisory Committee at the Delaware River Basin Commission and of the Science and Technical Advisory Committee of the Delaware Estuary Program at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.

Research Interest

Fate and transport of chemical contaminants, Stable isotope and nutrient biogeochemistry; sediment geochemistry and deposition, water quality