Meet Chris McCarthy

Chris’s career started as an ecological risk assessor with a large-scale environmental cleanup project in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1998. Following success there, he’s covered many different projects in other regions and across sectors, but there was one common factor: he was able to learn from the insights of senior risk assessors to guide and review his work and help him learn a variety of new approaches. In 2011, Chris was chosen as the leader of Jacobs’ eco risk (ecological risk) assessment community of practice, which then led to a career landmark: Chris pursued a research grant opportunity exploring the ecotoxicity of PFAS, and he was brought onto the team to provide the perspective of an applied scientist.

The rest is eco risk history: those research results helped to drive the industry forward, and the opportunity shaped Chris’s career as a PFAS risk assessment expert, leading to his certification as an IBERA Diplomate. Now Chris focuses on building testing frameworks on the PFAS we know the most about and those at the highest concentrations in the environment to help develop an understanding of PFAS priorities. It requires global collaboration and involves a combination of skills like lab testing, monitoring in the wild, computer modeling and understanding a variety of different scientific fields like biology, ecology, chemistry, geology and physics.

As a result, Chris continually influences Jacobs’ decisions regarding PFAS and other toxic substances, supports the leader — Shaun Roark — of the EcoRisk Group’s community of practice and, ultimately, helps produce the innovations that the clients, communities and environment need.

What is ecotoxicology and how does it affect remediation?

It’s the study of toxic or adverse effects in plants, animals, populations, communities and ecosystems resulting from exposure to a substance or substances. It’s been said that all substances are poisons — it’s just a matter of the dose. So, ecotoxicology studies often focus on the concentration of a substance that leads to adverse effects. Eco risk assessment is integral to the contaminated site remediation process. Risk assessors combine knowledge of ecology, toxicology, and chemistry to evaluate the likelihood that a substance released into the environment will adversely affect the plants, animals and ecosystems exposed to it. We also try to understand the magnitude of the effects. We then convey the risk assessment outcomes to risk managers to help them decide whether there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

When I started, eco risk assessment was often an afterthought as regulations were still being drafted nationally and most clients were hesitant to spend money on an emerging field that wasn’t well understood. Clients are now much more aware, and ecologists and eco risk assessment professionals are more involved in the early planning stages of site investigation and clean-up at contaminated sites. As an industry, we’ve seen plenty of success stories, which has resulted in more trust in the field and its practitioners. 

What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on?

It isn’t easy to single out a project as the variety makes my job so interesting. One favorite is when I worked closely with the State of New Jersey to protect state-endangered snakes and turtles while building a natural gas pipeline and metering station within two state parks. I worked with academic researchers and field ecologists as they tracked snakes with radio telemetry and built a basking area for pregnant snakes. 

I also worked on risk assessments at the Hanford Nuclear Site for 14 years, learned a great deal about radio nuclides and developed essential skills. Another project that offered brilliant learning opportunities was when I helped manage the micro-siting of 200 wind turbines on the Texas Gulf Coast.

However, my favorite project was doing bird surveys on the Texas Gulf Coast in the late 1990s — it was my introduction to my life-long love of birdwatching. In 1999, I spent a few months doing various bird surveys including a least tern colony and a colonial waterbird colony. This required weekly airboat rides through a wildlife management area full of gators, which was a lot of fun.

How would you describe your personal motivation in the work you do?

I thrive on the intellectual stimulation of trying to solve problems using science, coupled with the opportunity to help people daily. Not just clients facing new challenges but the people I meet in my community and other project communities. I listen to their concerns and help them understand the risks they’re facing and what they can do next. I validate their feelings, try to help them better understand the risks and then recommend where they should look next. 

I love my job and its uniqueness, so I talk about it constantly outside work and people seem very interested. I’m either a good storyteller or they’re just polite (I like to think it’s both!). I still get so excited about all the PFAS work I’m doing even though I have been working on it for a decade — just ask my family. They all know more about PFAS than most people! Sometimes, I feel a little guilty about how passionate I am, but I also feel fortunate to be capable and qualified to help try to solve this global problem — it’s very rewarding.