Caroline B. Tuit, Ph.D.
Principal
Dr. Tuit is an environmental chemist with more than 15 years of experience evaluating the sources, fate, and transport of chemicals in the environment. At Gradient, Dr. Tuit provides technical leadership on environmental forensics projects for source identification, cost allocation, and insurance recovery. She is experienced in designing sampling and quality assurance plans and interpreting environmental and characterization data, and has provided deposition testimony on data quality and usability. She has worked on projects evaluating petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), PCBs, PFAS, dioxin/furans, chlorinated solvents, and trace metals, among other contaminants. Before joining Gradient, she was a Hess postdoctoral fellow in the geosciences department of Princeton University, where she studied trace metal bioavailability and toxicity. Prior to that, she received her Ph.D. in Oceanography from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program, where she authored a thesis on the marine biogeochemistry of molybdenum.
Byproduct Dioxin Generation: Evaluated the potential for dioxin release during the historical manufacture of herbicides and pesticides and estimated the potential contributions to a nearby estuary.
Environmental Forensic Investigation: Identified the source of a chlorinated solvent (Freon) and BTEX groundwater plume adjacent to a former refinery site during an environmental forensic investigation of historical and compound-specific stable isotope analyses.
PCB Sediment Forensics: Used principal component analysis and alternating least squares receptor modeling to estimate the source and relative contribution of different PCB Aroclors to estuary sediments.
PCB Cost Recovery: Performed a PCB fingerprinting analysis, a critical review of historical site data, and a review of Aroclor production figures in support of a cost allocation at a transportation facility.
Discharge Permitting: Directed a trace metal sampling and analysis program for water and fish tissue in support of permit renewal negotiations for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater discharge.
Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Chemistry: Evaluated the potential chemical reactions during hydro-fracturing between fluid ingredients and source rocks at in situ temperatures and pressures.
Superfund Site Forensics: Developed PAH source model for sediments in an urban waterway with extensive historical contamination from petroleum, tar, and urban runoff.
Butler, EL; Tuit, CB; Wannamaker, EJ. 2011. “Use of Principal Component Analysis and Source Apportionment for PCBs in Sediment: An Urban Bay Example.” Presented at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America 32nd Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, November 17, 1p.
Langseth, DE; Tuit, CB. 2011. “Methyl Mercury in Fish Tissue and the Water Column of the Upper Ohio River.” Presented at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America 32nd Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, November 15, 1p.