Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc.

Dr. Barry A. Vittor was appointed an Assistant Professor of Marine Science at the University of Alabama’s Marine Science Program in 1971. He was based at Bayou La Batre until 1972, when he assisted in development of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Dr. Vittor was promoted to Associate Professor in 1976, then left the University in 1977 and founded Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc.

While with the University of Alabama, Dr. Vittor’s principal areas of research involved benthic ecology and coastal wetlands. He conducted extensive studies of the effects of channel dredging on estuarine benthos, water quality, and sediments, as well as the potential beneficial uses of dredged material for coastal marsh creation. He also became recognized as an expert in the taxonomy of benthic polychaetous annelids, which comprise a critical component of estuarine and marine bottom-dwelling biota.

Since the inception of Vittor & Associates, Dr. Vittor has been heavily involved in studying the toxicity of sediments and effluents to a wide variety of aquatic and marine organisms. His work has focused primarily on bioassay, bioaccumulation, and risk assessment of dredged material in inland and coastal waters. He has also managed numerous investigations of benthic communities at ocean dredged material disposal sites for the US Environmental Protection Agency and U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Dr. Vittor has worked for years with wetlands restoration and management projects and has assisted in regulatory agency permitting of hundreds of public and private developments throughout the Southeast.

As a past-Director of the Alabama Coastal Foundation, and a member of the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program Management committee, Dr. Vittor has been very active in assessing and planning coastal resource management. As President and Senior Scientist at Vittor & Associates, Dr. Vittor has responsibility for planning and coordination of a wide range of environmental programs, including wetlands assessments, ecological restoration, toxicity studies, water quality monitoring, resource characterization and management and long-range planning for dredged material disposal.

Dr. Carl M. Way began his professional career as an Assistant Professor of Biology and Instructor of Computer Science at Alderson-Broaddus College in 1983. In 1986, Dr. Way moved to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois as an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Dr. Way worked as an Aquatic Ecologist at the Waterways Experiment Station of the U.S. Corps of Engineers from 1988 to 1994. Dr. Way worked primarily on the ecology of benthic organisms in large riverine ecosystems, the effects of commercial navigation traffic on riverine invertebrates, and threatened/endangered species monitoring and recovery plans. In 1990, Dr. Way became a Senior Scientist and Leader of the Aquatic Simulation Team at the Waterways Experiment Station. Dr. Way was responsible for studies in hydraulic stream ecology, instream flow management, dynamic simulation modeling of threatened/endangered species for the evaluation of management plans, stream habitat restoration, and the development of techniques for determining the microhabitat hydrologic requirements of small stream organisms. Additionally, Dr. Way was responsible for managing Team personnel, budgets, project milestones and project deliverables within the Federal Contracting system.

Dr. Way joined Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. in 1994 as a Senior Program Manager and Senior Scientist. He was responsible for projects dealing with coastal, nearshore and offshore biological monitoring studies, offshore dredged material disposal site (ODMDS) monitoring studies, pipeline monitoring studies, threatened/endangered species surveys, flood control projects, sewage treatment discharge monitoring studies, and habitat restoration studies. As Senior Vice President, Dr. Way is currently responsible for all analytical methodologies, technical analyses, and deliverables at Vittor & Associates. Dr. Way is also Project Manager and Senior Scientist for a variety of Federal, State and private environmental services contracts. 

J. Dobbs Lee began his professional career in 1991 as a Research Technician with Dr. Mac Callaham at North Georgia College. Mr. Lee's responsibilities included data collecting and analyzing monthly water samples from Lake Sydney Lanier near Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Lee joined the Auburn University Marine and Research Center in 1995 as a Research Technician with Dr. Stephen Szedlmayer. Mr. Lee's responsibilities included artificial reef surveys, tagging studies, substrate preference studies and data analysis.

 Mr. Lee joined Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc in 1997 as a Staff Biologist. Mr. Lee was Logistics Manager and Senior Scientist from 1998-2002. Mr. Lee became a Senior Program Manager in 2002 and in 2007 Vice-President. Mr. Lee has served as Project Manager and Associate Project Manager on numerous projects for Federal, state and private clients. Mr. Lee has coordinated and participated in a variety of field efforts including diving operations on the Ohio River, offshore cruises for North Carolina, New Jersey, and Florida beach renourishment projects, GIS mapping of Apalachicola Bay, Florida, SAV surveys in Appalachee Bay, Florida and rapid bioassessments of freshwater streams in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.

Mr. Lee is the Principal-In-Charge for a variety of projects including pipeline depth-of-cover surveys, geophysical pipeline route analysis using side-scan sonar and multi-beam, and an on-going fisheries monitoring of a deepwater LNG port off Louisiana that requires monthly survey cruises.  Mr. Lee has been responsible for writing reports for the USACE, NOAA, NMFS, USEPA, and other private sector clients. As Vice-President, Mr. Lee oversees all marine and freshwater research and field operations.  Mr. Lee is a 100-ton licensed captain, certified scientific diver, and HAZWOPER certified.

Tim D. Thibaut began his professional career in 1986 as a creel surveyor for the Auburn University Fisheries Department.  After beginning graduate training in 1988, Mr. Thibaut was employed as a graduate teaching assistant (1988 to 1991) in the Auburn Biology Department and also as a research assistant at the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory (1988 to 1993).  As a research assistant, Mr. Thibaut participated in varied and numerous scientific projects, including wetland creation and restoration, monitoring of vegetated aquatic habitats, and experiments of macroinvertebrate behavior, including habitat selection by decapod crustaceans, blue crab prey location, and induction of oyster larvae settlement. Mr. Thibaut has been a post-secondary educator since 1994, serving as adjunct biology faculty at Faulkner State Community College in Fairhope, Alabama.

Chastity C. Miller began her professional career in 1997 as a Research Assistant at the University of New Haven. As a Research Assistant she assisted with various Geographical Information Systems (GIS) projects involving the Quinnipiac River Watershed, the Quinnipiac River Fund, Save the Sound, Yale School of Forestry, The Nature Conservancy, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She also assisted in research conducted in wetlands and sample collection associated with the collection of baseline data and preliminary habitat assessment of Sybil Creek in Branford, Connecticut prior to its restoration. Ms. Miller conducted the GIS portion of an erosion study conducted in the Wheeler Salt Marsh in Milford Point, Connecticut. This project included referencing aerial photography and digitizing polygons associated with Nells Island in the salt marsh. She also conducted landscape analysis southern Connecticut. Ms. Miller assisted with the collection, processing and analysis of nekton samples collected in the Hudson River in conjunction with Vittor & Associates and the University of New Haven.

Ms. Miller joined Vittor & Associates as GIS Specialist and Staff Biologist in October, 1999. In January of 2000 she was promoted to GIS Manager, and is responsible for GIS mapping and analysis involving many different aspects of ecology and biology. She also oversees the application of GIS to all sectors of Vittor & Associates. She is proficient with ArcView GIS and PC ARC/INFO from Environmental Systems Research Institute along with X-tools, Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst and Warp Environment extensions for ArcView. She also has extensive experience with Blue Marble Geographic Transformer for referencing aerial photographs and Global Positioning System (GPS) with Trimble units and Pathfinder Office Software. 

Linda W. Sierke has 20 years of experience in freshwater, coastal, and marine ecological analysis. She currently holds the position of Taxonomy Laboratory Manager. Her responsibilities include overseeing all aspects of benthic sample analysis. She has worked for Vittor & Associates since 1981 as a marine and freshwater field survey specialist and as a Senior Taxonomist. Ms. Sierke is proficient in the identification of estuarine and marine polychaetes from the Gulf of Mexico and south Atlantic coast, as well as identification of freshwater aquatic insects, specializing in Chironomidae larvae and Oligochaeta. 

Jason A. Gardner has been employed by Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. since March 2007 as Senior Archaeologist.  Mr. Gardner’s duties include the development of a newly formed Cultural Resources Management and Archaeological Services Division. He currently oversees a staff of 8-10 archaeological technicians, is responsible for the preparation and implementation of data recovery plans and research designs, writing technical reports, developing proposals and maintaining budgets. Mr. Gardner also maintains a working familiarity with federal and state laws, regulations, standards, and guidelines governing cultural resources, communicates directly with a variety of clients in the public and private sector, and works both on own initiative and as part of a team.

Mr. Gardner was formerly employed by Archaeological Services, Inc. from 1997-2007 as Co-Principal Investigator, Research Associate, Field Supervisor, and Field Archaeologist. Mr. Gardner’s duties included working in various capacities, primarily participating in cultural resource assessments for different agencies on the north-central Gulf coast and beyond, mostly in coastal Alabama and Mississippi.  Many of these assessments involved extensive archival research and historical and technical report preparation. They also included intensive archaeological fieldwork at all levels, including pedestrian surveys, shovel testing, recording field notes, map-making, and full-scale excavation. His lab experience has included cleaning excavated materials, classifying them according to established criteria, and cataloging them appropriately. He also supervised and trained new employees and undergraduates participating in fieldwork for the first time.