John R. Kucklick, Research Biologist

Education:
Ph.D., 1992, University of South Carolina
M.S., 1988, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
B.S., 1983, Miami University (Oxford, OH)

Dr. Kucklick’s research goals are to increase the understanding of persistent organic pollutant (POP) behavior in aquatic food webs. This work makes use of analytical chemistry techniques such as gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to perform accurate and detailed measurements on aquatic samples. The objectives of this work include (1) defining temporal and spatial trends of POPs in marine mammals and seabirds (2) linking contaminant profiles to metabolic ability (3) assessing the levels of current-use POPs (such as flame retardants) in marine mammals and (4) developing non-lethal techniques for POP measurements in animals (e.g. blood analysis), and (5) assessing the effect of trophic position on POP levels. Dr. Kucklick’s research also aims to improve environmental measurements of these bioaccumulative pollutants through method development, reference material production, and quality assurance activities.
Prior to his employment with NIST in 1997, he was a Research Chemist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and post-doctoral researcher at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and is adjunct faculty at the College of Charleston, Medical University of South Carolina, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

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