Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Soil Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1979
  • M.S., Forest Management (Soil Science), University of Idaho, 1976
  • B.S., Forest Science, University of Washington, 1974
Licenses & Certifications
  • Certified Professional Soil Scientist (CPSS)
Professional Honors
  • Elected to Phi Kappa Phi (honor society for higher education)
  • Elected to Sigma Xi (honor society for science and engineering)
Professional Affiliations
  • Soil Science Society of America

A Certified Professional Soil Scientist, Dr. Shields specializes in the study of transport and geochemical fate of toxic pollutants and their environmental effects. He has over 40 years of experience conducting and managing environmental studies throughout the United States as well as internationally. 

Dr. Shields provides scientific and strategic consultation on the design and implementation of CERCLA and RCRA investigations, cost-effective remediation approaches, and regulatory negotiations. Dr. Shields has managed many multidisciplinary investigations, risk assessments, and feasibility studies. He investigates the industrial archeology of sites to understand the history of contaminant sources in a given area.

Dr. Shields serves as an expert witness in environmental forensics and has testified on the origin, transport, and fate of chemicals in air, soils, sediments, surface water, groundwater, and biota, and exposure of humans and ecological receptors to those chemicals. He has expertise in the environmental chemistry and source identification of dioxins and furans, PCBs, PAHs, PFASs, organic and inorganic pesticides, heavy metals, and metalloids. Dr. Shields has also testified on the allocation and appropriateness of remediation costs at a variety of sites. He has specialized expertise in the forest products industry and at mining, smelting, and foundry sites.