Biography

 Dr. Michael J. Wade is Principal Scientist of Wade Research, Inc.TM, a small business that provides geochemical forensic services to a variety of government agencies, industrial clients, and law firms. Dr. Wade is an internationally recognized organic geochemist with over 45 years of post-doctoral experience and over 56 post-baccalaureate years of strong technical and project management experience in a variety of research programs with special emphasis on study of organics pollution in the environment. He regularly provides expert forensic services both through deposition process as well as court testimony in the areas of environmental geosciences, including assessment of sources of contamination, identification of petroleum product types and age-dating of petroleum product releases.
Dr. Wade’s general areas of geochemical expertise are: evaluation of the detailed hydrocarbon composition of petroleum products; assessment of the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in the environment; innovative hydrocarbon fingerprinting techniques; source identification for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD), dibenzofurans (PCDF) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the environment; assessment of engineering process effects on chemical source fingerprints; development of bioremediation approaches for chlorinated and aromatic hydrocarbons, and chlorinated and phosphorus pesticides in contaminated soils and sediments; impacts of waste disposal outfalls in the coastal ocean for both industrial and municipal wastes; natural resource damage assessments for major oil spills in U.S. coastal waters; Phase I and Phase II Environmental Assessments; and analytical method development for a variety of organic chemical pollutants.
As part of a normal assignment mix, Dr. Wade has been engaged in the conduct of multiple projects dealing with the various aspects of environmental assessment, including assessment of the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons, development of quantitative hydrocarbon fingerprinting techniques that identify sources of contamination, and quantitative assessment of fluxes of petroleum hydrocarbons to the environment. Over the past 32 years working through Wade Research, Inc., he refined quantitative field and laboratory investigation approaches that are designed to establish time frames for the release of gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel and heavier fuel oils in subsurface petroleum contamination cases. His assignment approaches measured geochemical differences in petroleum contamination originating from sudden releases of petroleum products in the environment and compares the result to chronic releases occurring over a number of years. The overall approach included the estimation of time horizons for the release of a variety of petroleum products to the environment. Historically, through Wade Research, Inc., Dr. Wade has conducted approximately 20 to 30 such programs for clients throughout North America.In addition to his regular assignment mix, for over two decades Dr. Wade taught forensic geochemical continuing education courses for a variety of state and professional society venues throughout the United States. Such courses provide today’s environmental professionals with a broad background in organic chemistry that then focused down to specific tools that investigators can use to develop information on anthropogenic contaminants that lead to allocation discussions and/or legal responsibility resolution. Over a ten-year period, Dr. Wade taught a series of highly regarded petroleum forensic courses at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, including advanced petroleum forensics, PAH forensics and petroleum age dating courses for the NJ Licensed Site Remediation Specialists (LSRP) program. In 2018, Dr. Wade, in response to the maturing forensic marketplace, introduced two innovative courses; the first on advanced statistical visualization techniques for petroleum, chlorinated and dioxin/dibenzofuran hydrocarbon source assessment and the second on age dating petroleum contamination specifically for litigation purposes.During his career, Dr. Wade has conducted numerous geochemical programs for state and Federal agencies that have documented the impacts of chemical pollution in the environment including: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Monitoring Program for Tributyltins in the Marine Environment; the U. S. Navy's Biomonitoring Program at NWS Earle, New Jersey; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contaminated sediment remediation program in New Bedford, Massachusetts; the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Massachusetts Bay Ocean Outfall Siting Study; the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Massachusetts Bay Ocean Outfall Monitoring Study; the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service Bioremediation project at Boston Naval Shipyard; the South Atlantic Bight Benchmark Program; the joint oil and gas industry-U.S. EPA 10 Platform Study in the Gulf of Mexico.