Enviromin staff work as a team on most projects, utilizing unique skill sets to advance project goals. Dr. Kirk and the senior staff bring more than 60 years of scientific and management expertise in mining geochemistry, biology, and environmental consulting services. They are supported by a strong team providing custom laboratory services, development and implementation of laboratory analytical programs, data management, hydrologic and geochemical modeling using PHREEQC, and Geochemist’s Workbench, as well as programing, statistical analysis, and modeling with R and Python programs.
Dr. Lisa B. Kirk
Dr. Lisa Kirk is Principal Geochemist and President of Enviromin, Inc. She received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania in Geology and Environmental Studies and her MS at the University of Colorado, Boulder in Aqueous Geochemistry. Her Ph.D. work was done in Ecology and Environmental Science at Montana State University, Bozeman. Dr. Kirk’s expertise lies in the biogeochemistry of mined materials, and their assessment throughout the mine life cycle. She has completed numerous environmental geochemistry investigations throughout the U.S. and in Canada, South America, and Africa in 30 years of practice. She is a licensed Professional Geologist in the states of Wyoming and Washington, a Registered Member of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, and a Qualified Person under Canada’s NI 43-101.
Lisa also serves as an Assistant Research Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Montana State University, where she works in the Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE). Lisa’s CBE work is focused on the microbial geochemistry of mined rock and affected water, with a goal of improving strategies for in situ source control. Together, her role as Principal Geochemist at Enviromin and Research Professor at the CBE feed her passion for innovation in environmental and mineral resource management.
Prior to opening Enviromin, Lisa served as Senior Geochemist for Tetra Tech, Maxim Technologies, and Schafer and Associates, where she provided scientific and project management services for gold, silver, copper, talc, phosphate, platinum/palladium, and coal environmental geochemistry projects. She began her professional career in research, working for the Uranium and Thorium/Sedimentary Resources Branch of the US Geological Survey in Denver CO. After many years of consulting, Lisa returned to research as a doctoral fellow of the US DOE Inland Northwest Research Alliance Subsurface Science Research Initiative from 2005 to 2006, and a doctoral fellow of the USEPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program from 2007 to 2010, during her doctoral research in subsurface bioremediation of selenium in phosphate mine wastes. She continues her research into the biogeochemistry of mined materials at the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University.
Lisa grew up in Boston, MA and with her husband Allan, raised two grown daughters. Lisa enjoy life in the mountains of Montana, traveling, and serving as mentors to the MSU chapter of Engineers Without Borders.
Katharine Seipel
Katharine (Katie) Seipel is a Senior Environmental Scientist responsible for project oversight, data analysis, and reporting activities for a variety of Enviromin projects. In her 9th year with Enviromin, Katie has more than 15 years of experience in laboratory research and consulting in environmental microbiology and chemistry. She is MSHA and HAZWOPER-certified and has extensive field experience studying soil hydraulic properties and groundwater monitoring associated with subsurface bioremediation work. Her service areas include microbial management and consulting, environmental due diligence, and remedial design. Katie develops custom tailings geochemistry studies and is proficient at programming the the open-source software program R. In addition to her mining service areas, Katie brings a strong background in chlorinated solvent and petroleum contamination sites and the general knowledge to provide support to a variety of environmental management projects to the Enviromin team, and Katie has also worked in an international setting, and has contributed significantly to numerous documents of varying size, complexity and application, as well as acting as conference support staff and document preparer for internationally significant publications. She has been a resident of Bozeman, MT since 2000, and has also lived and worked in Zurich, Switzerland, adding strong German language skills to the Enviromin Team. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, skiing, biking, and rock climbing.
Brandy Moses Straub
Brandy Moses Straub is an Environmental Scientist and Technical Editor with a Human Biology degree from Stanford University that focused on Education and Environmental Biology. With over 15 years in natural resources consulting, Brandy’s breadth of experience ranges from planning, implementing, and managing environmental education and improvement projects to coordinating scientists and engineers in cross-company Mining Initiatives. This broad skillset has allowed Brandy to work on many diverse environmental projects with scientists and engineers across the country. Services have included mine planning, permitting, and reclamation support, environmental assessment and Section 4f documentation, watershed restoration planning, uplands and riparian health assessments and monitoring, water quality and total maximum daily load development, GIS and mapping, environmental outreach and marketing publications, and other regulatory and non-regulatory project involvement. Brandy also has extensive experience in independent technical review of engineering and environmental documents; document design, preparation, and quality control; and creation of marketing, training, and educational materials. Brandy and her family can always be found fishing, hiking, skiing, horseback riding, or simply adventuring outdoors.
Kyle Miller
After serving as a medic in the Army, Kyle attended Montana State University and graduated in 2019 with a BS in Chemical Engineering and minor in Mathematics. He researched predictive modeling of chemical reactions using multivariate statistical methods such as Principal Component Analysis and Projection to Latent Structures. Kyle brings his background in chemistry, mathematics, and programming to assist in the examination and extraction of information from the large amounts of data collected for Enviromin’s various projects.
Ethan Wologo
Ethan is an Environmental Scientist who completed his MS in Land Resources and Environmental Science at Montana State University following his BS in Geology and Chemistry minor at Central Michigan University. He is HAZWOPER-certified and has experience implementing groundwater remediation systems that utilize both abiotic methods and enhancement of in-situ biologic communities. Ethan also has technical experience operating analytical instruments and related QA/QC processes in a research facility and as well as the commercial cultivation of microbial consortium used in bio-tech products. Ethan brings strong laboratory and field skills to the Enviromin team through his experience sampling and characterizing surface water, groundwater, and soil profiles. His experience with sensitive sample handling and instrument operation ensures quality data management in Enviromin’s lab.
Alexandra (Lexi) Gilbertson
Alexandra (Lexi) Gilbertson holds a BS in Biotechnology from Montana State University with a focus in microbial systems. As Enviromin’s Lab Biotechnologist, Lexi has played an integral role in column construction and sampling, DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), batch experiments, data entry, and general laboratory upkeep and inventory. When she’s not assisting in laboratory experiments, Lexi enjoys skiing with her family, spending time in the kitchen, and reading mystery novels.
Lauren Bozeman
Lauren Bozeman is a geochemist responsible for data collection, assembly, and analysis for a variety of projects at Enviromin. Ms. Bozeman worked for Enviromin from 2012 through 2015 before pursuing her M.S. in Environmental Science at the University of Arizona and rejoined the team in 2021. She is MSHA underground miner certified and brings Spanish language skills to Enviromin. Ms. Bozeman’s experience with mining related geochemistry includes geochemical modeling of remediated mine sites and data analysis and reporting in support of mine permitting. She also has experience with experimental design, conducting batch and column scale investigations, and use of laboratory analytical instruments. She has conducted field work in a variety of settings in support of mine permitting and remediation projects and has a particularly strong background in arsenic remediation. Ms. Bozeman has developed strong skills in relevant modeling and data analysis software including OriginLab, PHREEQC, Geochemist’s Workbench, and Google Earth. She also has experience in ArcGIS, R Studio, Netpath, MATLAB, and Visual MINTEQ. Additionally, Ms. Bozeman brings strong teaching, public speaking, and project management skills to the Enviromin team.
Joseph Lazarus
With nearly 10 years of laboratory experience and a B.S. in Environmental Science from Montana State University, Mr. Lazarus provides a wide range of skills to the Enviromin laboratory and projects. He is highly trained in analytical laboratory methodologies and is proficient in programming in R. Mr. Lazarus is also experienced in field sampling procedures and is OSHA 40-hour HAZWOPER trained.