Ellen Cooper is originally from Oxford, Pennsylvania.  She received her BS (1994) in Plant Science from the University of Delaware, and her MS (1996, Thesis: “Chelate-assisted remediation of lead contaminated soils”) in Plant and Soil Sciences also from the University of Delaware, where she worked as an associate in research until 1998. 

In 1999, she came to Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment to work for Dr. Dharni Vasudevan, and later Dr. Andrew Schuler (formerly of Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering), and eventually matriculated and received her Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences (2009, Dissertation “Biodegradation of a Sulfur Containing PAH, Dibenzothiopene, by a Mixed Bacterial Community.”) under the advisement of Dr. Heather Stapleton, for which she worked as a post-doctoral associate until 2011. 

She currently manages the Duke Superfund Analytical Chemistry Core and is part of the Duke Foam Project (http://foam.pratt.duke.edu/home).  Her primary research interests include analyzing environmentally important organic compounds in a variety of matrices including sediments, water, biological samples and polyurethane foam.