Mary Margaret Minnis

Faculty Bio

My service on the Darien, Connecticut Environmental Protection Commission influenced my concept on how an environmental education can be used to serve the needs of a community to improve the environment. One in-depth study resulted in a textbook on onsite wastewater treatment systems and how they can address community sanitation needs and recycle water in an efficient and environmentally-sensitive manner.
I have used and taught GIS to address community issues in watershed protection, water quality mapping, open space analysis, historic preservation, 3-D analysis of watershed boundaries and air quality analysis. I teach Desktop GIS as a MOOC on Google Classroom.

I have trained and led volunteer groups to monitor streams using the Izaak Walton League of America’s Save Our Streams program, training participants to identify benthic macroinvertebrates and perform field-based chemical analysis of the waters. I have worked with golf courses to help them achieve certification in the Audubon Cooperative Wildlife Sanctuary Program, providing water quality monitoring information
Prior to teaching at Pace, my research was devoted to using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive x-ray analysis to analyze particulates, concentrating on developing a signature to identify the fly ash from coal-fired power plants.

PhD, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 1982
Environmental Science

MS, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, New York, 1979
Environmental Chemistry

BS, Marywood College, Scranton, PA, 1966
Chemistry

Research Interest

GIS Education, Watershed Management, Onsite and Municipal Wastewater Treatment, Stream Evaluation, Wetland Protection, Solid Waste Management, Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Statement Analysis and Preparation, Environmental Chemistry, Online Science Education, using iTree tools to assess the value of the urban forest

Past Courses

CHE 105: Consumer Chemistry
CHE 106: Chemistry of Food & Cooking
CHE 110: The Chemical World
CHE 480: Research in Chemistry
ENS 501: Envrnmtl Assmnt & Impact Anlys
ENS 526: Geographical Info Systems
ENS 610: Environmental Science I
ENS 625: Environmntl Sci Communication
ENS 696: Tpc: Env Assmt & Impact Anlys
ENS 696: Tpc: Envrnmntl Project Design
ENS 760: Waste Trmt, Reduction, & Mgt
ENS 772: Thesis Preparation
ENS 780: Mapping Geographic Info Systms
ENS 790: Integrative Seminar
ENS 792: Rsrch in Envrnmntl Sci I
ENS 798: Tpc: Environmental Science
ENS 799: Research
ENV 211: Environmental Assessment
ENV 222: Env: Princ, Prob, & Solutions
ENV 222: Environmental Chemistry
ENV 296: Geographic IS: Env Application
ENV 380: Junior Year Research Seminar
ENV 498: Mentoring Seminar
ENV 499: Senior Year Exp/Environmental
LAW 802: Science for Env. Lawyers
SCI 226: Geographic Information Systems
SCI 230: Environmental Science
SCI 395: Indpndt Study in Physical Sci

Professional Memberships

• American Chemical Society
• NEARC

Department Service

• Tenure and Promotion Committe [Committee Member]