Bios of AMRI Board Members
Bill Francis
President
William R. Francis received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kansas. He worked for Monsanto Specialty Chemicals, then for Nalco Company, an industrial specialty chemical company, until his recent retirement. His specialty is the use of reclaimed water for industrial applications, and on the monitoring and control of the quality of industrial water treating applications.
He has co-authored and presented two papers as part of his career with Nalco Company. The first paper documents the re-use of municipal waste water from the City of Los Angeles Hyperion Waste Treatment Plant. This publication documents the successful implementation of this recycled water to be used as cooling water make-up to the petroleum refining industry in the Los Angeles Basin. Since that publication, Bill has been involved with consultation to these refineries to allow re-use of over 12 million gallons per day of waste water from the Hyperion facility. The water recycling end use has been for both cooling water and boiler water make-up to the refineries. The second paper involves the implementation of new technology to reduce the amount of extra water treating chemicals, such as industrial sodium hypochlorite (bleach) as a disinfectant going to Santa Monica Bay. Bill continues to be heavily involved with the day-to-day monitoring and control of the above subjects.
Dr. Nikhil Davé, PhD
Vice President
Dr. Nikhil Davé is a Senior Tactical Systems Engineer for the U.S. Navy. He specializes in cost-effective, simplified systems for a host of naval missions and objectives, mostly dealing with communications and information synchronization. He holds multiple degrees from the University of California at San Diego, culminating with the Ph.D. in Engineering Physics/Fluid Mechanics in 1985. He is published in Radio Science, Physics of Fluids, and Combustion Science and Technology, plus military journals. He has an abiding interest in the environment, motivated by his childhood observation and distaste of industrial waste and environmental abuse in the heavily industrialized cities of the eastern United States, such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Nikhil finds much value in Native American views on the use of our environment, particularly in the belief of taking only what you need and being thankful for Nature's bounty.
Michele Swanson
Vice President
Michele M. Swanson is a public relations and broadcast production specialist with 20-plus years of public agency experience, including more than a decade of working expressly for cities. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Public Relations and English and an M.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Her many years of direct involvement with bringing environmental issues to the attention of constituents, complemented by her personal commitment toward conserving natural resources, has imbued her with a unique understanding of the complex perspective and needs of local governments and their affiliate agencies. Presently, as principal of elemental public relations, Michele specializes in developing strategic plans and sustainable solutions for business, government, and the environment.
During her tenure as consultant to the South Bay Cities Council of Governments, Michele led the South Bay Energy Savings Center in reaching and teaching local residents and businesses about water conservation and energy efficiency. Under her guidance, the Savings Center team, in partnership with West Basin Municipal Water District, Torrance Municipal Water Department, The Gas Company, and Southern California Edison, directed their environmental message to a 16-city regional population of more than 500,000, with a documented average of 5,000 persons annually being educated in water conservation and energy efficiency practices.
Prior to contracting with South Bay Cities COG, Michele served as administrative analyst and public information officer for the City of Rolling Hills Estates. There she served as city liaison to several environmental preservation committees, including the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy. She wrote and produced the city-sponsored video highlighting George F. Canyon Nature Park and Preserve and Stein-Hale Nature Trail, a 36-acre parcel of perpetually dedicated open space on the PV Peninsula. Additionally, she oversaw all city environmental programs in compliance with national, regional and local government mandates.
Michele presently is a member of the Los Angeles chapter of the Public Relations Society of America as well as the national parent organization of PRSA.
Gwen Lattin
Vice President
Gwen Lattin received her B.S. in Marine Biology and Masters in Biology from California State University, Long Beach. She has worked in biological research over 25 years, which includes field studies and laboratory research in Marine Biology, Inland Fisheries and Environmental Fields.
Terri Buchanan
Treasurer
Terri Buchanan received a B.S. in Accounting from National University and is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Information Systems Auditor. She has been employed by the University of California, San Diego as the Health Science Audit Manager since 1999, where she manages a variety of concurrent internal audit projects that evaluate financial compliance aspects of operations. Prior to joining UCSD, Ms. Buchanan worked for a San Diego CPA firm and a San Diego physician practice. She began working with Algalita Marine Research Foundation as a financial consultant in 2002 and joined the Board of Directors in 2008 to provide support to financial operations.
Celia Kiewit
Director
Celia Kiewit began her studies in liberal arts and holistic health, obtained an exercise physiology degree from UCSD and ultimately, a Masters in psychology from National University. In 2002, she helped form a “creation care” action committee in Solana Beach, California, which spawned a writing career focused on simpler living and conservation. In 2003 she published “How You Can Help Care for God's Creation” and went on to publish other articles, including “How to Break the Bottled Water Habit” in 2006. Her presentations over an eight year period, from 2002 to 2010, at local and national eco-conferences drew some attention from our own Captain Charles Moore, who encouraged Ms. Kiewit to take her message to an even wider audience.
In addition to her interests in sailing and organic gardening, she’s a docent with the San Diego Botanic Garden, and a member of Coastkeeper, the Sierra Club, and the San Diego Green Chamber. She’s an active supporter of Algalita, Encintas City Council’s Environmental Commission and other local and national groups that address the plastic pollution and single-use plastics issues. She continues to raise awareness of these issues through funding and charitable endeavors.
Carole Harris, LCSW, Psy.D.
Director
Dr. Harris is an accomplished psychotherapist whose influence extends through Orange and Los Angeles counties. Her earliest work included group and adolescent psychological treatment, after which she spent several years in private practice. From there she provided her expertise as a social worker for an alcohol and drug program. She went on to train other social workers and interns and later became Program Director for an outpatient mental health clinic. Her training segued into several years of teaching sociology and child development at the college level. She most recently returned to private practice, and currently works out of Huntington Beach, California in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy.
Dr. Harris sits on the Board of Trustees for Long Beach Brethren Manor, a senior living facility, and spent four years prior on the Board of Directors for the Hope Institute Family Fund, which assists adolescents in a clean and sober living treatment program. She has also been an active advocate for the medically indigent.
Duane Laursen
Secretary
Duane Laursen has been a lifelong learner, attending various universities including California State University, Long Beach for a B.A. in Biology; University of California, Irvine for an M.A. in teaching Biology; and California State University, Fullerton at the Modern Physics Institute. He volunteered with the Peace Corps teaching 7th and 8th grade students Science, Math and English for 2 years. He came back to Long Beach and began teaching at La Puente High School in Biology, Physics, Oceanography, Physical Science, Satellite Technology and Image Processing for the next 35 years. He is a Science Academy Fellow with the California State Department of Education, giving many presentations in California. Duane was a founding member of the Satellite Educators Association in 1988 and has been the Treasurer from 2004-2007. His interests and pursuits include travel, trick roping, photography, videography, GIS, hiking, water sports, and ham radio (KC6NAV).
