Tri-Valley CAREs works to strengthen global security by stopping the development of new nuclear weapons in the US and by promoting the elimination of nuclear weapons globally. Tri-Valley CAREs monitors nuclear weapons and environmental clean-up activities throughout the US nuclear weapons complex, with a special focus on the Lawrence Livermore Lab and surrounding communities.
Tri-Valley CAREs Expert Bios
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Marylia Kelley is executive director of the Livermore-based Tri-Valley CAREs. She brings 25 years of indepth research, writing and facilitating public participation in decisions regarding the Department of Energy weapons complex, Livermore Lab, nuclear weapons, waste and cleanup. Marylia serves on the "Community Work Group" (since 1989) to advise the federal Environmental Protection Agency, state agencies and the community on the Superfund cleanup of Livermore Lab. She has provided input to the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council, including on the proliferation risks of the National Ignition Facility and on toxic and radioactive pollution at the Livermore Lab main site and Site 300. She can often be found speaking at diverse venues, from City Council meetings to international conferences. Marylia has written for numerous publications, including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. She also serves as editor and principal writer for Citizen's Watch, Tri-Valley CAREs' monthly newsletter. Marylia's work with Tri-Valley CAREs has garnered numerous awards over the years, and, in 2002, she was inducted into the Alameda County Women's Hall of Fame. She has a background in journalism and humanities, and graduated summa cum laude from John F. Kennedy University in 1984. Marylia has lived in Livermore, California since 1976.
marylia@trivalleycares.org - Robert Schwartz is the staff attorney at Tri-Valley CAREs. Rob recently graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law, where he received certificates in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Public Interest and Public Service Law. During that time, Rob was actively involved with a number of student and community organizations working in the areas of civil liberties, social justice, and the environment. Prior to law school, Rob attended the University of Michigan, where he received a bachelor's degree in English. Rob's scope of work includes heading up Tri-Valley CAREs' activities to uphold the National Environmental Policy Act, including by opposing plans to revitalize the nuclear weapons complex. Rob also manages the group's legal efforts to prevent the collocation of biowarfare agent research facilities and nuclear weapons. Rob lives in the Bay Area.
rob@trivalleycares.org - Marion Fulk, staff scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, retired, brings five decades of technical knowledge to Tri-Valley CAREs as one of the group's volunteer technical advisors. A chemical physicist, Marion retired from LLNL in 1984 after 18 years there as a staff scientist specializing in chemical physics and material properties. At LLNL, Marion's research included but was not limited to the study of radioactive "rainout" from nuclear weapons test explosions. Marion's work at LLNL included numerous research projects involving plutonium and tritium, two radionuclides of special concern to Tri-Valley CAREs and the community (as these contaminants have shown up in local parks, rain, groundwater and agricultural products). From 1952 to 1967, Marion was employed by the National Bureau of Standards, Atomic Energy Commission Cryogenic Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, where he worked on low temperature physics and the properties of materials, including radioactive materials. His background also includes University research in the fields of nuclear physics, chemistry and materials science, including work on neutron scattering cross-sections. Marion has lived in Livermore since 1966, and has been an advisor to Tri-Valley CAREs since 1988.
- Peter Strauss began working for Tri-Valley CAREs in 1991 as Technical Advisor on the Superfund cleanup of the Livermore Lab's main site. In the mid-90s, he was also awarded a second contract by the organization to analyze data and advise on the Superfund cleanup at the Livermore Lab's site 300 high explosives testing range. His responsibilities include providing detailed analysis of reports, well logs and other technical data on soil and groundwater contaminants and their migration through the environment, providing comparative analyses of potential or selected remediation technologies for soil and groundwater and assisting in the preparation of written comments at key times in the Superfund process. Writing reports on environmental and cleanup issues at the Lab for dissemination to the community at large is also within the scope of his responsibilities. Peter authored Tri-Valley CAREs' Community Guide to the Site 300 Cleanup, and is working on a companion guide on the Lab's main site. Peter has also completed a comprehensive study of plutonium problems at Livermore Lab. Peter earned a BA from the University of Wisconsin and an MS in Science and Policy from State University of New York. He resides in San Francisco, California.
- Judith Flanagan is one of the group's volunteer technical advisors on biological agents and facilities. Judith received her Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of New South Wales, Australia. She brings a breadth of knowledge in biology, genetics and medicine to Tri-Valley CAREs' programs. Judith worked at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the Human Genome Project for three years. Since 2005, she has worked at the University of California at San Francisco as a biological researcher specializing in the interactions of pathogens in human health.
- Robert Civiak is a Nuclear Policy Analyst under contract to Tri-Valley CAREs. Bob brings an extensive knowledge of science, public policy and the DOE budget and programs to his work with the organization. He is the author of a comprehensive analysis of Stockpile Stewardship options for Tri-Valley CAREs. He is also author of the group's analysis of the cost and technical problems at the National Ignition Facility mega-laser. For each of the past six years, Bob has produced a comprehensive analysis of the DOE nuclear weapons budget request. Bob received a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Pittsburgh. From 1978 to 1988, he researched and wrote analyses for Members of Congress on science and technology issues as a specialist and then section head with the Congressional Research Service. After a brief stint as a visiting scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1988, Bob became a Program Examiner in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he was employed from November 1988 to July 1999. During Bob's nearly eleven-year tenure at OMB, the DOE nuclear weapons budget was his responsibility. Bob currently resides in New Hampshire.
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