Cherie Miller is the Deputy Director of the Laboratory and Analytical Services Division in the Water Mission Area. She has been with the U.S. Geological Survey for 27 years. Her main interests are in stream geochemistry, trace-metal cycling and nutrient modeling.
Cherie has been a hydrologist and water-quality specialist with the USGS since 1993. She worked in the Maryland-Delaware-Washington DC Water Science Center until 2015, when she transitioned to the role of Technical Specialist in the Office of Water Quality in Reston, Virginia. She is currently the Deputy Director of Laboratory and Analytical Services Division in the Water Mission Area and works closely with the National Water Quality Laboratory in Denver, Colorado and project laboratories in Reston Virginia, Menlo Park, California, and Boulder, Colorado.
Cherie's research has focused on continuous and real-time water quality, developing surrogate log-linear regression models to estimate parameters of stream chemistry and to understand stream processes and ecology. Managing and exploring water-quality data has been a special interest and she has developed a national USGS class to enhance our USGS footprint in the realm of water quality; the class is the QW Data Toolbox for NWIS Users.
While at USGS in the early 1990s, Cherie was the project chief of the Chesapeake Bay Fall-line Toxics Program and the Surface-Water Specialist for the Potomac NAWQA pilot. From 1996 to 2010, she was the Water-Quality Specialist for the MD-DE-DC Water Science Center. Her studies have included modeling of nutrient and sediment loads, modeling processes in urban streams, new technology for continuous monitoring of water quality in streams, toxics in streams including metals, pesticides, and organic wastewater chemicals from the human-waste stream, and fish ecology in urban streams. Cherie was an Associate Director for the Center and supervises two science teams - the Water-Quality Monitoring and Modeling Team, and the Fate and Bioremediation Team.
Cherie's background is interdisciplinary with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, an M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in hydrogeology from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Maryland in College Park.
In 1992, Cherie graduated from the University of Maryland at College Park and took a temporary position for two years to teach environmental science, hydrology, and geochemistry at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. During this time, she began her career as a scientist at the USGS and has continued at USGS to the present.
Science and Products
Water quality in the Anacostia River, Maryland and Rock Creek, Washington, D.C.: Continuous and discrete monitoring with simulations to estimate concentrations and yields of nutrients, suspended sediment, and bacteria
Summary and interpretation of discrete and continuous water-quality monitoring data, Mattawoman Creek, Charles County, Maryland, 2000-11
Occurrence and Distribution of Organic Wastewater Compounds in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C., 2007-08
Pesticides in groundwater in the Anacostia River and Rock Creek watersheds in Washington, D.C., 2005 and 2008
Water Quality in the Upper Anacostia River, Maryland: Continuous and Discrete Monitoring with Simulations to Estimate Concentrations and Yields, 2003-05
Chemical and Ecological Health of White Sucker (Catostomus Commersoni) in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C., 2003-04
Ground-water contamination from lead shot at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Sussex County, Delaware
Summary of water- and sediment-quality data for Anacostia River well sites sampled in July-August 2002
Baseflow and stormflow metal fluxes from two small agricultural catchments in the Coastal Plain of the Chesapeake Bay Basin, United States
Water quality, sediment quality, and stream-channel classification of Rock Creek, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000
Reconstructing the rise of recent coastal anoxia; molybdenum in Chesapeake Bay sediments
Osmium isotopes demonstrate distal transport of contaminated sediments in Chesapeake Bay
Science and Products
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 16
Water quality in the Anacostia River, Maryland and Rock Creek, Washington, D.C.: Continuous and discrete monitoring with simulations to estimate concentrations and yields of nutrients, suspended sediment, and bacteria
Concentrations and loading estimates for nutrients, suspended sediment, and E. coli bacteria were summarized for three water-quality monitoring stations on the Anacostia River in Maryland and one station on Rock Creek in Washington, D.C. Both streams are tributaries to the Potomac River in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and contribute to the Chesapeake Bay estuary. Two stations on the AnacAuthorsCherie V. Miller, Jeffrey G. Chanat, Joseph M. BellSummary and interpretation of discrete and continuous water-quality monitoring data, Mattawoman Creek, Charles County, Maryland, 2000-11
Discrete samples and continuous (15-minute interval) water-quality data were collected at Mattawoman Creek (U.S. Geological Survey station number 01658000) from October 2000 through January 2011, in cooperation with the Charles County (Maryland) Department of Planning and Growth Management, the Maryland Department of the Environment, and the Maryland Geological Survey. Mattawoman Creek is a fourthAuthorsJeffrey G. Chanat, Cherie V. Miller, Joseph M. Bell, Brenda Feit Majedi, David P. BrowerOccurrence and Distribution of Organic Wastewater Compounds in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C., 2007-08
The U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Park Service Police Aviation Group, conducted a high-resolution, low-altitude aerial thermal infrared survey of the Washington, D.C. section of Rock Creek Basin within the Park boundaries to identify specific locations where warm water was discharging from seeps or pipes to the creek. Twenty-three stream sites in Rock Creek Park were selected based on tAuthorsDaniel J. Phelan, Cherie V. MillerPesticides in groundwater in the Anacostia River and Rock Creek watersheds in Washington, D.C., 2005 and 2008
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the District Department of the Environment, conducted a groundwater-quality investigation to (a) determine the presence, concentrations, and distribution of selected pesticides in groundwater, and (b) assess the presence of pesticides in groundwater in relation to selected landscape, hydrogeologic, and groundwater-quality characteristics in thAuthorsMichael T. Koterba, Cheryl A. Dieter, Cherie V. MillerWater Quality in the Upper Anacostia River, Maryland: Continuous and Discrete Monitoring with Simulations to Estimate Concentrations and Yields, 2003-05
From 2003 through 2005, continuous and discrete waterquality data were collected at two stations on the Anacostia River in Maryland: Northeast Branch at Riverdale, Maryland (U.S. Geological Survey Station 01649500) and Northwest Branch near Hyattsville, Maryland (Station 01651000). Both stations are above the heads of tide for the river, and measurements approximately represent contributions of chAuthorsCherie V. Miller, Angelica L. Gutierrez-Magness, Brenda L. Feit Majedi, Gregory D. FosterChemical and Ecological Health of White Sucker (Catostomus Commersoni) in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C., 2003-04
Several classes of chemicals that are known or suspected contaminants were found in bed sediment in Rock Creek, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate esters, organochlorine pesticides, dioxins and furans, trace metals and metalloids (mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel, silver, and zinc), and polychlorinated biphenyls (total PCBs and selected aroclors)AuthorsCherie V. Miller, Holly S. Weyers, Vicki Blazer, Mary E. FreemanGround-water contamination from lead shot at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Sussex County, Delaware
Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge is located in southeastern Delaware in coastal lowlands along the margin of Delaware Bay. For 37 years, the Broadkiln Sportsman?s Club adjacent to the refuge operated a trap-shooting range, with the clay-target launchers oriented so that the expended lead shot from the range dropped into forested wetland areas on the refuge property. Investigators have estimatedAuthorsDaniel J. Soeder, Cherie V. MillerSummary of water- and sediment-quality data for Anacostia River well sites sampled in July-August 2002
This data report is a summary of chemical analyses conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey on ground water and sediment in the tidal Anacostia River watershed, Washington, D.C. during July-August 2002. Cores were drilled and wells were established at three shoreline sites: two wells at the New York Avenue overpass, two wells at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, and one well at Anacostia Park. AdditiAuthorsCherie V. Miller, Cheryl A. KloheBaseflow and stormflow metal fluxes from two small agricultural catchments in the Coastal Plain of the Chesapeake Bay Basin, United States
Annual yields (fluxes per unit area) of Al, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, Co, As and Se were estimated for two small non-tidal stream catchments on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, United States - a poorly drained dissected-upland watershed in the Nanticoke River Basin, and a well-drained feeder tributary in the lower reaches of the Chester River Basin. Both watersheds are dominated by aAuthorsC.V. Miller, G.D. Foster, B.F. MajediWater quality, sediment quality, and stream-channel classification of Rock Creek, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000
Rock Creek Park is within the National Capital Region in Washington, D.C., and is maintained by the National Park Service. Part of Montgomery County, Maryland, and part of the District of Columbia drain into Rock Creek, which is a tributary of the Potomac River. Water quality in Rock Creek is important to biotic life in and near the creek, and in the Potomac River Basin and the Chesapeake Bay. TheAuthorsAnita L. Anderson, Cherie V. Miller, Lisa D. Olsen, Edward J. Doheny, Daniel J. PhelanReconstructing the rise of recent coastal anoxia; molybdenum in Chesapeake Bay sediments
Sporadic, direct observations over a 50 yr period inadequately characterize the history of seasonal hypoxia and anoxia in Chesapeake Bay, alarge estuary threatened by eutrophication. Here, we undertake a reconstruction of 20th century oxygen depletion in this estuary using Mo concentrations in 210Pb-dated sediments; Cu concentrations are used to control for anthropogenic influences. Cores from theAuthorsJ.M. Adelson, G.R. Helz, C.V. MillerOsmium isotopes demonstrate distal transport of contaminated sediments in Chesapeake Bay
Because the isotopic composition of anthropogenic Os is normally distinctive in comparison to continental crust and is precisely measurable, this platinum-group element is attractive as a tracer of transport pathways for contaminated sediments in estuaries. Evidence herein and elsewhere suggest that biomedical research institutions are the chief source of anthropogenic Os. In the Chesapeake Bay reAuthorsG.R. Helz, J.M. Adelson, C.V. Miller, J.C. Cornwell, J. M. Hill, M. Horan, R.J. Walker