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Laura DeCicco

Laura DeCicco is a Civil Engineer with the Upper Midwest Water Science Center.

Professional Experience

  • 2019 - present, Upper Midwest Water Science Center (UMid WSC)

  • 2018 - 2019, Integrated Information Dissemination Division (IIDD), Data Science Branch

  • 2014 - 2018, Office of Water Information (OWI)

  • 2010 - 2014, Center for Integrated Data Analytics (CIDA)

Education and Certifications

  • Professional Engineer, State of Wisconsin, 2011

    (Formally Laura Kranendonk)

  • Post Doc, Oak Ridge National Lab, 2007-2009

  • Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering - University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2006

  • M.S. Biomedical Engineering - University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2001

  • B.S. Mechanical Engineering - University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1999

Science and Products

USGS

Is it me or the Water Quality Portal? Providing real-time download reliability metrics to users

A dashboard demonstrating download reliability metrics for water quality data users
By
Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Is it me or the Water Quality Portal? Providing real-time download reliability metrics to users

Is it me or the Water Quality Portal? Providing real-time download reliability metrics to users

A dashboard demonstrating download reliability metrics for water quality data users
Learn More
USGS

Bridging the learning gap in the R computing environment using Water-Quality Data

Educational opportunity to learn water-quality plotting techniques in R and add functionality to Water-Quality Graphs
By
Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Bridging the learning gap in the R computing environment using Water-Quality Data

Bridging the learning gap in the R computing environment using Water-Quality Data

Educational opportunity to learn water-quality plotting techniques in R and add functionality to Water-Quality Graphs
Learn More
USGS

A National Tool for Graphing and Synthesizing Continuous and Discrete Water-Quality Data

Provide synthesis of water quality data to better understand the Nation’s water resources
By
Community for Data Integration (CDI)
A National Tool for Graphing and Synthesizing Continuous and Discrete Water-Quality Data

A National Tool for Graphing and Synthesizing Continuous and Discrete Water-Quality Data

Provide synthesis of water quality data to better understand the Nation’s water resources
Learn More
Photo of a snow plow with a load of road salt

Evaluating chloride trends due to road-salt use and its impacts on water quality and aquatic organisms

Chloride, a key component of road salt, is soluble, highly mobile in water, and, at high concentrations, can be toxic to aquatic vegetation and wildlife. USGS scientists have been analyzing temporal, seasonal, and environmental trends in chloride concentrations across the U.S. to determine the effects that road salt may be having on water quality and aquatic organisms.
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center
Evaluating chloride trends due to road-salt use and its impacts on water quality and aquatic organisms

Evaluating chloride trends due to road-salt use and its impacts on water quality and aquatic organisms

Chloride, a key component of road salt, is soluble, highly mobile in water, and, at high concentrations, can be toxic to aquatic vegetation and wildlife. USGS scientists have been analyzing temporal, seasonal, and environmental trends in chloride concentrations across the U.S. to determine the effects that road salt may be having on water quality and aquatic organisms.
Learn More

EGRET EGRET

An R-package for the analysis of long-term changes in water quality and streamflow, including the water-quality method Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS).
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center

dataRetrieval dataRetrieval

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed an R package called dataRetrieval to help simplify the process of discovering and retrieving water quality sample data, streamflow, groundwater, and other data available from Federal hydrologic web services such as National Water Information Systems (NWIS), the EPA Water Quality Exchange (WQX) System, and the National Hydrologic Dataset via the...
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Select optical signals from water samples collected on the Menomonee River, Underwood Creek, and Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility from 2017-2019, and time-series optical sensor and one-hour mean streamflow data from the Menomonee River 2017-2018 Select optical signals from water samples collected on the Menomonee River, Underwood Creek, and Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility from 2017-2019, and time-series optical sensor and one-hour mean streamflow data from the Menomonee River 2017-2018

5-day composite river water samples were collected from two sites: Menomonee River (U.S. Geological Survey station number 04087142) and Underwood Creek (U.S. Geological Survey station number 04087088) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 5-day composite wastewater (raw sewage) influent samples were also collected from the Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility (U.S. Geological Survey station number
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

HASP HASP

The Hydrologic Analysis Package (HASP) can retrieve groundwater level and groundwater quality data, aggregate these data, plot them, and generate basic statistics. One of the benefits of HASP is its ability to aggregate two time-series of data into one record and generate statistics and graphics on hat record. By merging two data sets together, users can view and manipulate a much longer...
By
Water Resources Mission Area

wqReport wqReport

This is an R-package designed to create water-quality reports for either U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wildlife refuge boundaries, or user-specified Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) boundaries (8 or 10 digit HUC services are available). Functions are included to take the user's geographical request, and find the sites that measure water-quality parameters, and retrieve that data. A...
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center

ToxMixtures: A package to explore toxicity due to chemical mixtures ToxMixtures: A package to explore toxicity due to chemical mixtures

The ToxMixtures R-package includes a set of functions to analyze, visualize, and organize measured chemical concentration data as it relates to chemical mixtures. ToxMixtures combines outputs from the R-package toxEval with open access sources on molecular biology to provide information on potential biological effects of chemicals detected in environmental matrices. To use ToxMixtures...
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center
Filter Total Items: 25

Advancing an adaptable and practical framework to address water quality challenges in a changing world Advancing an adaptable and practical framework to address water quality challenges in a changing world

As water-quality challenges intensify, the widely used Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) method offers an adaptable and practical framework for global water-quality science and management.
Authors
Qian Zhang, Robert M. Hirsch, Laura DeCicco, Jennifer C. Murphy
By
Central Midwest Water Science Center

Leveraging invasive mussel contaminant survey data for stepwise prioritization of chemicals of potential concern in the Great Lakes basin Leveraging invasive mussel contaminant survey data for stepwise prioritization of chemicals of potential concern in the Great Lakes basin

Historical and ongoing anthropogenic activities coupled with advancements in analytical techniques have led to the detection of large numbers of contaminants in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Consequently, identifying and prioritizing chemicals likely to cause ecological harm represents a challenge for natural resource managers. Previous prioritization efforts have focused on contaminants...
Authors
Neil Fuller, Kimani Kimbrough, Michael Edwards, Erin Maloney, Steven R. Corsi, Matthew A. Pronschinske, Laura DeCicco, John R. Frisch, Austin K. Baldwin, Stephanie L. Hummel, Natalia Vinas, Daniel L. Villeneuve
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Application of transcriptomics concentration-response modeling for prioritization of contaminants detected in tributaries of the North American Great Lakes Application of transcriptomics concentration-response modeling for prioritization of contaminants detected in tributaries of the North American Great Lakes

As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, chemical monitoring and surveillance efforts have detected approximately 330 chemicals in surface water of Great Lakes tributaries. There were 140 chemicals for which no empirical toxicity data were available. The aim of this study was to generate transcriptomic points of departure (tPODs) for 10 of these compounds and demonstrate how...
Authors
Jenna Cavallin, Kendra Bush, Steven R. Corsi, Laura DeCicco, Kevin Flynn, Alex Kasparek, Monique Hazimi, Erin Maloney, Peter Schuman, Daniel Villeneuve
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Derivation and characterization of environmental hazard concentrations for chemical prioritization: A case study in the Great Lakes tributaries Derivation and characterization of environmental hazard concentrations for chemical prioritization: A case study in the Great Lakes tributaries

Ongoing anthropogenic activities and analytical advancements yield continuously expanding lists of environmental contaminants. This represents a challenge to environmental managers, who must prioritize chemicals for management actions (e.g., restriction, regulation, remediation) but are often hindered by resource limitations. To help facilitate prioritization efforts, this study presents...
Authors
Erin M. Maloney, Steven R. Corsi, Matthew A. Pronschinske, Laura A. DeCicco, Michelle A. Nott, John R. Frisch, Neil W. Fuller, Austin K. Baldwin, Kimani Kimbrough, Michael Edwards, Stephanie L. Hummel, Natalia Vinas, Daniel L. Villeneuve
By
Idaho Water Science Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Reproducibility starts at the source: R, Python, and Julia Packages for retrieving USGS hydrologic data Reproducibility starts at the source: R, Python, and Julia Packages for retrieving USGS hydrologic data

Much of modern science takes place in a computational environment, and, increasingly, that environment is programmed using R, Python, or Julia. Furthermore, most scientific data now live on the cloud, so the first step in many workflows is to query a cloud database and load the response into a computational environment for further analysis. Thus, tools that facilitate programmatic data...
Authors
Timothy O. Hodson, Laura A. DeCicco, Jayaram Athreya Hariharan, Lee Stanish, Scott Black, J. S. Horsburgh
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Central Midwest Water Science Center

Changes in chemical occurrence, concentration, and bioactivity in the Colorado River before and after replacement of the Moab, Utah wastewater treatment plant Changes in chemical occurrence, concentration, and bioactivity in the Colorado River before and after replacement of the Moab, Utah wastewater treatment plant

Long-term (2010–19) water-quality monitoring on the Colorado River downstream from Moab Utah indicated the persistent presence of Bioactive Chemicals (BC), such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals. This stream reach near Canyonlands National Park provides critical habitat for federally endangered species. The Moab wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outfall discharges to the Colorado River...
Authors
William A. Battaglin, Paul M. Bradley, Rebbecca Weissinger, Brett R. Blackwell, Jenna E. Cavallin, Daniel L. Villeneuve, Laura A. DeCicco, Julie Kinsey
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center

toxEval 4.1 toxEval 4.1

The toxEval R-package includes a set of functions to analyze, visualize, and organize measured concentration data as it relates to https://www.epa.gov/comptox-tools/toxicity-forecasting-toxcast or other user-selected chemical-biological interaction benchmark data such as water quality criteria. The intent of these analyses is to develop a better understanding of the potential biological...
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

WRTDSplus: Extensions to the WRTDS method. WRTDSplus: Extensions to the WRTDS method.

For some sites and constituents the three dimensions of the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) model do not capture all the important aspects of water quality variability. For example, in some locations hysteresis or antecedent flow conditions are important influences on water quality concentration and loads. In other places, daily flow is less predictive than...
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

EGRET EGRET

An R-package for the analysis of long-term changes in water quality and streamflow, including the water-quality method Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS).
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

dataRetrieval dataRetrieval

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed an R package called dataRetrieval to help simplify the process of discovering and retrieving water quality sample data, streamflow, groundwater, and other data available from Federal hydrologic web services such as National Water Information Systems (NWIS), the EPA Water Quality Exchange (WQX) System, and the National Hydrologic Dataset via the...
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

HASP HASP

The Hydrologic Analysis Package (HASP) can retrieve groundwater level and groundwater quality data, aggregate these data, plot them, and generate basic statistics. One of the benefits of HASP is its ability to aggregate two time-series of data into one record and generate statistics and graphics on hat record. By merging two data sets together, users can view and manipulate a much longer...
By
Water Resources Mission Area

wqReport wqReport

This is an R-package designed to create water-quality reports for either U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wildlife refuge boundaries, or user-specified Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) boundaries (8 or 10 digit HUC services are available). Functions are included to take the user's geographical request, and find the sites that measure water-quality parameters, and retrieve that data. A...
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Science and Products

USGS

Is it me or the Water Quality Portal? Providing real-time download reliability metrics to users

A dashboard demonstrating download reliability metrics for water quality data users
By
Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Is it me or the Water Quality Portal? Providing real-time download reliability metrics to users

Is it me or the Water Quality Portal? Providing real-time download reliability metrics to users

A dashboard demonstrating download reliability metrics for water quality data users
Learn More
USGS

Bridging the learning gap in the R computing environment using Water-Quality Data

Educational opportunity to learn water-quality plotting techniques in R and add functionality to Water-Quality Graphs
By
Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Bridging the learning gap in the R computing environment using Water-Quality Data

Bridging the learning gap in the R computing environment using Water-Quality Data

Educational opportunity to learn water-quality plotting techniques in R and add functionality to Water-Quality Graphs
Learn More
USGS

A National Tool for Graphing and Synthesizing Continuous and Discrete Water-Quality Data

Provide synthesis of water quality data to better understand the Nation’s water resources
By
Community for Data Integration (CDI)
A National Tool for Graphing and Synthesizing Continuous and Discrete Water-Quality Data

A National Tool for Graphing and Synthesizing Continuous and Discrete Water-Quality Data

Provide synthesis of water quality data to better understand the Nation’s water resources
Learn More
Photo of a snow plow with a load of road salt

Evaluating chloride trends due to road-salt use and its impacts on water quality and aquatic organisms

Chloride, a key component of road salt, is soluble, highly mobile in water, and, at high concentrations, can be toxic to aquatic vegetation and wildlife. USGS scientists have been analyzing temporal, seasonal, and environmental trends in chloride concentrations across the U.S. to determine the effects that road salt may be having on water quality and aquatic organisms.
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center
Evaluating chloride trends due to road-salt use and its impacts on water quality and aquatic organisms

Evaluating chloride trends due to road-salt use and its impacts on water quality and aquatic organisms

Chloride, a key component of road salt, is soluble, highly mobile in water, and, at high concentrations, can be toxic to aquatic vegetation and wildlife. USGS scientists have been analyzing temporal, seasonal, and environmental trends in chloride concentrations across the U.S. to determine the effects that road salt may be having on water quality and aquatic organisms.
Learn More

EGRET EGRET

An R-package for the analysis of long-term changes in water quality and streamflow, including the water-quality method Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS).
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center

dataRetrieval dataRetrieval

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed an R package called dataRetrieval to help simplify the process of discovering and retrieving water quality sample data, streamflow, groundwater, and other data available from Federal hydrologic web services such as National Water Information Systems (NWIS), the EPA Water Quality Exchange (WQX) System, and the National Hydrologic Dataset via the...
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Select optical signals from water samples collected on the Menomonee River, Underwood Creek, and Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility from 2017-2019, and time-series optical sensor and one-hour mean streamflow data from the Menomonee River 2017-2018 Select optical signals from water samples collected on the Menomonee River, Underwood Creek, and Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility from 2017-2019, and time-series optical sensor and one-hour mean streamflow data from the Menomonee River 2017-2018

5-day composite river water samples were collected from two sites: Menomonee River (U.S. Geological Survey station number 04087142) and Underwood Creek (U.S. Geological Survey station number 04087088) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 5-day composite wastewater (raw sewage) influent samples were also collected from the Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility (U.S. Geological Survey station number
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

HASP HASP

The Hydrologic Analysis Package (HASP) can retrieve groundwater level and groundwater quality data, aggregate these data, plot them, and generate basic statistics. One of the benefits of HASP is its ability to aggregate two time-series of data into one record and generate statistics and graphics on hat record. By merging two data sets together, users can view and manipulate a much longer...
By
Water Resources Mission Area

wqReport wqReport

This is an R-package designed to create water-quality reports for either U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wildlife refuge boundaries, or user-specified Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) boundaries (8 or 10 digit HUC services are available). Functions are included to take the user's geographical request, and find the sites that measure water-quality parameters, and retrieve that data. A...
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center

ToxMixtures: A package to explore toxicity due to chemical mixtures ToxMixtures: A package to explore toxicity due to chemical mixtures

The ToxMixtures R-package includes a set of functions to analyze, visualize, and organize measured chemical concentration data as it relates to chemical mixtures. ToxMixtures combines outputs from the R-package toxEval with open access sources on molecular biology to provide information on potential biological effects of chemicals detected in environmental matrices. To use ToxMixtures...
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center
Filter Total Items: 25

Advancing an adaptable and practical framework to address water quality challenges in a changing world Advancing an adaptable and practical framework to address water quality challenges in a changing world

As water-quality challenges intensify, the widely used Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) method offers an adaptable and practical framework for global water-quality science and management.
Authors
Qian Zhang, Robert M. Hirsch, Laura DeCicco, Jennifer C. Murphy
By
Central Midwest Water Science Center

Leveraging invasive mussel contaminant survey data for stepwise prioritization of chemicals of potential concern in the Great Lakes basin Leveraging invasive mussel contaminant survey data for stepwise prioritization of chemicals of potential concern in the Great Lakes basin

Historical and ongoing anthropogenic activities coupled with advancements in analytical techniques have led to the detection of large numbers of contaminants in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Consequently, identifying and prioritizing chemicals likely to cause ecological harm represents a challenge for natural resource managers. Previous prioritization efforts have focused on contaminants...
Authors
Neil Fuller, Kimani Kimbrough, Michael Edwards, Erin Maloney, Steven R. Corsi, Matthew A. Pronschinske, Laura DeCicco, John R. Frisch, Austin K. Baldwin, Stephanie L. Hummel, Natalia Vinas, Daniel L. Villeneuve
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Application of transcriptomics concentration-response modeling for prioritization of contaminants detected in tributaries of the North American Great Lakes Application of transcriptomics concentration-response modeling for prioritization of contaminants detected in tributaries of the North American Great Lakes

As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, chemical monitoring and surveillance efforts have detected approximately 330 chemicals in surface water of Great Lakes tributaries. There were 140 chemicals for which no empirical toxicity data were available. The aim of this study was to generate transcriptomic points of departure (tPODs) for 10 of these compounds and demonstrate how...
Authors
Jenna Cavallin, Kendra Bush, Steven R. Corsi, Laura DeCicco, Kevin Flynn, Alex Kasparek, Monique Hazimi, Erin Maloney, Peter Schuman, Daniel Villeneuve
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Derivation and characterization of environmental hazard concentrations for chemical prioritization: A case study in the Great Lakes tributaries Derivation and characterization of environmental hazard concentrations for chemical prioritization: A case study in the Great Lakes tributaries

Ongoing anthropogenic activities and analytical advancements yield continuously expanding lists of environmental contaminants. This represents a challenge to environmental managers, who must prioritize chemicals for management actions (e.g., restriction, regulation, remediation) but are often hindered by resource limitations. To help facilitate prioritization efforts, this study presents...
Authors
Erin M. Maloney, Steven R. Corsi, Matthew A. Pronschinske, Laura A. DeCicco, Michelle A. Nott, John R. Frisch, Neil W. Fuller, Austin K. Baldwin, Kimani Kimbrough, Michael Edwards, Stephanie L. Hummel, Natalia Vinas, Daniel L. Villeneuve
By
Idaho Water Science Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Reproducibility starts at the source: R, Python, and Julia Packages for retrieving USGS hydrologic data Reproducibility starts at the source: R, Python, and Julia Packages for retrieving USGS hydrologic data

Much of modern science takes place in a computational environment, and, increasingly, that environment is programmed using R, Python, or Julia. Furthermore, most scientific data now live on the cloud, so the first step in many workflows is to query a cloud database and load the response into a computational environment for further analysis. Thus, tools that facilitate programmatic data...
Authors
Timothy O. Hodson, Laura A. DeCicco, Jayaram Athreya Hariharan, Lee Stanish, Scott Black, J. S. Horsburgh
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Central Midwest Water Science Center

Changes in chemical occurrence, concentration, and bioactivity in the Colorado River before and after replacement of the Moab, Utah wastewater treatment plant Changes in chemical occurrence, concentration, and bioactivity in the Colorado River before and after replacement of the Moab, Utah wastewater treatment plant

Long-term (2010–19) water-quality monitoring on the Colorado River downstream from Moab Utah indicated the persistent presence of Bioactive Chemicals (BC), such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals. This stream reach near Canyonlands National Park provides critical habitat for federally endangered species. The Moab wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outfall discharges to the Colorado River...
Authors
William A. Battaglin, Paul M. Bradley, Rebbecca Weissinger, Brett R. Blackwell, Jenna E. Cavallin, Daniel L. Villeneuve, Laura A. DeCicco, Julie Kinsey
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center

toxEval 4.1 toxEval 4.1

The toxEval R-package includes a set of functions to analyze, visualize, and organize measured concentration data as it relates to https://www.epa.gov/comptox-tools/toxicity-forecasting-toxcast or other user-selected chemical-biological interaction benchmark data such as water quality criteria. The intent of these analyses is to develop a better understanding of the potential biological...
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

WRTDSplus: Extensions to the WRTDS method. WRTDSplus: Extensions to the WRTDS method.

For some sites and constituents the three dimensions of the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) model do not capture all the important aspects of water quality variability. For example, in some locations hysteresis or antecedent flow conditions are important influences on water quality concentration and loads. In other places, daily flow is less predictive than...
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

EGRET EGRET

An R-package for the analysis of long-term changes in water quality and streamflow, including the water-quality method Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS).
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

dataRetrieval dataRetrieval

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed an R package called dataRetrieval to help simplify the process of discovering and retrieving water quality sample data, streamflow, groundwater, and other data available from Federal hydrologic web services such as National Water Information Systems (NWIS), the EPA Water Quality Exchange (WQX) System, and the National Hydrologic Dataset via the...
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

HASP HASP

The Hydrologic Analysis Package (HASP) can retrieve groundwater level and groundwater quality data, aggregate these data, plot them, and generate basic statistics. One of the benefits of HASP is its ability to aggregate two time-series of data into one record and generate statistics and graphics on hat record. By merging two data sets together, users can view and manipulate a much longer...
By
Water Resources Mission Area

wqReport wqReport

This is an R-package designed to create water-quality reports for either U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wildlife refuge boundaries, or user-specified Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) boundaries (8 or 10 digit HUC services are available). Functions are included to take the user's geographical request, and find the sites that measure water-quality parameters, and retrieve that data. A...
By
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center
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