Meet A Member: Bruce Frederick
A Green Business Network Member Spotlight
Meet Bruce Frederick, a professional geologist who joined the Green Business Network in August. We recently chatted with Bruce to learn more about his business, Frederick Geosciences, LLC, his ongoing research on sedimentary basins, and what spurred his interest in the environment.
With more than 23 years of experience in geology/geophysics and environmental consulting, Bruce Frederick is happy to have recently settled in the Kansas City area to grow his own business and make connections with others in the environmental community.
His company, Frederick Geosciences, LLC, offers environmental consulting and project management, exploration resource evaluation, and litigation support to clients in the environmental, energy and legal sectors.
Currently, Bruce’s main business focus provides environmental impact assessment and litigation support for real estate/Brownfield developers and industrial facilities who desire detailed environmental liability assessments of potentially impacted facilities prior to sale or acquisition. Bruce says he enjoys self-employment because of the sustainability benefits it offers. “One of the things that I enjoy about managing a small business is that both my carbon footprint and overhead are substantially minimized to the mutual benefit of both our clientele and the local environment.”
When not actively building his consulting practice, Bruce can be found actively engaged in both collegiate education and research. With adjunct professor and researcher appointments at Johnson County Community College and the University of Kansas, respectively, Bruce stays engaged in primary sedimentological/paleoclimatological research projects and pays forward his active pedagogical enthusiasm to the next generation of geoscientists. Bruce has published numerous geological and geophysical research articles on subjects ranging from Antarctic subglacial sedimentary basin character and distribution to the inherent subsidence rates (or the fluctuations in Earth’s surface elevation in response to natural and potential anthropogenic impacts) of the Lower Mississippi Delta region over time periods spanning hundreds to millions of years.
“Deltas naturally and consistently subside, or sink, and they require more sediment to maintain their elevation above sea level. Communities that are built on the surrounding floodplains have long desired to control river flooding, prompting state and federal authorities to build levees, which funnels river sediment transport directly to the ocean instead of the floodplains where the sediment is most needed to combat natural sediment compaction, lithospheric flexure, and growth fault movement.”
He says their research can hopefully be used to establish a baseline constraint for normal background subsidence rates versus those that may be exacerbated by anthropogenic activities and development. With an increasing number of major cities and communities worldwide facing the exacerbated effects of relative sea level rise (stemming from both global sea level rise and more local/regional surface elevation change), Bruce’s research aims to facilitate engineered solutions grounded in quantitative science.
Bruce’s passion for this research started at an early age, and it spurred his interest in building a career centered around the environment.
“I had the amazing blessing of growing up on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. My father was a maritime engineer working for an oil refinery there, and I spent my childhood since the age of three hiking, sailing, and scuba diving this small island in the Lesser Antilles before returning to the US for college. My penchant for entrepreneurship and history (if not geological history) probably stems from my mother’s precedent of running her own historical tour company on the island. I remember joining her and her tourist clientele on “ruins rambles” where we would hike up to old Danish sugar plantation ruins on St. Croix and learn about the history and heritage of a number of island estates. It was fascinating stuff.”
“It’s hard to grow up in a location like that and not have an appreciation for the environment.”
Combining his skills and love for the environment in order to give back to his local community is something that’s important to Bruce. “While working at KU and living in Lawrence, I was part of a group called Jayhawks Breaking Barriers that was focused on providing early collegiate mentorship to young women and disadvantaged youth in the STEM disciplines. We worked with local area businesses to provide internship and counseling opportunities specifically for young women in STEM fields as they started their academic careers.”
After moving this past year from Lawrence to Prairie Village, Bruce discovered Bridging The Gap’s Green Business Network program and joined as a member. “I wanted to find a way to give back here in the Kansas City community, not only leveraging my expertise, but also doing something to contribute to a greater good.”
Bruce says he’s happy to help his fellow GBN members. “If people have questions about soil or groundwater remediation or regional environmental or scientific litigation issues, please do not hesitate to send me an email or give me a call. I’d be happy to collaborate with GBN members in support of their environmental goals or simply to answer questions relevant to my area of expertise.”
To contact Bruce: bruce@frederickgeosciences.com or (512) 585-6427
