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KEEP Advisory Committee
Joanna Blubaugh
Joanna Mervar-Blubaugh is a city commissioner in Oakland, Kentucky. Ms. Blubaugh graduated from St. Mary's Academy in Indianapolis in 1967. She studied Fine Arts in college before marrying John Blubaugh in 1974. She and her husband have two children and one grandson. Joanna and John have actively opposed the Transpark since 1998.
John E. Blubaugh
John and his wife Joanna reside in Oakland, Kentucky near the site of the proposed Kentucky TriModal Transpark. He is active in the battle to stop the Transpark because he believes it to be environmentally and fiscally irresponsible.
John holds a BSc in Art Education at Ball State University in 1972. He also did Masters work in Art Education, and spent one year as a graduate assistant working as an art gallery and museum technician. He has been a public schoolteacher in Alaska, and has taught at the University of Alaska. He was employed as Art Director and Design Consultant for Jostens Printing and Publishing/Yearbooks from 1978-83, and was Design Consultant/Sales Representative for Herff Jones Yearbooks from 1984-87. Currently, he is proprietor of Shobe House Antiques.
Roger W. Brucker
Roger Brucker is one of the world's most respected figures in the field of speleology. As a principal explorer of Mammoth Cave for more than 50 years, he has been responsible for helping to expand the world's longest cave to its present known length of 365 miles.
Mr. Brucker is co-founder and past president of the Cave Research Foundation (CRF), an internationally known organization of scientists dedicated to the study and protection of caves on federal lands. He is a Fellow of the National Speleological Society, and has taught a speleology course at Mammoth Cave National Park for Western Kentucky University's Center for Cave and Karst Studies for more than 20 years.
Mr. Brucker has co-authored four critically-acclaimed books on caves: "The Longest Cave," "The Caves Beyond," "Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins," and "Beyond Mammoth Cave: A Tale of Obsession in the World's Longest Cave." He has consulted for the National Geographic Society, and has written and published many scientific papers related to speleology.
Mr. Brucker is active in Karst Environmental Education and Protection (KEEP) because he is convinced that the Kentucky TriModal Transpark poses an environmental threat to Mammoth Cave.
Mr. Brucker holds a BA in the Practice of Art from Oberlin College. He served in the U.S. Air Force, and is a retired marketing consultant. He resides in Beavercreek, Ohio.
Robin L. Cooper, Ph.D.
Dr. Robin Cooper is Associate Professor at the prestigious Thomas Hunt Morgan School of Biological Sciences at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. His courses include Intro to Speleobiology and Comparative Physiology.
Dr.Cooper has a Ph.D. in Physiology and a BSc in Chemistry and Zoology from the Texas Tech University School of Medicine. He has published numerous research papers involving the biology of blind cave crayfish and their reactions to various environmental influences. He is active with the Sloan's Valley Conservation Task Force, a group dedicated to studying and protecting the Sloan's Valley Cave System in Pulaski County, Kentucky. In that capacity, he is studying the effects of agricultural pollutants and runoff from county landfills on cave biology.
Patricia Kambesis
Pat was active in the discovery, exploration and survey of Lechuguilla Cave, and co-authored a book about it. She serves as chief cartographer for the China Caves Project, a joint exchange program between the Cave Research Foundation, Hoffman Environmental Research Institute, Karst Institute of China, and Guyang Normal University.
Pat is past president and a current board member of the Cave Research Foundation. She has written articles and created cave maps for a variety of publications, and has won many awards for her work involving caves. She is a Fellow of both the National Speleological Society and the Cave Research Foundation.
Pat has a Bachelors Degree in geology and biology, and is currently working on her Masters Degree in geology at Western Kentucky University. She is active in Karst Environmental Education and Protection because she believes in the protection and conservation of Central Kentucky karst.
Kenneth Kuehn, Ph.D.
Dr. Kuehn resides in Bowling Green, KY, where he is Geology and Geology Programs Coordinator at Western Kentucky University (WKU). He was recently named University Distinguished Professor, WKU's highest academic honor. (See echo - August 2002 - A Distinguished Approach http://www.wku.edu/echo/archive/2002August/stories/kuehn.htm)
Dr. Kuehn also serves as Assistant to the Dean in WKU's Ogden College of Science and Engineering. He earned his academic degrees in Geology from Juniata College (BSc) and Penn State University (MSc, PhD). He previously worked for Shell Oil, Penn State University, and the University of Tennessee before joining the WKU faculty in 1984.
Dr. Kuehn's research interests include aspects of environmental geology, paleoclimatology, and the geology of fossil fuels. He has helped advise students on 23 MSc thesis committees primarily in areas of karst hydrogeology and related environmental topics. He has developed and led numerous professional and student field trips in the Mammoth Cave region.
Dr. Kuehn has been recognized for his active leadership roles in advancing the profession of Geology. Working as organizer of numerous professional meetings and events, as elected officer in state and international organizations, and as teaching professor, he was also instrumental in establishing the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists, the Commonwealth's premier professional organization in Geology.
Dr. Kuehn received the Ogden College Teaching Award (1990), a Distinguished Service Award from the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists (1997), and the Ogden College Public Service Award (1999).
He is an active member of professional societies on the international, national, and state levels including, The Society for Organic Petrology(TSOP), Geological Society of America(GSA), Karst Environmental Education and Protection(KEEP), Kentucky Academy of Science(KAS), and the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists(KSPG).
Hilary A.B. Lambert, Ph.D.
Dr. Lambert has written scientific articles for several publications, in addition to co-authoring a college textbook on the geography of natural resource use. She has served as editor of FOCUS, the quarterly magazine of The American Geographical Society.
Dr. Lambert has been involved in cave study and exploration for more than 20 years. She is a founding member of the Sloan's Valley Conservation Task Force of the National Speleological Society (NSS). She is also active with the Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club. She works full time as Associate Director of the Kentucky Waterways Alliance.
Michael T. May, Ph.D.
Dr. Michael May is a professional geologist and professor at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. He specializes in sedimentary geology and environmental geology, with a broad background in carbonates (limestone and similar rocks) and siliciclastics (quartz or silica dominated sedimentary rocks) including depositional environments, diagenesis (chemical changes) and tectonic, geomorphic and climatic influences on sedimenation.
Prior to joining at WKU in 1996, Dr. May spent five years in operations, production and oil exploration at two major oil companies. He has worked in hydrogeology and environmental consulting. He is versed in computer applications in hydrogeology and geology, along with experience with scanning electron microscopes, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, electron microprobe, photo ionization detection, atomic absorption, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and environmental field sampling and hydrological testing.
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