Dr Louise Fletcher

Position

Lecturer in Environmental Engineering

Responsibilities

Module Leader - CIVE1706 Integrated Design Project
Module leader - CIVE5563 Environment and Health Management
First and Second Year Tutor
Personal Tutor - All years
School of Civil Engineering Academic Safety Coordinator
Chair of the University Biological Safety Committee (Non-Bio areas)
Leader of the Level 1 Industrial Tutors Scheme

Academic Background

BSc (Hons) in Geography, Huddersfield Polytechnic, 1989
MSc Environmental Pollution Control, University of Leeds, 1990
PhD "Biological Nitrogen Removal from High Strength Wastewaters", University of Leeds, 1998

Employment Background

1989 Sampling Officer, Yorkshire Water
1990 - 1993 Research Technician, School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds - working on a SERC funded project looking at the microbiology of activated sludge.
1993 - 1996 Research Assistant, School of Civil Engineeing, University of Leeds - working on a range of research projects funded by industry (North West Water & Biwater UK) and the DTI lookig nat the biological treatment of industrial wastewater.
1996 - 2001 Research Fellow, University of Leeds Innovations Ltd - initially as a consultant on a range of small projects for industrial clients followed by three years as a researcher on a large ENTRUST Landfill tax Credit funded projects on green waste ccomposting.
2001 - 2011 - Research Fellow, School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds - part of the Pathogen Control Engineering Research Group, primarily funded through EPSRC looking at the use of engineering solutions for the control of hospital acquired infections.
2011 - Present - Lecturer in Environmental Engineering

Research activities

My research interests encompass a range of different areas within the fields of microbiology and aerobiology. At present my interests lie primarily in the field of aerobiology with particular emphasis on the control of pathogens in clinical environments. I am also interested in the aerobiological aspects of waste treatment and disposal with the focus being the generation and dispersal of bacterial and fungal pathogens during composting.

 Current Research Projects:
Sniffer - Understanding Biofilter Performance and Determining Emission Concentrations ubnder Operational Conditions. 

This research project was commissioned by Sniffer on behalf of the UK environmental agencies and was carried out by a team led by myself at the University of Leeds in partnership with Odournet UK. The overall objective was to determine the extent to which abatement methods incorporating either open or enclosed biofilters reduce both bioaerosols and odour enmissions from enclosed biowaste treatement operations. A total of 8 enclosed biowaste sites have been sampled and sim,ultaneous odour and bioaerosol samples collected from the inlets and outlets of the biofilters. Samples have been analysed fro odour, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, VOCs, Aspergillus fumigatus, total bacteria and gram negative bacteria. The results will be used to determine the performance of the different abatement systems and impact of key design, operating and maintenance parameters on performance. The information will then be used to provide the UK environmental agencies with a recommendation for the Best Available Technology (BAT) for biofilters. 

EU LIFE project – CONDENSE – The Condense Managing System – Production of Novel Fertilisers from Manure and Olive Mill Wastewater

The research involves evaluating the performance of fertilisers made from organic wastes using pot and field trials on a range of crops appropriate to Northern Europe and determining whether the fertiliser will be accepted as a replacement for inorganic fertilisers by farmers. The nutrient levels of the fertilisers will be enhanced through composting and solar drying. The LIFE project is being led by Greek partners who have a particular problem with wastes from farm animals and the processing of olives. The intention is to produce an organic fertiliser with enhanced levels of N, P and K which will compete with inorganic fertilisers currently on the market. The fertiliser must not only have the nutrient levels required by the farmers but it also be in a form which is acceptable to farmers for application to conventional crops.

EU FP7 Project – FERTIPLUS – Reducing Mineral fertilise4 and Agro-chemicals by Recycling Treated Organic Waste as Compost and Bio-char products.

The research will identify urban and farm organic wastes that can be used to recycle nutrients into agriculture as biochar, compost or combinations of them. It will assess and use this potential and contribute to sustainable crop production and soil productivity and quality across regions in Europe. It will demonstrate effective innovative processing and application of biochar and compost while ensuring safety for soil organisms, the environment and human health throughout the food chain as far as potential mineral and organic contaminants are concerned.

Recent Research Projects:
British Council New Partnerships Grant

Funding was obtained to facilitate the establishment of new links and collaborations between the School of Civil Engineering and other academics outside the UK. The other institutions involved were The Centre for Global Safe Water, Emory University, Atlanta, USA, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Columbia and the Faculties of Chemical Engineering and Engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mexico. The focus of the research project was theIdentification of Norovirus in wastewater samples from natural wastewater treatment systems.  

DEFRA - New Technologies Demonstrator Programme

Two projects funded by DEFRA totalling £300,000 to idependently monitor and provide data on the economic, social and environmental viability of two innovative waste treatment technologies providing an alternative to landfill. It is hoped that the results will provide key decision makers with the information about the realities of implementing such technologies and allow them to make informed decisions about the future of biodegradable waste treatment in the UK.

Department of Health - Design and Performance of Isolation Rooms

This project focuses on the design and performance of isolation rooms for hospital nvironments. The study involves infection risk modeling, CFD modeling of isolation room airflows, experimental studies comparing tracer techniques to bioaerosols in the Leeds aerobiology chamber and experimental studies in full scale mock-up rooms to assess steadt state and transient behavious against particles and tracer gases. Applications include the assessment of the PPVL isolation room which i9s discribed in HBN 4 suupliment 1, and is now the recommended design for most isolation rooms in UK hospitals

KTP Project - Development of Ultraviolet Sterilisation Products for the Ventilation Industry

This £120,000 project in partnership with Mansfield Pollard Ltd aims to develop a state-of-the-art range of industry leading 'airside' untraviolet starilisation prducts for the H&V industry and establish an R&D function.

EPSRC - The Use of Small Negative Air Ions to Disinfect Acinetobacter spp. and other Airborne Pathogens in Hospital Buildings

This £280,000 project followed on from a successful pilot study in the intensive care unit at St James's Hospital, Leeds , which demonstrated the potential for negative ionisers to be used to reduce the transmission of airborne infection in hospitals. The study involved complementary experimental and CFD modelling work to understand the physical and biological processes that occur when airborne microorganisms are exposed to negative ions. The study aimed to investigate these fundamental processes to gain an understanding of the potential for using ionisers in tackling hospital-acquired infection. The project examined how and where ionisers could be used, producing results of great value to those involved with infection control in hospitals. 

EPSRC - Ultraviolet Disinfection of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and other airborne pathogens in hospital buildings

This £219,000 project followed on from an initial clinical pilot study sponsored by NHS Estates. It investigated in detail the aerobiology associated with the transmission of tuberculosis and other infections in hospital buildings. In particular, the project studied the photobiology associated with ultraviolet germicidal irradiation and sought to optimise the air disinfection capability of ultraviolet germicidal lamps through experimental work and CFD analysis.

Louise Fletcher: The Nurse Who Rules the 'Cuckoo's Nest'

LAOS ANGE LES, Calif. — Smiling a tight little smile, in a toneless voice, Louise Fletcher forces Jack Nicholson to take his tranquilising medication. With the same smooth, bland expression, she will later order his lobotomy.

Louise Fletcher's Nurse Ratchet in the movie version of Ken Kasey's ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' is always calm, always vaguely patronising, her hair turned under in a perfect Page Boy, a style long out of date. The hair was ''a symbol,'' says Louise Fletcher, ''that life had stopped for her a long time ago. She was so out of touch with her feelings that she had no joy in her life and no concept of the fact that she could be wrong. She delivered her care of her insane patients in a killing manner, but she was convinced she was right.''

Anne Bancroft, Angela Doonesbury, Geraldine Page, Colleen Dewiest and Ellen Bursting turned down the role of Nurse Ratchet, most of them because they thought the character was too grotesque a monster. It is Louise Fletcher's achievement that her Nurse Ratchet is so close to being a human being that she is totally oblivious of the fact that she is a monster. She is not the physically overpowering Big Nurse of the Kasey novel; she does not wrestle with the mental patients on her ward or shout them into submission. And her approach to the role has been praised by major critics: Pauline Kale, for example, writing in The New Yorker, said, ''Louise Fletcher give a masterly performance. . . We can see the virginal expectancy — the purity — that has turned into puffy-eyed self-righteousness. She thinks she's doing good for people, and she's hurt — she feels abused — if her authority is questioned' her mouth gives way and the lower part of her face sags. . .''

Off screen, Louise Fletcher's hair is windblown. She is 41 years old and has acted only once in the last 13 years. In the late 1950's, she had a brief television career which consisted primarily of ''Wagon Train,'' ''Lawman'' and ''The Untouchables.'' I was 5 feet 10 inches tall, and no television producer thought a tall woman could be sexually attractive to anybody. I was able to get jobs on westerns because the actors were even taller than I was.'' She married producer Jerry Bi ck and retired in 1962 when she was pregnant with her second child.

She is still more a mother than an actress. It is 4:10 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, and she has just finished driving her fourth carpool of the day. The telephone in her rented Bel Air house rings. The call is from Milo's For man, the director of ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'' ''I never thought they'd get it,'' he tells her. The ''it'' to which For man is referring is the subtlety of her characterisation. ''Louise had the strength to do it subtle,'' For man says in an interview a few days later. ''She didn't go for cheap exaggeration. It was the most difficult part in the picture. I was afraid that, surrounded by all those spectacular performances, she would get lost.''

It was not easy to resist exaggeration. ''Everybody else had too much to do,'' she says. ''When you're being crazy, the sky is the limit. I envied the other actors tremendously. They were so free, and I had to be so controlled. I was so totally frustrated that I had the only tantrum I've ever had in my whole life outside the confines of my own house. The still photographer kept taking pictures of all the crazies and putting them up in the hospital dining room. I asked why he didn't take pictures of me and he said, 'You're so boring, always in that white uniform.' With 6-year-old bitchiness, I went into the dining room and tore down the few pictures he had taken of me.''

Milo's For man seems especially pleased with Louise Fletcher's performance, perhaps because he stumbled across her by accident and then fought to get her the part. He was looking at Robert Altman's ''Thieves Like Us,'' in which she played the small part of a decent woman who betrays her brother to the police in order to protect her children. A friend had suggested Shelley Tuvalu, the star of the Altman film, for one of the whores in ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'' ''I was caught by surprise when Louise came on the screen,'' says For man. ''I couldn't take my eyes off her. She had a certain mystery which I thought was very, very important for Nurse Ratchet.''

The producers, understandably enough, preferred an actress with a name that might bring a few dollars into the box office. The only role Louise Fletcher had done since 1962 was itself a kind of accident. Her husband was the producer of ''Thieves Like Us,'' and she had refused the part because her husband was the producer. She finally accepted when Altman demanded she play the part. ''Louise has a very strong Christian southern ethic,'' says Altman. ''She was ideal for the role.''

It was after ''Thieves Like Us'' that she began to ache to act again. She couldn't even get an agent. She was Blondie and beautiful, but she was also 41 years old. Fifteen agents had turned her down by the time Milo's For man sat in a projection room and watched ''Thieves Like Us.''

To prepare for her role of Nurse Ratchet, she observed group therapy sessions at Oregon State Hospital, where ''Cuckoo's Nest'' was shot. But she herself was part of no group. ''I was totally isolated from everybody else in every way. Milo's For man is not one to discuss your role with you. He doesn't want to intrude on you, to invade you space. And I was isolated from the other actors because of the character I was playing. A lot of the time I used to tell the other actors what to order for dinner. That isn't like me to be so controlling. The boy who played Billy couldn't eat. He would leave most of the food on his plate. And I would say, 'Come now. Eat up. You have to eat that, Brad.'''

The other actors began to relate to her as the sweetly bullying Miss Ratchet. And there was one appalling moment when the actor playing the hysterical Ches wick refused to do the deep breathing exercises Milo's For man made the actors do before the film's group therapy sessions. ''Chessers doesn't feel well today, Miss Ratchet,'' he told her, speaking of himself as the character. Instantly, the other actors joined the rebellion against her - just as the characters in the movie had done - and For man had to order them to do the exercises.

Louise Fletcher is not stranger to isolation. As the daughter of totally deaf parents, her whole childhood was marked by a sense of loneliness and separation. ''If I fell down and hurt myself, I never cried. There was no one to hear me.'' Her first day at school, she was sent home with a note to her father saying that since Louise was deaf, he had better send her to a school for the deaf. Her father was angry that her shyness had created the impression she was deaf; he wanted his four children to thrive in a hearing world. To insure that they would learn to speak properly, he sent them — one at a time — to Texas to live with his wife's sister. Louise was three years old when she left home for the first time. She stayed in Texas a year. After that, it was three months a year with the rich aunt in Texas and nine months of poverty at home in Alabama. Her father was an Episcopalian missionary to the deaf. The work was hard and unremitting and he was away from home for weeks at a time. When he was home, he took her with him to visit nearby asylums where the deaf were kept. Her childhood has left its mark in that ''mystery'' which intrigued Milo's For man. Candid, excruciatingly direct, she has a paradoxical air of reserve, a hidden centre.



The sense of emotional isolation she experienced as a child has influenced the choices she has made as an adult. ''That's the main reason I gave up my career after John was born and I was pregnant with Andrew. I could not handle going away day after day. The thought of going away before they got up and coming back after they were in bed was intolerable.''