Allen LaPointe

Allen LaPointe

Allen LaPointe is currently in his thirteenth year of work at the John G. Shedd Aquarium, and is presently the Director of Environmental Quality.  He began working as a chemist at the Aquarium in the spring of 1997, learning the life support systems and working with the laboratory instrumentation.  Allen now manages the environmental quality laboratory, monitoring animal habitats and recommending adjustments to life support operations. Before starting his career with Shedd Aquarium, Allen was employed at the Hammond Indiana Sanitary District in a water analysis instrumentation position for three years.  He studied chemistry and zoology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, receiving a B.S. in 1993.  In addition, Allen received an MBA from the University of Phoenix in 2004.

Allen has conducted various water quality seminars and trainings for zoological organizations and has taught various courses in water chemistry, including a two-semester course titled Water Works. He teaches a 5-Day Seminar on aquarium environmental quality annually at the Shedd Aquarium. As part of Shedd Aquarium’s conservation efforts, Allen will begin field work this year in Guyana, researching the water systems and rich fauna and flora in one of the last untouched aquatic ecosystems in the world.

 

Shedd Aquarium