Cooper received his B. S. in Chemistry from Allegheny College in 1968. He then studied Organic Geochemistry at Penn State and received his M. S. in 1971. He was drafted into the US Army in March 1971, received a commission in January 1972 as a 1 st Lieutenant, served for three years and was discharged a Captain. He then served as a research scientist in a civilian role and ran the water reuse program. He took a position at Florida International University as a Research Associate Professor, and simultaneously enrolled in a Ph. D. program at the University of Miami’s Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric sciences. He received his Ph. D. in 1987. He held various appointments at Florida International University (1980 – 1997) becoming tenured in Chemistry while being the Director of the Drinking Water Research Center in the School of Engineering. He then moved to the University of North Carolina, Wilmington where he was Chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry (1997 – 2000) and then a professor of Marine Science and Chemistry (2000-2006). He moved to the University of California, Irvine as Director of the Urban Water Research Center and a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in July 2006. He also held appointments in Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Policy, Planning and Design in the School of Social Ecology. In December, 2017 he moved to Florida and is affiliated with the University of Florida, Environmental Engineering Sciences. His present research interests include the role of sunlight mediated photochemistry in the formation of reactive oxygen species, and environmental fate of pharmaceuticals and other compounds in surface waters, the application of free radical chemistry in advanced oxidation processes, for the treatment of pollutants. His recent studies, in the environmental fate of pharmaceuticals, suggest that constructed wetlands may offer a low-cost sustainable approach for treating pharmaceuticals and other emerging chemicals of concern. He has published 225 papers in peer reviewed journals and 45 chapters in books and edited 8 books. In November 2011 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (F AAAS) and in 2014 Fellow of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. From September 2013 to August 2017 he was the Program Director, Environmental Engineering at the National Science Foundation.