An undergraduate education in earth science followed by graduate training in geochemistry position me for a research career at the interface of environmental analytical chemistry and engineering, began  A mix of graduate classes in hydrology, field work with the US Geological Survey, and a post-doc at EAWAG supplied me with the tools and training necessary to conduct interdisciplinary field and laboratory research.  The result is 20+ years of research conducted in collaboration with talented graduate and undergraduate students along with scientists and engineers from other disciplines.  Collaborations with groundwater and wastewater hydrologists, microbiologists, and drug epidemiologists created opportunities to combine the power of environmental analytical chemistry with that of in-situ tracer tests to determine the fate of contaminants in groundwater, sewers, and municipal wastewater treatment systems.  Analytical methods are created, as needed, to support field work and a lack of formal training in analytical chemistry resulted in laboratory's current cavalier approach to the trace level analysis of contaminants.  Students are given the opportunity to express their creativity by pushing their instrumentation to take over the duty of sample preparation in an effort to create greener analytical methods.  Sample preparation is simplified or eliminated as illustrated by the direct injection of ground and surface waters, raw wastewater, and seawater as well as large volume injection of organic extracts.  Students gravitate to interdisciplinary research opportunities where they bring their strengths in environmental analytical chemistry to bear on problems that of interest to the public and that can only be solved by interdisciplinary research.

Research at the interface of environmental chemistry and engineering

248th National Meeting (2014)

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