In an era that permits options to contain contamination on site, accurately identifying, measuring and characterizing risks posed by toxins and other materials in the environment has become increasingly important. The waste-site cleanup industry continues to be a strong field for graduating undergraduates interested in environmental protection and relevant undergraduate research opportunities may provide students a competitive advantage for entry into this field upon graduation. Projects that allow students to understand how environmental samples are collected, prepared, analyzed and interpreted in a regulatory and public health context can be readily performed at the undergraduate level. Aside from the obvious issues of student exposure to potentially harmful contaminants, there are other issues that a well-designed research project must manage including: site access; student training (both for analytical instrumentation and personal protection); interpretation and presentation of data; and other matters of regulatory significance. Several undergraduate research projects that investigated the presence of natural and anthropogenic sources of heavy metals in environmental media and relevant safety, regulatory and ethical issues considered to design and perform these projects are described in this paper.

Design considerations when developing an undergraduate research project that measures heavy metals in the environment and beyond

2019 Spring National Meeting

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