Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Collections

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (ESPI) is the home for high-impact research in all areas of the environmental chemical sciences, including chemistry of the air, water, soil and sediment. We welcome studies on the environmental fate and effects of anthropogenic and naturally occurring contaminants, both chemical and microbiological, as well as related natural element cycling processes. Here, we’ve brought together our latest Article Collections and Themed Issues to enable you to easily navigate to content most relevant to you. We hope that you enjoy reading the papers in these collections.

Ongoing collections

HOT articles

Recent Reviews

Open Access articles

Emerging Investigators series

 

Themed issues and collections

Tracking complex mixtures of chemicals in Human- and Eco-Exposome 2023
Guest Edited by Mingliang Fang (Fudan University), Beate Escher (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research), Li Li (University of Nevada, Reno), and Zhenyu Tian (Northeastern University)

Indoor Air Quality 2023
A collection including ESPI and Environmental Science: Atmospheres articles, in collaboration with the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Policy and Evidence team

Chemistry of Atmospheric Pollutants 2023
Guest Edited by Amila De Silva (Environment and Climate Change Canada), Max McGillen (CNRS-ICARE), Jason Surratt (University of North Carolina) and Cora Young (York University)

Biogeochemistry of the Trace Elements 2022
Guest Edited by Lenny Winkel (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) and Elsie Sunderland (Harvard University)

POPs and Chemicals of Emerging Arctic Concern: Influence of Climate Change 2022
Guest Edited by Derek Muir (Environment & Climate Change Canada), Cynthia de Wit (Stockholm University), Katrin Vorkamp (Aarhus University) and Simon Wilson (Stockholm University)

Cryosphere Chemistry 2020
Guest Edited by Rose Cory and Kerri Pratt (University of Michigan)

Halogenated (semi)volatile organic compounds (“X(S)VOCs”) 2020
Guest Edited by Elizabeth Edwards (University of Toronto), Lucy Carpenter (University of York), Sarah Blossom (University Arkansas Medical Science) and Paul Tratnyek (Oregon Health & Science University)

PFAS 2019
Guest Edited by Lutz Ahrens (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Jonathan Benskin (Stockholm University, Sweden), Ian Cousins (Stockholm University, Sweden), Michelle Crimi (Clarkson University, USA) and Chris Higgins (Colorado School of Mines, USA)

Indoor Air : Sources, Chemistry and Health Effects 2019
Guest Edited by Delphine Farmer (Colorado State University, USA) and Marina Vance (University of Colorado at Boulder, USA)

The environmental geochemistry and biology of hydraulic fracturing 2019
Guest Edited by Desirée Plata (MIT), Rob Jackson (Stanford University), Paula Mouser (University of New Hampshire) and Avner Vengosh (Duke University)

Atmospheric Surfaces 2018
Edited by Marianne Glasius (Aarhus University, Denmark) and Guest Editors Merete Bilde (Aarhus University, Denmark) Neil Donahue (Carnegie Mellon University, USA), Miriam Freedman (Pennsylvania State University, USA) 

Mercury Biogeochemistry, Exposure, and Impacts 2018
Edited by former ESPI Associate Editor Helen Hsu-Kim (Duke University) and Guest Editors Chris Eckley (EPA) and Noelle Selin (MIT)

Bioanalytical tools for water and sediment quality assessment 2017
Edited by former ESPI Associate Editor Edward Kolodziej and Guest Editors Bryan Brooks (Baylor University, USA), Kyungho Choi (Seoul National University, Korea) and Ruth Marfil-Vega (American Water, USA)

QSARs and computational chemistry methods in environmental chemical sciences 2017
Guest Edited by Paul Tratnyek (OHSU) and Kathrin Fenner (Eawag)

 

Editor’s choice collections

Aquatic Photochemistry
Collated by ESPI Editor-in-Chief, Kris McNeill

Planetary Health
Collated by ESPI Associate Editor, Paul Tratnyek

Underappreciated Science
Collated by former ESPI Associate Editor, Ed Kolodziej

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RSC Symposium at ACS Spring 2024: Showcasing Emerging Investigators and Future Perspectives

We are delighted to announce a special journal Symposium taking place at ACS Spring 2024 on Wednesday 20th March.

This symposium will highlight high-quality, cutting-edge research carried out by rising stars in the environmental sciences, including presentations from members of our Editorial Boards as well as the recent Emerging Investigators of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Science journals – Environmental Science: Advances, Environmental Science: Atmospheres,  Environmental Science: NanoEnvironmental Science: Processes & Impacts and Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology.

More information about ACS Spring can be found here, in addition to information on how to register

Symposium details:

When: Wednesday 20th March (all-day)
Where: Room 224 (Ernst N. Morial Convention Center)

Speakers and talk titles:

8:35 AM Rachel O’Brien University of Michigan
Chemical characteristics of indoor aerosol particles and surface films

9:05 AM Jasquelin Peña UC Davis (Associate Editor, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts)
Molecular-scale biogeochemistry of wildfire ash and burned soil: Implications for nutrient and metal cycles

9:35 AM Mohamed Ateia US EPA
PFAS-free alternatives: tools to avoid regrettable substitutions

10:25 AM Grace Thoburn Royal Society of Chemistry
Environmental Science Journals of the Royal Society of Chemistry

10:35 AM Chiara Giorio University of Cambridge
Contrasting solubilities and dissolution kinetics of particle-bound metals in fog and in a surrogate lung fluid

11:05 AM Kerri Pratt University of Michigan
Investigating atmospheric ClNO2(g) production from the reaction of N2O5(g) with the saline snowpack

11:35 AM Manabu Shiraiwa UC Irvine
Multiphase Chemistry of reactive oxygen species in outdoor and indoor environments

2:05 PM Jeseth Delgado Vela Duke University
Genetic potential for phage-phage and phage-bacterial communication in wastewater treatment processes

2:35 PM Branko Kerkez University of Michigan (Editorial Board member, Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology)
Murky waters: untangling the role of AI in water management

3:05 PM Fangqiong Ling Washington University in St. Louis
Towards more accurate insights from wastewater-based epidemiology

3:50 PM Briana Aguila-Ames New College of Florida
Kinetics of diopside reactivity for carbon mineralization in mafic–ultramafic rocks

4:20 PM Yaqi You SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Carbonaceous materials as a modulator of plant rhizosphere: New insights into the microbiome and metabolome

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Emerging Investigator Series: Theodora Nah

Theo is an Assistant Professor in the School of Energy and Environment at City University of Hong Kong. Her current research uses a combination of laboratory experiments and field observations to investigate the impacts of air pollution policies and climate change on the multiphase atmospheric chemistry of aqueous droplets and the formation and transformation processes of organic aerosols. Theo completed her undergraduate studies in Chemistry and Mathematics at the University of Toronto. She went on to complete Ph.D. studies in Physical Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Stephen Leone and Dr. Kevin Wilson at the University of California, Berkeley. Her Ph.D. research focused on investigating fundamental reaction mechanisms that govern the heterogeneous photooxidation of organic aerosols. She then went on to complete postdoctoral studies at Georgia Institute of Technology under the supervision of Prof. Sally Ng and Prof. Rodney Weber. There, she performed laboratory chamber studies to investigate biogenic secondary organic aerosol formation mechanisms and participated in field studies to investigate the effect of ammonia on aerosol composition and acidity.

Read Theodora’s Emerging Investigator Series article “Aqueous photooxidation of live bacteria with hydroxyl radicals under clouds-like conditions: Insights into the production and transformation of biological and organic matter originating from bioaerosols” and read more about her in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on Aqueous photooxidation of live bacteria with hydroxyl radicals under clouds-like conditions: Insights into the production and transformation of biological and organic matter originating from bioaerosols. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

My Ph.D. studies focused on the heterogeneous photooxidation of organic aerosols. My first lead-author publication (Nah et al., Anal. Chem. 2013) was on the application of Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) in the real-time in situ chemical characterization of submicron organic aerosols. It demonstrated how we can use surface sensitive mass spectrometric tools to probe real-time changes in the chemical composition of the surface of submicron organic aerosols during heterogenous photooxidation. I have continued my research on atmospheric aerosol chemistry. However, my research interests have expanded even further to include the atmospheric chemistry of bioaerosols under different environmental conditions. In this most recent article, my group investigated what happens when live bacteria interact with hydroxyl radicals in clouds during the daytime. It builds on our previous work (Liu et al., Atm. Chem. Phys. 2023) which investigated the effects of pH and light exposure on the survival of bacteria and their ability to biodegrade organic compounds in clouds.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

I have found this research area (i.e., atmospheric chemistry of bioaerosols) to be both exciting and challenging because I do not have a background in microbiology. In fact, I have not taken a single biology class in my entire life! I spent a lot of time during the COVID-19 lockdown learning about bacteria. I am lucky that I was able to establish a research collaboration with a microbiologist in my department who is interested in atmospheric bioaerosols. Our ongoing research collaboration has been fruitful and we have been able to leverage one another’s expertise to ask and answer interesting research questions on bioaerosols. In addition to investigating the atmospheric chemistry of bioaerosols in outdoor atmospheres, we have been investigating what happens when airborne bioaerosols and microorganisms adhered on surfaces interact with atmospheric oxidants and chemical compounds in the indoor built environment. Stay tuned for more of our work!

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

At present, little is known about what happens when live microorganisms such as bacteria interact with atmospheric oxidants and chemical compounds in the outdoor and indoor atmospheres under different environmental conditions. These multiphasic interactions potentially have important implications for atmospheric processes, air quality, and human health. There are so many questions that still need to be asked and answered in order for us to gain a basic understanding of these interactions before we can even consider their implications. Asking and answering these questions will require the expertise of both atmospheric chemists and microbiologists.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

Communicating my research to people with different backgrounds and levels of expertise. A lot of my research use laboratory experiments to investigate fundamental reaction mechanisms and understand how things work at the molecular level. Sometimes, I find it challenging to convince others, especially those not in the atmospheric chemistry field, on the importance and relevance of my research approach to solve “real world” air pollution issues.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

I will be presenting my work at the 9th International Conference on Fog, Fog Collection, and Dew in Colorado in late July, and at the 2023 Atmospheric Chemistry Gordon Research Conference in Maine in early August.

How do you spend your spare time?

I spend most of my spare time watching travel documentaries to unwind. Recently, I have been spending some of my spare time learning Mandarin so that I can communicate more effectively with my Chinese collaborators.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

If I were not a scientist, I would still want do something related to the environment. I could see myself working for an NGO involved in environment management and conservation work.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

I have been fortunate to have encountered many amazing mentors who have been generous with their time and advice. I will share the same piece of advice that one of my mentors gave me when I was deciding on where to attend graduate school: You need to embrace change and be willing to step outside of your comfort zone. I find that this piece of advice can be applied to career development, research, and so on. I have relied on this advice at various points of my career, including when I decided to move to a new country to start my independent research career, and when I pursued opportunities for multi-disciplinary collaborations to work on interesting research questions.

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Royal Society of Chemistry at the China Environmental Mass Spectrometry Conference

The Royal Society of Chemistry was proud to be a sponsor of the China Environmental Mass Spectrometry Conference (CEMS), held March 24-27 2023 in Qingdao, China. The theme of this year’s conference was “Mass Spectrometry Makes the Environment a Better Place,” which was fully reflected by the cutting-edge work presented.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Mass Spectrometry Makes the Environment a Better Place,” which was fully reflected by the cutting-edge work presented.

Zongwei Cai (Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Science: Advances) acted as vice-chairman of this conference, Qian Liu (Associate Editor of Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts), Liwu Zhang (Associate Editor of Environmental Science: Advances), Zhen Liu (Associate Editor of Analytical Methods) were invited as plenary speakers.

The Environmental Science journals of the Royal Society of Chemistry were delighted to sponsor 10 Poster Prizes at this conference. Academician Hongyuan Chen presented the prizes to the recipients. We were extremely pleased to sponsor 10 poster award winners, which are listed below.

Ke Shi Harbin Institute of Technology
Mengyao Zhang Beijing Academy of Military Medical Sciences
Peiru Luo Zhengzhou University
Huan Chen Nankai University
Ke Shi Shandong University of Science and Technology
Yun Hao Beijing Normal University
Yaqi Wang Shandong University of Science and Technology
Hongrui Zhang Center for Ecology and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jiahao Yuan Fuzhou University
Weiqing Wang Shandong Normal University

Many congratulations to the winners!

If you attended the conference and still have questions about our journals that you would like answered, please feel free to reach out to the editorial office or find a home for your research in our environmental portfolio.

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RSC Environmental Science Symposium at ACS Spring 2023

We are delighted to announce a special journal Symposium taking place at ACS Spring 2023 on Monday 27th March.

This symposium will highlight high-quality, cutting-edge research carried out by rising stars in the environmental sciences, alongside presentations from members of the Editorial Board and the recent Emerging Investigators of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Science journals – Environmental Science: Advances, Environmental Science: Atmospheres,  Environmental Science: Nano, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts and Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology.

More information about ACS Spring can be found here, in addition to information on how to register

Symposium details:

When: Monday 27th March (all-day)
Where: Room 112 (Indiana Convention Center), Indianapolis, IN, USA & Online

Speakers and talk titles:

8:30 AM Sarah Styler McMaster University, Canada
Building surfaces as mediators of the long-term air quality and health impacts of wildfire smoke events

8:50 AM Carrie McDonough Carnegie Mellon University, USA
The sum of its parts: Dosing with complex mixtures to deconstruct PFAS bioaccumulation 

9:10 AM Rawad Saleh University of Georgia, USA
Dissecting the complexity of brown carbon 

9:30 AM Elijah Schnitzler Oklahoma State University, USA
Light-absorption, hygroscopicity, and aging of biomass burning organic aerosol in the southern Great Plains 

9:50 AM Graham Gagnon Dalhousie University, Canada
Exploring decadal changes in natural organic matter quality in a browning drinking water supply using a large fluorescence dataset 

10:35 AM Rachel Scholes The University of British Columbia, Canada
Enhancing transformation of wastewater-derived trace organic contaminants in nature-based treatment systems 

10:55 AM Lucia Rodriguez Freire Newcastle University, UK
Harnessing the Plant Holobiont for Pollution Control and Resource Recovery 

11:15 AM Tara Kahan University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Micro-spectroscopy of solute-containing ice 

11:35 AM Paul Tratnyek Oregon Health & Science University, USA
Assessment and prediction of the physicochemical properties of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) using statistical and computational chemical models 

2:05 PM Xiao Su University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
Electrochemically-driven reactive separations for environmental remediation and resource recovery 

2:25 PM Ngai Yin Yip Columbia University, USA
High-salinity electrodialysis with rationally-designed ion-exchange membranes 

2:45 PM Nirupam Aich University at Buffalo, USA [virtual]
Additive Manufacturing for Nano-Enabled Water Treatment Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges 

3:05 PM Michael Strano Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Carbon Fixing Material Systems 

3:25 PM Kathryn Riley Swarthmore College, USA
Silver nanoparticle dissolution kinetics are mediated by the Caulobacter crescentus metabolite corona 

3:55 PM Amanda Giang The University of British Columbia, Canada & Miling Li University of Delaware, USA [virtual]
Investigating the dynamics of methylmercury bioaccumulation in the Beaufort Sea shelf food web: a modeling perspective 

4:15 PM Ines Zucker Tel Aviv University, Israel [virtual]
MoS2-based Nanocomposites for Water Decontamination 

4:35 PM Zeinab Hosseinidoust McMaster University, USA [virtual]
Putting bacteriophages to work for clean air, water, and food 

4:55 PM Susana Kimura University of Calgary, Canada [virtual]
The role of chlorinated benzotriazoles on the formation of disinfection byproducts 

5:15 PM Sara Mason Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA
Modeling Transformations of Nanomaterials in Aqueous Settings to Drive Sustainability and Function 

 

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Emerging Investigator Series: Trevor VandenBoer

Trevor VandenBoer joined the Department of Chemistry at York University as an assistant professor in analytical and environmental chemistry in 2019. His research involves development of instrumentation to probe the atmospheric chemistry of reactive nitrogen species. Emissions of reactive nitrogen have perturbed the global nitrogen cycle to unprecedented levels. These chemicals are introduced to the environment by human transportation, agricultural, cooking, cleaning, and industrial activities. His work focuses on impacts of these compounds on indoor and outdoor air quality with emphasis on the role of exchange at interfaces.

VandenBoer completed a PhD in Environmental and Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Toronto focusing on the quantitation and atmospheric chemistry of atmospheric reactive nitrogen at a variety of national and international field locations, including an NSERC-supported exchange at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, CO. He then held a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland where he quantified the exchange of reactive nitrogen at the biosphere-atmosphere interface across a latitudinal transect of boreal forest sites.

Read Trevor’s Emerging Investigator Series article “An instrument to measure and speciate the total reactive nitrogen budget indoors: description and field measurements” and read more about him in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on An instrument to measure and speciate the total reactive nitrogen budget indoors: description and field measurements. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

From our initial study in a New York home, the levels of nitrogen oxide (NOX = NO + NO2) pollutants we observed created a lot of concern.1 We first worked in a collaboration with materials chemist Michael Katz at Memorial University to design metal-organic frameworks, taking advantage of the highly porous nature of these materials, to selectively deactivate nitrous acid (HONO) indoors as potential next-generation technology to be placed in air handling systems.2 Then we worked with organic chemist Chris Caputo at York University to design molecular BODIPY dyes as high-sensitivity probes that were also selective in passively sensing HONO without instrumentation indoors, as we discovered no such probes existed and that HONO was an interference in prior studies of nitrogen oxide pollution indoors.3 As the field evolved alongside this research, it became apparent to us that indoor air was as varied as the individuals who use indoor environments, meaning that we had to get new instruments into the hands of non-experts and a lot of indoor spaces to study them, to complement dedicated field campaigns using experimental homes. Taken together, this progression of work from our team and collaborators has evolved with the rising awareness on the need to improve indoor air quality, from identifying chemicals of concern, to targeting key components for better measurements, and developing solutions capable of mitigating indoor pollutants.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

At the moment, we have a lot of different field projects at various stages of their life cycle and I am excited about all them! We have been designing new instruments to study nutrient use efficiency, air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural settings; deploying our suite of instruments in a research cruise on the Atlantic Ocean to study the chemistry of marine fog during the Fog and Turbulence Interactions in the Marine Atmosphere (FaTIMA) campaign in the summer of 2022; and the teams at YorkU are preparing for an upcoming urban air quality campaign in Toronto during the summer of 2023 where NOAA and NASA aircraft will investigate our urban plume of Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA), alongside our team of international collaborators making ground site observations. Working as part of big international teams allows researchers in the group to work on high-impact chemistry questions, interfacing with world-class resources and scientists, and it is always very exciting to facilitate these opportunities for them!

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

With respect to our current work indoors, the answer is very broad, but remains: Is our typical indoor air good or bad and what are the best metrics to assess this? Answering this question is a huge challenge. More specifically, these are the questions that I think we are still trying to answer that feed into this: Are there important chemical transformations we need to consider or are physical properties of molecules and indoor surfaces controlling the composition of indoor air? Are there simple changes to our behaviours and activities indoors that can create major air quality improvements, or do we need to totally rethink how we handle our indoor air from a building-design and operation perspective?

What do you find most challenging about your research?

The logistics of conducting environmental chemistry fieldwork. This activity is very atypical compared to traditional laboratory-based chemistry experiments. Obtaining permissions, permits, and training to install field infrastructure in challenging locations while maintaining safety and high-quality analytical measurements is no small feat! This demands a substantial amount of time spent identifying, connecting, and committing to ongoing communications with a large team of experts spanning contractors, engineers, freight, etc. before we get to study the important chemistry we’re interested in at these locations.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

You can meet me in March 2023 at the Spring Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Indianapolis, as part of the Bridging the Interfaces of Atmospheric Chemistry session, where I will be presenting the instrumentation in this work and some more recent findings we have obtained with it. In June, several group researchers and I will be at the annual meeting for the Canadian Society for Chemistry in Vancouver to present on several ongoing research projects in the team.

How do you spend your spare time?

While spare time is fleeting for an Assistant Professor, prioritizing activities like soccer, running, etc. are important to me for physical health. Similarly, time spent reading or gardening provide present-moment focus to unwind. When I just cannot keep the chemist in me at bay, I will admittedly use my free time for kitchen and brewing experiments, drawing from scientific principles.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

If I was not a scientist, the profession where you’d be likely to find me would be one that bridges my agricultural upbringing with societal awareness of food systems, like efficiency in production or limiting waste.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Take your time in obtaining both your formal and informal training to get the most out of each step along the way. Make time during each step of your training to develop new transferrable skills for your future and broaden your scientific perspectives by sharing your research interests with as many people as you can.

References

1         S. Zhou, C. J. Young, T. C. VandenBoer, S. F. Kowal and T. F. Kahan, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2018, 52, 8355–8364.

2        D. McGrath, M. D. Ryan, J. J. MacInnis, T. C. VandenBoer, C. J. Young, and M. J. Katz. Chem. Sci. 2019. 10:5576-5581.  DOI:10.1039/C9SC01357A

3         D. Nodeh-Farahani, J. N. Bentley, L. R. Crilley, C. B. Caputo and T. C. VandenBoer, Analyst, 2021, 146, 5756–5766.

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Emerging Investigators: the latest work from rising stars of environmental science

We are delighted to share with you a selection of high-impact papers by Emerging Investigators in the field of environmental science and engineering. These papers, published across Environmental Science: Atmospheres, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, Environmental Science: Nano, and Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, showcase the breadth of exciting research being conducted by rising stars in our field.

The latest work from rising stars of environmental science

Chemical characterization of prescribed burn emissions from a mixed forest in Northern Michigan

Kerri A. Pratt et al

Microplastic-based leachate formation under UV irradiation: the extent, characteristics, and mechanisms

Onur Apul et al

Investigating the dynamics of methylmercury bioaccumulation in the Beaufort Sea shelf food web: a modeling perspective

Amanda Giang et al

Metal nanoparticles in freshwater: transformation, bioavailability and effects on invertebrates

Wei Liu et al

Aqueous-phase processing of atmospheric aerosol influences dissolution kinetics of metal ions in an urban background site in the Po Valley

Chiara Giorio et al

Environment-specific auxiliary substrates tailored for effective cometabolic bioremediation of 1,4-dioxane

Mengyan Li et al

Quantifying the impact of relative humidity on human exposure to gas phase squalene ozonolysis products

Manabu Shiraiwa et al

Ozone uptake by urban road dust and first evidence for chlorine activation during ozone uptake by agro-based anti-icer: implications for wintertime air quality in high-latitude urban environments

Sarah A. Styler et al

Hetero-phase junction 1T/2H-MoS2 nanosheets decorated by FeOOH nanoparticles for enhanced visible light photo-Fenton degradation of antibiotics

Yuxiong Huang et al

****************************************************************************

The RSC’s Emerging Investigator Series provides a unique platform for early-career environmental scientists & engineers to showcase their best work to a broad audience. Contact us to apply for consideration in this Series. To be eligible, you will need to have completed your PhD (or equivalent degree) within the last 10 years†, have an independent career and appear as corresponding author on the manuscript.

 

Read more of our Emerging Investigator Series papers using the links below.

Environmental Science: Atmospheres Emerging Investigator Series

Environmental Science: Nano Emerging Investigator Series

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Emerging Investigator Series

Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology Emerging Investigator Series

Also, read the latest interviews with our Emerging Investigators to find out more about their work and the important research challenges that they are tackling.

We hope you enjoy reading these papers from future leaders in the field of environmental science.

About us

The Royal Society of Chemistry is the world’s leading chemistry community, advancing excellence in the chemical sciences. As a not-for-profit charitable organization, we are committed to supporting the global scientific community; providing continual support for researchers and investing in future generations of scientists.

 Discover a home for your work within our Environmental Science journals family

 

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Emerging Investigator Series: Amanda Hohner

Dr. Amanda Hohner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Montana State University. Her research focuses on the characterization of source water quality and drinking water treatment processes. Within this area, she evaluates the effects of climatic disturbances and extreme events on watersheds and drinking water system resiliency. Prior to joining MSU she was an Assistant Professor at Washington State University. She completed her PhD and MS in Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado-Boulder and her BS in Civil Engineering at Washington State University. In addition to research and teaching, she is actively involved in mentoring women and first-generation college students in engineering.

Read Amanda’s Emerging Investigator Series article “Emerging investigator series: “physicochemical properties of wildfire ash and implications for particle stability in surface waters” and read more about her in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on Physicochemical Properties of Wildfire Ash and Implications for Particle Stability in Surface Waters. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

My PhD work and first paper primarily focused on wildfire effects on dissolved organic matter and disinfection byproduct formation during water treatment. My research has expanded to investigate post-fire water quality more broadly and in the context of wildfire effects on aquatic systems and environmental processes. The focus of this article is on the characterization of solid wildfire-ash particle characterization and properties that influence stability and mobilization in watersheds. It pushed me to incorporate new tools and analytical techniques from soil science and particle chemistry and look through the lens of ecosystems impacts rather than water treatment.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

Wildfire and water quality research has gained a lot of momentum the last few years and it really requires interdisciplinary teams to integrate an understanding of the complex interactions involved. I’m excited about working with and learning from collaborators in forestry, hydrology, ecology, and environmental economics on addressing important and challenging research questions. It’s fun to step outside of our specific disciplines and continue learning.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

Unfortunately, in many regions wildfires are now high severity and catastrophic to communities and ecosystems. At the same time we need some level of fire on the landscape to maintain healthy forests and watersheds. Research and society need to understand what this balance looks like from a land and water management perspective and how we can move towards a more natural, healthy fire regime in the face of climate change.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

Observational and field-based studies include very complex environmental interactions that are out of our control such as wildfire behavior and weather. As scientists and engineers we like to have controlled experiments with clear explanations, but that is not the nature of post-fire environmental studies. It can be very challenging when we collect ash or water samples from a burned landscape to be able to form scientific conclusions, but at the same time it makes for exciting research with many unanswered questions to explore.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

My favorite conferences to attend are the AWWA Water Quality & Technology Conference and Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Conference.

How do you spend your spare time?

We have a three month old son, so I spend most of my spare time with him cuddling and playing, and on all of the other parenting adventures. We also like to get outdoors and take our pup hiking or running. In the winter we cross-country ski and in the summer we like to stand-up paddle board. We just recently moved to Bozeman, Montana and look forward to taking our son on outdoor adventures soon!

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I like to argue, so maybe I would have been an environmental lawyer. If not that, then a K-12 teacher because I really enjoy teaching and mentoring students.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

There are definitely ups and downs with research and academia and it is important to persevere and stay confident in yourself and your abilities. I find I rely on my mentors and close peers to keep me motivated and help me through challenges.

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Emerging Investigator Series: Sarah Styler

Sarah Styler obtained her BSc, MSc, and PhD from the University of Toronto and conducted postdoctoral research at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research in Leipzig, Germany. She began her independent career at the University of Alberta in 2015; in 2019, she was named a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry. In Summer 2020, she moved to McMaster University, where she is Assistant Professor of Environmental Chemistry and again a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry. She leads the P.A.R.T.I.C.L.E.S. (pesticides, art, road dust, traffic, interdisciplinary, combustion, light, equity, surfaces) research group, which currently consists of eight excellent graduate students and two stellar undergraduate trainees.

Read Sarah’s Emerging Investigator Series article “ozone uptake by urban road dust and first evidence for chlorine activation during ozone uptake by agro-based anti-icer: implications for wintertime air quality in high-latitude urban environments” and read more about her in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on ozone uptake by urban road dust. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?”

When I began my independent career in 2015, my plan was to focus on desert dust chemistry (e.g., dust–pollutant gas interactions, oxidant production by illuminated dusts). As it turns out, Edmonton is very dusty, largely as a result of resuspension of winter traction materials, so early in my career I began to focus on road dust rather than desert dust.  In my group’s first article, we showed that road dust is a source of singlet oxygen, an important environmental oxidant, and thus has the potential to mediate the lifetime and fate of road dust-associated pollutants that react by singlet oxygen-mediated pathways.  Motivated by these results, Maya and I decided to focus on the potential impacts of road dust chemistry on the composition of the urban troposphere. We spent much time scooping road dust from Edmonton city streets for this project, usually at weird times (to minimize traffic). Standing on a major street wearing nitrile gloves and carrying a dustpan and glass jars is a sure way to attract attention, it turns out.

During my interview for my position at the University of Alberta, I recall being asked, pointedly: what happens after dust?  In other words, could I sustain a career focused on dust alone?  I think that I could, but at the same time I’ve expanded my group’s research scope quite a bit over the past few years to include topics ranging from light absorption by boreal wildfire smoke to gas-phase emissions from degrading cultural heritage objects. Currently, we refer to ourselves as the P.A.R.T.I.C.L.E.S. (pesticides, art, road dust, traffic, interdisciplinary, combustion, light, equity, surfaces) group, but I anticipate this acronym will shift and change over my career!

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

It’s difficult to choose, since each student in my group is working on such different topics (and I am enthusiastic about all of them!), but at the moment, I am most excited about work that PhD student Iris Chan is doing to quantify soiling of urban surfaces resulting from wildfire smoke incursions.  This summer, we have urban surface film samplers placed in a variety of cities across Canada and the US, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes out of the compositional analysis of these samples Iris will perform this autumn.  Of course, if you asked me on a different day, I would probably give a different answer—I maintain what sometimes seems like an inexhaustible reservoir of enthusiasm for all of the projects my group is working on.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

This is a difficult question! In my various biographies for conferences and websites, I usually say that my group is interested in studying the air quality, climate, and health impacts of chemical reactions at atmospheric interfaces. Impacts for whom, though?  These days, I am most interested in work that aims to clearly identify and engage with the populations that experience the impacts that my research field aims to quantify. Many researchers in my field are doing really excellent work in this area—Dr. Sally Pusede (University of Virginia) comes to mind, for example. In short, I think that the most important questions are also the questions that require substantive engagement with researchers in other fields who have complementary expertise, and with community groups and organizations whose local knowledge and lived experience can ensure that we as researchers are asking the right questions and producing answers that have real value for real communities.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

Although I wouldn’t have expected this as a graduate student, the easiest part of my research is coming up with ideas.  It’s the rest that causes me trouble—administration, purchasing, wrapping up the loose ends of projects.  A lot of this has to do with the fact that I have ADHD, which I was diagnosed with during the first year of the pandemic.  As I wrote on Twitter (@sarahannestyler) recently, I’m a poster person, not a manuscript person; I’m a relay starter, not an anchor.  Working to reevaluate my strengths and my weaknesses in the context of this diagnosis has been the grand theme of my pandemic experience.  I’m happy to report that my institution, colleagues, and research group have all been very supportive of these developments.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

I will be attending the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina this October.  More importantly, though, all eight of my graduate students and I will be attending the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in Chicago, Illinois this December.  My team is really fantastic, and I encourage readers to meet them!

How do you spend your spare time?

One of the neat things about my ADHD diagnosis is that it’s clarified why I’ve always felt like I am working constantly yet never catching up, and in a way has given me permission to take time off.  Over the past year or so, I’ve been getting really interested in weaving—this past summer, I attended a two-week floor loom workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in coastal Maine.  I’ve also been spending a lot of time with my family, which feels like a true luxury after five years halfway across the country and a year in Germany as a postdoc.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I would love to be an academic in an art history department, as I’ve always been interested in minimalist art (I made a pilgrimage of sort to the Chinati Foundation in West Texas during my MSc) and an array of other art-related topics (medieval architecture, northern European still lifes).  Alternatively, I’d like to return to my undergraduate roots and work in a cafe, making three omelets at a time and baking empanadas.  Or, maybe I could be a full-time weaver (assuming my skills continue to improve?!), as I like weaving’s similarity to programming and the fact that it is very, very tactile—a real counterpoint to my current working life.  I am forever coming up with new ideas.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

I can think of many pieces of advice (not sure about the wisdom part), but the one that comes to mind right away is the importance of community.  The friends that I made in graduate school are the colleagues I see at conferences and talk to on the phone, the friends I talk to about successes and failures, and the friends from whom I learn on an ongoing basis.  Having a network of people with similar values and ethics continues to help me to broaden my view of the possibilities and promise of academia, especially during challenging periods.

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Emerging Investigator Series: Amanda Giang

Amanda Giang is an Assistant Professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus, on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam People. Her research group addresses environmental policy analysis challenges through an interdisciplinary lens, with a focus on pollution, climate, and energy. Key topics of current interest include developing better tools and methods for assessing and addressing air pollution and environmental injustice in Canada, understanding the links between air quality and decarbonization to inform policy and planning decisions, and understanding the combined impacts of global change drivers on contaminant cycling and exposure. She currently serves on the Early Career Editorial Advisory Board for Environmental Science & Technology, and the Editorial Board of Environmental Research Communications. She received a PhD and MS in Engineering Systems and Technology Policy at MIT, and a BASc in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.

Read Amanda’s Emerging Investigator Series article “Investigating the dynamics of methylmercury bioaccumulation in the Beaufort Sea Shelf food web: a modeling perspective” and read more about her in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on Investigating the dynamics of methylmercury bioaccumulation in the Beaufort Sea Shelf food web: a modeling perspective. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

My first experience in research as an undergraduate student was related to characterizing chemical contaminants in the urban environment. That experience really piqued my interest in environmental determinants of human health and well-being, as well as the role of technology and infrastructure. This motivated me to do my graduate studies at the intersection of engineering, public policy, and the environment. My first lead-authored paper was about tracing through what new global mercury policy might mean for changes in technology and emissions, and therefore changes in environmental fluxes and concentrations of mercury. Since then, my research has continued to focus on this idea of trying to link sources of contaminants to their impacts, to inform the design of interventions—whether that’s in the form of changes to technology, policy, or behaviour. What has grown over time is the range of pollutants and impacts I explore, including air and climate pollutants, and impacts to ecosystems, human health and well-being, equity and justice. This most recent article is definitely an example of that evolution: with Dr. Mi-Ling Li and collaborators, we develop an ecosystem-based mercury bioaccumulation model, that we hope can be used to investigate the impacts of human activity and global environmental change on Arctic ecosystems and communities.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

At the moment, what energizes me the most are opportunities to collaborate across disciplines and with partners in government, civil society, and communities. Working in teams on problem-focused inquiry that supports environmental policy, planning, and stewardship decisions is what motivates to do research. And, on a personal level, it’s also just a lot of fun—through these collaborations, I’m constantly learning and being introduced to different ways of thinking and understanding the world. Often these connections are made through students and post-docs who come from different training backgrounds from my own. This article is a great example of the kind of collaborative work that’s really exciting me right now!

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

I think key areas for more research are cumulative exposures to, and cumulative impacts of, multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors on human health and well-being. Not only are people exposed to multiple chemicals at the same time, in complex mixtures, but they often simultaneously experience other environmental (say during a climate disaster) and social stressors (such as poverty and other systemic inequities). Cumulative impacts have been identified as an important area for further research for some time now, in particular by communities experiencing heavy cumulative burdens, but I think there has not been as much progress as there needs to be in our communities of research and practice, to increase our understanding of these complex challenges and incorporate that understanding into policy changes.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

As an early career faculty member, I have to admit that one of the things that I have found a bit challenging is learning to manage larger, complex, research projects with many trainees, collaborators and partners. Collaborative, interdisciplinary research is one of the aspects of my research that I find most exciting, but which also requires learning some new skills! This includes creating space for discussing different goals, priorities, approaches, timelines and constraints, and also just the logistical aspects of coordination! Ultimately though, this complexity and diversity is also what makes the research so enriching and meaningful.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

I plan on attending the American Geophysical Union Fall Conference in-person this year! Other conferences I try to go to include the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, and International Society for Exposure Science, and American Chemical Society.

How do you spend your spare time?

I am a bit of a pop culture nerd, so I spend much of my spare time watching, listening, reading any and everything. I am also newly interested in birding!

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

Related to the above, my non-scientist dream job might be TV critic? I also have several academia-related pitches for series, on the very remote chance that someone from a streaming service is reading this.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

When I think of what sustains me in this career, it’s really relationships. I’m learning that taking the time to care for and nurture these relationships—with peers, with mentors, with trainees, with research partners and collaborators—is so important not only for my research and professional growth, but for my happiness.

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