Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts blog

Frank Wania is Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the University of Toronto, where his research is focussed on the environmental fate and transport of organic contaminants, with a view to gaining a mechanistic understanding of contaminant enrichment processes through a combination of field work, laboratory experimentation and model simulations. Current projects he is working on deal with the development and application of passive air sampling techniques for semi-volatile organic contaminants, the interaction of contaminant fate and climate, the identification of new environmental contaminants by theoretical means, and the quantification of the role of snow in the environmental fate of pollutants.

Professor Wania’s expertise covers the following categories of the scope of JEM: “Source, Transport and Fate” and “Novel Analytical Tools and Measurement Technologies”, with a growing interest in aspects of “Exposure and Impacts”.

For some examples of his latest research in these areas why not try these hot papers:

Mercury fate in ageing and melting snow: Development and testing of a controlled laboratory system
Erin Mann, Torsten Meyer, Carl P. J. Mitchell and Frank Wania
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10297D

Visualising the equilibrium distribution and mobility of organic contaminants in soil using the chemical partitioning space
Fiona Wong and Frank Wania
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10109A

Global climate change and contaminants—an overview of opportunities and priorities for modelling the potential implications for long-term human exposure to organic compounds in the Arctic
James M. Armitage, Cristina L. Quinn and Frank Wania
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10131E

We asked Professor Wania what he thinks the future holds for environmental chemistry:
“I expect some of the most interesting work to arise from collaborative projects, e.g. when modellers and field researchers join forces to design clever field experiments, or when environmental scientists work across the boundaries that have developed over the years, e.g. between the atmospheric science community and the environmental organic chemists.”

You can also read his Editorial for his ambitions for the journal as “the periodical of choice for cutting-edge research on environmental processes and impacts“ here or view the profiles for the rest of the Editorial Board here.