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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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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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Poster prize winners at EMCON 2021

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Science journals were delighted to sponsor student poster presentation prizes at EMCON 2021, which took place Online (hosted by the University of Washington) from the 13th – 14th September this year.

Prizes were awarded to the following students, on behalf of Environmental Science: Processes & ImpactsEnvironmental Science: Water Research & TechnologyEnvironmental Science: NanoEnvironmental Science: Atmospheres and Environmental Science: Advances.

Christopher Knutson, University of Iowa
‘Computational approaches for the prediction of environmental transformation products: Chlorination of steroidal enones’

Jonathan Beherens, Duke University
‘Towards a Tiered Approach to Assess Effects of Contaminant Mixtures in Urban Streams’

Mira Chaplin, University of Michigan
‘Towards Predictive Models of Viral Inactivation by Chlorine’

Madhusudan Kamat, Louisiana State University
‘Use of UV LEDs for halogen based advanced oxidation processes for removal of micropollutants from DOM-rich water’

Sasha Gallimore, University at Buffalo
‘Assessing haloacetonitrile formation from model nitrogenous precursors’

Congratulations to Christopher, Jonathan, Mira, Madhusudan & Sasha!

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Themed Issue Open for Submissions: Wildfires – influence on air, soil and water

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts seeks your highest impact research for our upcoming Themed Issue dedicated to Wildfires – Influence on air, soil and water.

Guest Edited by Alex Chow (Clemson University, USA) and Lu Hu (University of Montana, USA)

Ash and smoke from wildfire and prescribed fires can contaminate soil, air, and water, impacting millions of people worldwide every year. The burn area, frequency, and severity are predicted to continue increasing under a future warmer climate. In addition to the dangers of heat from an active fire, fire smoke emits hundreds if not thousands of air toxins, posing significant threats to public health and wildlife. Ash and fire retardants negatively affect soil and water quality, threatening aquatic biotics, agricultural operation, and municipal water supplies downstream. Long-term changes in vegetation composition and land cover can also alter nutrient cycles, ecosystem function, and even climate.

Despite its significant impacts on the environment, there are still many knowledge gaps on the environmental chemistry of wildfires – from essential and trace elements, heavy metals, nutrients, organic compounds, to pyrogenic and black carbon. Furthermore, studies connecting these chemicals among air, soil, and water are extremely limited. This wildfires-themed issue is to encourage the communication and understanding from atmospheric, soil and water chemistry. Laboratory, field, numerical model, and remote sensing approaches to study the processes and impact of wildfires and prescribed fire on either soil, water, air, climate, or the interfaces among them are welcome.

Submissions due: 31st March 2022

Submit your work now: mc.manuscriptcentral.com/em

Upon submission, please add ‘Invited for the Wildfires themed issue’ in step 4 of the submission process. All manuscripts will undergo initial assessment and peer review as per the usual standards of the journal.

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Announcing new appointments to the ESPI Editorial Board

We are delighted to announce that we have expanded the Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Editorial Board and are very pleased to introduce the newest members of the team.

These Editorial Board members join the rest of the team adding expertise in topic areas such as environmental health & (eco)toxicology; atmospheric chemistry; environmental organic chemistry; interfacial environmental science and much more.

 

About the new team members

Katye Altieri’s research interests include air pollution in coastal cities, the impact of human activities on surface ocean biogeochemistry, and studying the remote marine atmosphere of the Southern Ocean.

Ludmilla Aristilde’s research group employs a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches to gain insights into the biological and chemical mechanisms that control environmental organic processes, towards predicting natural carbon cycling and innovating engineered carbon recycling.

Amila de Silva’s expertise areas are fate, transport and disposition of organic contaminants in the environment; she uses a combination of field and lab experiments to discern their ecological risk based on persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity and long range transport potential.

Beate Escher’s research interests focus on mode-of-action based environmental risk assessment, including methods for initial hazard screening and risk assessment of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, disinfection by-products and persistent organic pollutants with an emphasis on mixtures.

Mingliang (Thomas) Fang’s research includes applications of mass spectrometry methods to identify emerging organic contaminants, measure human exposure, and assess potential health effects. Bioassays and omic technologies are also employed for risk assessment and identifying toxicity mechanisms.

Weihua Song’s research interests are in the area of Environmental Chemistry, particularly the occurrence, transformation, and fate of emerging contaminants in aqueous environments.

 

Read their work recently published in ESPI

 

We welcome all these new members to the Editorial team of ESPI. They join the existing team of Kris McNeill, Delphine Farmer, Marianne Glasius, Helen Hsu-Kim, Matt MacLeod, Desiree Plata, Paul Tratnyek and Lenny Winkel, with expertise covering all areas of the journal scope as shown in this illustration. Their breadth of expertise illustrates the breadth of research that we welcome to the journal.

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts publishes high quality papers in all areas of the environmental chemical sciences, including chemistry of the air, water, soil and sediment. We welcome your future submissions to the journal in any of these topic areas and would be delighted to hear from you if you are interested to submit to us.

We also offer a range of Open Access solutions to comply with your funding requirements and maximise the visibility of your research. More details can be found at rsc.li/oa

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE JOURNAL HOMEPAGE

 

Meet the ESPI team

 

 

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The RSC Environmental Science Journals are supporting EMCON 2021

We are delighted to announce that the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Science Journals are supporting the 7th International Conference on Emerging Contaminants!

This event will be held virtually on September 13-14, 2021, where you can expect to hear the latest research news and

discoveries about the environmental chemistry of emerging environmental contaminants and their management. Virtually reconnect with old colleagues, and meet new friends from around the world while discussing your exciting research and ideas together as a community.

EMCON 2021 will cover all aspects of emerging contaminant research while emphasizing cutting edge and novel research on microplastics, biomolecules, roadway runoff, transformation products, ecotoxicology, advanced mass spectrometry and other new analytical techniques, and new emerging contaminants as conference themes.

You can expect scientific talks, a virtual poster session (with five poster prizes supported by the RSC’s Environmental Science journals), a round of lightning talks, ‘what went wrong in lab’ stories and opportunities for informal meetups. Pre-recorded content will allow both synchronous and asynchronous attendance and interaction.

Find out more at https://cvent.me/7kvWG9

Abstract deadline: June 16th

Early bird registration deadline: July 1st 

Submit your abstract to emcon2021@uw.edu today!

 

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The RSC Environmental Science Journals are supporting DIOXIN 2021

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Science journals are delighted to support the 49th International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants (DIOXIN 2021), which takes place from August 22-25th, 2021. The event will take place both at Xi’an Jianguo Hotel, Xi’an, China, and remotely, as live sessions will be streamed online.

The topics covered will include:

  1. Sampling and analysis
  2. Formation and emissions
  3. Environmental persistent free radicals
  4. Distribution, transport and fate
  5. Exposure and Risk assessment
  6. Toxicology and epidemiology
  7. Control strategies and technologies
  8. Implementation of the Stockholm Convention
  9. POPs in polar regions: Arctic, Antarctic, and the Tibetan Plateau
  10. Screening and recognition of novel contaminants

Key dates

Registration deadline: 31st July 2021 │ Register here

Abstract Submission Deadline: 15th June 2021 │  Submit your abstract here

Click here to find out more about DIOXIN 2021

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New Editorial Board Member: Amila De Silva

We are delighted to announce that Amila De Silva has joined the Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Editorial Board!

Amila De Silva is a research scientist in the Government of Canada in the Water Science Technology Directorate located in Burlington, Ontario. She received her PhD in environmental chemistry from the University of Toronto in 2008. Her expertise areas are fate, transport and disposition of organic contaminants in the environment. In addition to the discovery of new contaminants with advanced analytical chemistry, Amila uses a combination of field and lab experiments to discern their ecological risk based on persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity and long range transport potential. Amila holds adjunct Professor appointments at the University of Toronto and Memorial University.

Read her work in the journal:
Emerging investigator series: a 14-year depositional ice record of perfluoroalkyl substances in the High Arctic
John J. MacInnis, Katherine French, Derek C. G. Muir, Christine Spencer, Alison Criscitiello, Amila O. De Silva* and Cora J. Young*
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6EM00593D

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Latest HOT, Review and Open Access content from ESPI

We are delighted to share with you a hand-picked selection of papers recently published in Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (ESPI).

HOT papers – as recommended by our Editors & Reviewers

Interactions of emerging contaminants with model colloidal microplastics, C60 fullerene, and natural organic matter – effect of surface functional group and adsorbate properties
Tyler Williams et al

Biodegradation kinetics testing of two hydrophobic UVCBs – potential for substrate toxicity supports testing at low concentrations
Rikke Hammershøj et al

An emerging mobile air pollution source: outdoor plastic liner manufacturing sites discharge VOCs into urban and rural areas
Seyedeh Mahboobeh Teimouri Sendesi et al

Read more HOT papers at rsc.li/espi-hot

Reviews & Perspectives – timely overviews of key topics in environmental science

A review of aerosol chemistry in Asia: insights from aerosol mass spectrometer measurements
Wei Zhou et al

Passive air sampling for semi-volatile organic chemicals (Open Access)
Frank Wania and Chubashini Shunthirasingham

Effects of aging and weathering on immobilization of trace metals/metalloids in soils amended with biochar
Yuchi Zhong et al

Read more Reviews at rsc.li/espi-reviews

Open Access – read for free!

An overview of the uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
Juliane Glüge et al

The importance of aromaticity to describe the interactions of organic matter with carbonaceous materials depends on molecular weight and sorbent geometry
Stephanie Castan et al

The ecological half-life of radiocesium in surficial bottom sediments of five ponds in Fukushima based on in situ measurements with plastic scintillation fibers
Estiner Walusungu Katengeza et al

Read more Open Access content at rsc.li/espi-oa

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

We hope you enjoy reading these papers, and we welcome your future submissions to the journal.

Submit to Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts

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Cryosphere chemistry – Themed Collection in ESPI

We are delighted to highlight some of the latest cryosphere chemistry studies published in Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts.

This themed collection, Guest Edited by Rose Cory and Kerri Pratt (University of Michigan), showcases studies on chemical processes in sea ice, snow, glaciers, ice sheets and permafrost soils. This includes atmospheric chemistry (atmospheric aerosols and trace gases) biogeochemistry (chemical weathering and organic matter chemistry) as well as laboratory, field and modeling studies.

"This ESPI collection includes results of recent laboratory and field studies of the interactions between the snow, ice and overlying atmosphere" - Guest Editor Kerri Pratt, University of Michigan

Atmospheric chemistry is understudied in the Cryosphere, cold regions of the Earth that are seasonally or continually covered with snow and ice, yet these regions represent areas of significant climate change. Snow and sea ice are sources and sinks of atmospheric trace gases and aerosols, with impacts on surface albedo, cloud formation and properties, air quality, and meltwater. The critical need to understand air-ice interactions in these cold regions is exemplified by the emerging international activity The Cryosphere and Atmospheric Chemistry (CATCH), supported by IGAC and SOLAS, which aims to facilitate atmospheric chemistry research within the international community, with a focus on natural processes specific to cold regions of the Earth. This ESPI collection includes results of recent laboratory and field studies of the interactions between the snow, ice, and overlying atmosphere, described by Kirpes et al., Ruggeri et al., Hullar et al., and Hara et al.

An outstanding CATCH question surrounds the locations, kinetics, and mechanisms of reactions on and within snow grains, as this knowledge is required to understand and simulate air-ice interactions. Hullar et al. present a laboratory study of the photodegradation of guaiacol in solution, ice, and at the air-ice interface, showing that photodegradation rate is faster within liquid-like regions in ice and especially at the air-ice interface and therefore cannot be approximated by bulk solutions. This work further demonstrates the uniqueness of reactions occurring on snow and ice surfaces in cold regions and the need for future study, both in the field and through fundamental laboratory studies.

Photodecay of guaiacol is faster in ice, and even more rapid on ice, than in aqueous solution
Ted Hullar et al.
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EM00242A

The cryosphere contains about twice the amount of carbon found in our atmosphere, in the form of organic carbon locked away in a deep freeze in permafrost soils (perennially frozen ground).  As permafrost soils warm and thaw, the organic carbon in these soils decomposes into the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4).  Release of CO2 and CH4 from thawed permafrost soils will raise global temperatures beyond what our fossil-fuel-based carbon emissions would do on their own.  For example, current models predict a loss of permafrost that could raise global temperatures by an additional 0.3 to 0.4 °C by 2100; a feedback called Arctic Amplification of climate change.

"The papers in this special issue help reduce uncertainties by studying processes that decompose permafrost organic carbon to CO2 or CH4" - Guest Editor Rose Cory, University of Michigan

However, there is much uncertainty in these models because the processes that control the decomposition of permafrost organic carbon to CO2 and CH4 remain poorly understood. The papers in this collection help to reduce uncertainties by studying processes that decompose permafrost organic carbon to CO2 or CH4.  For example, in thawed soils, microbially-mediated redox reactions convert organic carbon to CO2 or CH4.  These redox reactions depend on the availability of electron donors and acceptors in soils, which in turn, vary by landscape position and hydrology (Philben et al.).  Redox reactions in permafrost soils also control the availability of nutrients like phosphorous, that in turn will help regulate the potential of these soils to store or release carbon as they thaw (Herndon et al.).

As permafrost soils thaw, organic carbon in the soil dissolves and flows into the many lakes across the Arctic landscape.  As evidence mounts that arctic lakes are strong sources of greenhouse gases from the cryosphere to the atmosphere, more questions emerge about the timing and drivers of these gas fluxes.  The paper by Eugster et al. is the first to show that while gas fluxes vary during the ice-free season and across years, no large episodic events associated with spring ice-off or other mixing events occurred over 6 years of continuous eddy flux measurements in a deep arctic lake. However, that may change in the future, as more permafrost organic carbon flows into lakes.

Gagne et al. showed that permafrost organic carbon is rapidly converted to CO2 once exposed to sunlight.  Exposure of permafrost organic carbon to sunlight in lakes is inevitable as permafrost soils thaw and export this ancient carbon into increasingly ice-free waters.  And, Ward and Cory show that our concerns don’t stop with the complete oxidation to CO2.  Soil organic carbon is also partially oxidized by sunlight, which in turn controls its susceptibility to complete oxidation to CO2.

Composition and photo-reactivity of organic matter from permafrost soils and surface waters in interior Alaska
Kristin R. Gagné et al.
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EM00097C

Finally, the interactions between permafrost soils and receiving lakes are featured in a synthesis paper by Burpee and Saros, highlighting key knowledge gaps on the feedbacks between loss of the cryosphere on land and in water.

With permafrost loss already under way across the Arctic, we need more research in this area of cryosphere chemistry to predict the Arctic Amplification of climate change and impacts on society. A 2016 Scientific American article by John Berger summarized it best: “The faster these gases emerge from the permafrost, the less carbon human society can release and still keep global temperatures from rising far above the aspirational temperature targets set by the Paris accord.”

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