Congratulations to Eric Vanhauwaert on receipt of a student poster award for his work on atmospheric passive sampling of PFAS at the Canadian Society for Chemistry’s annual meeting in Vancouver this past June! The Environment Division showcased his work alongside the other award winners in a special online symposium.!!
Indoor Capstone Conference - but not the end of indoor chem
The Capstone Conference for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Chemistry of the Indoor Environment program was held from Oct 18-20 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. Many projects from the group and our collaborators were presented. It was great that the community had this final opportunity to come together to share their findings (and to get a great group photo)! While the program may be at an end, it will not be the end of our work on indoor atmospheric chemistry!!
New GC-MS method for PFCA analysis in environmental samples!
PhD researcher Stephen (RenXi) Ye has developed the first GC-MS method capable of separating and quantifying C2-C14 perfluorinated carboxylic acids in environmental samples. The novel derivatization was designed to yield excellent selectivity with common GC stationary phases, plus we got explore H2 as a carrier gas! We applied this to tap, rain, and ocean water; as well as atmospheric sample extracts! Read more in the full manuscript, published this week in Analytical Chemistry:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c00593
Chalisa presents at the 51st Southern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference in Peterborough
Last Saturday, with a group of colleagues from York University, Chalisa presented her research on the recovery of reduced nitrogen species from complex marine matrices in the Environmental and Analytical symposium. The day was full of presentations, posters, and meeting other chemistry enthusiasts from across Ontario! Thanks for representing the team Chalisa!
Inbound Publications Quadruple the Fun!
Congratulations to group members and alumni Leigh, Melodie, Leyla, and York U collaborator Andrea! The past two months have seen a flurry of publications from the group which originated through collaborations spawned during the pandemic or were completed after fieldwork was delayed by it. Great team perseverance and adaptability on display to create opportunities with wonderful researchers across Canada and internationally!
L. R. Crilley, M. Lao, L. Salehpoor, and T. C. VandenBoer*. An instrument to measure and speciate the total reactive nitrogen budget indoors: description and field measurements. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts. 2023. Accepted. DOI:10.1039/D2EM00446A
C. E. Lawrence, P. Casson, R. Brandt, J. J. Schwab, J. E. Dukett, P. Snyder, E. Yerger, D. Kelting, T. C. VandenBoer, and S. Lance*. Long-term monitoring of cloud water chemistry at Whiteface Mountain: the emergence of a new chemical regime. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 2023. 23:1619-1639. DOI:10.5194/acp-2022-313.
A. A. Angelucci, L. R. Crilley, R. Richardson, T. Valkenburg, P. S. Monks, J. M. Roberts, R. Sommariva*, and T. C. VandenBoer*. Elevated levels of chloramines and chlorine detected near an indoor sports complex. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts. 2023. DOI:10.1039/D2EM00411A
A. D. Stubbs, M. Lao, C. Wang, J. P. D. Abbatt, J. Hoffnagle, T. C. VandenBoer*, and T. F. Kahan*. Near-source hypochlorous acid emissions from indoor bleach cleaning. Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts. 2023. 25:56-65. DOI:10.1039/D2EM00405D
MSc Complete! Congratulations Lindy!
Congratulations to Lindy Carmichael on her successful MSc thesis defense this week! The environmental chemistry contingent gathered to celebrate Lindy’s research success over lunch and cheesecake!
Trevor on CBC Quirks & Quarks - Fatima Research Cruise
Following our adventures on the high seas this summer, Trevor was interviewed about research from a ship science platform to study marine fog by Bob McDonald for Quirks & Quarks. Check out the podcast and article!
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/sep-10-our-summer-in-the-field-special-1.6577787
Congratulations to all group awardees!
The environmental/analytical undergraduate and graduate student contingent have been racking up the recognitions over the past couple of years! Here’s the run-down of some of the great achievements from our team:
2022-23
Seyed Danial Nodeh Farahani: Ontario Graduate Scholarship (International)
Eric Vanhauwaert: Kostas Tsotsos Graduate Award
Yashar Iranpour: Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Leyla Salehpoor: Enbridge Graduate Student Award
Stephen Ye: Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Alessia Colussi: Ontario Graduate Scholarship
2021-22
Alessia Colussi: Enbridge Graduate Student Award and Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Moxy Shah: Gillian E Wu Award in Biochemistry
Stephen Ye: Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Publication Alert: HCl Measurements from Canada!
Our colleague @Teles_Furlani has just published on the validation of HCl measurements by CRDS at pptv levels with 0.5 Hz time resolution! This technique was then applied by @TheChlorineKid (Andrea A. Angelucci) in a second publication examining GEOS-Chem performance in representing coastal and continental chlorine chemistry. Exciting contributions!
Analyst - Passive Sampling of HONO with a BODIPY-based Probe
VDB Group member Danial Farahani (PhD Student, @NitroDanialine) has published the development of a molecular probe for passive sampling of nitrous acid (HONO) for use in surveying indoor environments and exposure! @IndoorChem