Environmental toxicology: Focus is on the biogeochemistry of chemical species particularly heavy metals and metalloids, pesticides, and inorganic nutrients as influenced by both natural and anthropogenic induced environmental conditions. Specifically, I look at the fate, speciation, mobility and bioavailability of these chemical species in the environment. Toxicity of a chemical substance is a function of dose and chemical form (speciation). Some of the factors I consider when dealing with biogeochemistry and toxicity include pH, ionic strength, natural organic matter, mineral oxide sorption sites, metal-metal interactions, temperature, light, anions, particulates and engineered nanoparticles.
Analytical Method development: Focus is on developing analytical methods to detect and quantify nano-levels of toxic chemical species in environmental samples; and methods to remove the toxicants from drinking water and wastewater. Because of the increase in knowledge about the toxicity of both synthetic and natural chemicals substances, quality standards, particularly in food and drinking water, are increasingly becoming more stringent. This development poses both analytical and engineering challenges; first there is a need to develop methods that will detect and quantify levels that match the standards and secondly, efficient technological methods to remove contaminants from drinking water, for example, will need to be developed in order to meet the standards.
