Organic Geochemistry

I am interested in the origin, fate and transport of naturally derived organic matter in estuarine and coastal zones and how organic carbon is preserved over broad geological time scales.  I use a variety of molecular markers in conjunction with stable carbon (bulk and compound specific) isotopes as a tool to characterize carbon cycling within the coastal zone.

Emerging Contaminates

Emerging contaminates describes organic chemicals that can be found in the enviornment and can be anthropogenic (e.g. Sucralose or PFAS) or naturally derived (e.g. brevetoxins and microcystin). I am interested in the discovery of new contaminates through mass spectrometry and understanding their environmental fate.
Current research is focused on characterizing and quantifying per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in various environmental matrices.  These include  wet/dry deposition and sediments.  Tools used include low resolution triple quadrupole LC/MS and high resolution LC/QTOF mass spectrometers.

Method Development

While I typical use "off the shelf methodology for my research I do method development when there is not one available. Examples include developing a GC-MS/MS method for the rapid separation and detection of small molecular weight alcohols (e.g. ethanol, n-butanopl and iso-butanol) in aqueous matrices at low nM concentrations. A second  is the development of a method to detect the artificial sweetener Sucralose in aqueous matrices. This work lead to the first reported occurrence of this compound in the United States.