Student Recognitions, Awards, and Activities

Several OSU graduate and post-doc students doing environmental chemistry research have received awards and recognitions. Below are some examples.

Krista Barzen-Hansen (working with Dr. Jennifer Field)

  • Awarded a 2015 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Fellowship for her proposal titled “Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances at Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) Impacted Sites: Identification of Unknowns and Effective Chemical Oxidation Remediation Development"
  • Won an Editor’s Choice Award for her 2015 paper “Discovery and implications of C2 and C3 perfluoroalkyl sulfonates in aqueous film forming foams (AFFF) and groundwater,” published by Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 2015, 2, 95-99 (DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.5b00049). The award grants the paper free open access for one year.

Leah Chibwe (working with Dr. Staci Simonich) 

  • Received an Emerging Leader Award from the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. She was recognized at the Annual Meeting in August 2014 in San Francisco.
  • Received one of the 2015 Graduate Student Awards in Environmental Chemistry from the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.
  • Was selected as a winner of one of the 2015 Graduate Student Paper Awards from the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. Leah will present her paper (“Aerobic Bioremediation of PAH Contaminated Soil Results in Increased Toxicity and No Change in Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk”) this fall in Boston at the special C. Ellen Gonter Environmental Chemistry Awards Symposium.
  • Was awarded an Oregon Lottery Graduate Scholarship for the 2015-16 academic year. These scholarships are awarded based upon the academic merit and scholarly achievement of the nominees
  • Received a KC Donnelly Externship Award from NIEHS in 2013

Holly Dixon (Working with Dr. Kim Anderson) has been recognized as an Oregon State University ARCS Scholar. This award is for an incoming or new PhD student in the College of Agricultural Sciences. As an ARCS Scholar she will receive a generous stipend for 3 years to support her graduate studies.

Ivan Titaley (working with Dr. Staci Simonich) was selected by Dr. Dayle Smith as a sponsored fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to get hands-on training in modeling of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. To financially support Ivan on this unique training opportunity, he has been awarded an SRP Trainee Externship Award through the SRP Training Core. This activity provides important synergy between Project 5 and Core C - Biostatistics and Modeling. Read more

Lisandra Santiago-Delgado (working with Dr. Staci Simonich) has been awarded a 2015 KC Donnelly Externship Award Supplement from NIEHS. Lisandra will spend time in Ada, OK with the US EPA working on thermal remediation of PAHs.

Steven O'Connell from the Anderson lab received the K.C. Donnelly Externship Award Supplement from NIEHS in 2012. Steven's award is for his proposal: “Expanding Passive Sampling Technology to Monitor Complex Mixtures at the Lower Duwamish Superfund Site” under the auspices of our new collaboration with  Region 10 EPA to provide experiential and translational training for OSU SRP trainees. Also presented at an NIEHS SRP Trainee Webinar series on his research: Utilizing Silicone Passive Samplers to Expand Environmental Monitoring for the Portland Harbor Superfund, OR. Over 100 people attended the webinar. He had this opportunity since he won first place for Student Posters at the NIEHS Superfund Annual Meeting in Portland, OR from Nov. 10-12, 2010.

Sarah Allan from the Anderson lab was highlighted by NIEHS SRP as a success story. 

Dr. Kim Anderson's graduate students contributed to an article in The Daily Barometer at OSU. Group Obtains Toxicological Survey of Gulf

Norman Forsberg received the OSU Diversity Advancement Pipeline Fellowship from the OSU Graduate School for the 2012-13 academic year. Norm will receive one academic year of funding which includes both a full stipend and tuition remission. Norm will use this award to complete his PhD in Dr. Kim Anderson's research group with SRP Project 4.

Dr. Staci Simonich and some of her graduate students (Project 6) attended the 23rd International Symposium on Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds in Germany. Her student, Narumol Jariyasopit, received the "best student poster" award.

An EMT graduate student seminar took place in Winter 2011 on Preparing Effective Outreach Modules for Middle School Students. Using the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill as a context for the outreach activity, the graduate students created three hands-on activities to teach the concepts of mass, chemical separation, analytical chemistry, and data analysis.

Yuling Jia, a post-doc in the Simonich Lab helped produce videos for the SRP Community Engagement Core to train members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) how to use the personal air samplers.

On January 7, 2011, graduate students participated in the EMT Research Day sponsored by the Department of Enviornmental Toxicology and the Environmental Health Sciences Center.