The Scientists at ALEC
Jon Chorover | Shane Snyder | Leif Abrell | Mary Kay Amistadi
The Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC) is co-directed by Jon Chorover and Shane Snyder. Leif Abrell and Mary Kay Amistadi manage organic, and inorganic analyses, respectively. Raina Maier and Jay Gandolfi advise and develop ALEC research efforts, seek new avenues for collaboration, and work to enhance our competitiveness for extramural funding. Selene Hernandez-Ruiz is often busy doing mass spectrometry experiments in the lab.
Jon Chorover Co-Director
(PhD, Soil Chemistry, 1993) is Professor of Environmental Chemistry in the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science at UA. He has authored over eighty publications on biogeochemical processes occurring in soil, sediment and water. Of particular interest are components and processes that influence the form and mobility of metals and organics in the Earth’s near-surface environment. He also has an appointment in Hydrology and Water Resources and Geosciences.
Shane Snyder Co-Director
(PhD, Environmental Toxicology and Zoology, 2000) is a Professor in the Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering at UA. He has been actively engaged in emerging contaminant research for over 15 years with more than 90 peer-review published articles and book chapters. His primary focus of study has been the development of novel analytical and bioanalytical approaches for identification and quantification of trace contaminants in water. He has served on several federal and state advisory panels, including EPA's CCL3 and Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, NRC Water Reuse, and California's Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Recycled Water and Coastal Ecosystems expert panels.
Mary Kay Amistadi Inorganic Analyses
Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science
(MS, Soil Chemistry, 1988) Mary Kay’s research has focused on developing instrumental methods for measuring various species of metals, metalloids and radionuclides using separation methods coupled to ICP-MS.
Leif Abrell Organic Analyses
Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science
Department of Chemistry
(PhD, Organic Chemistry, 1997) Leif has measured and detected biogenic organic compounds, like semiochemicals and secondary metabolites, in trace amounts from animals and plants using mass spectrometry and other organic spectroscopies for twenty years. He has studied how these chemicals interact in ecosystems like the North American Sonoran Desert, Biosphere 2, the Amazonian tropical forest, and in plant-insect relationships. He has also investigated chemical interactions amongst marine microorganism assemblies, mammalian ligand receptors, and in the interstellar media. Most recently he is developing methods for analysis of trace, organic contaminants in complex environmental matrices like breastmilk and treated wastewater.
Rachel Burnett (Research Technician)
Rachel received her Chemistry & Biochemistry degree from University of Arizona in 2016.
