Undergraduate Research
Reconstructing the History
of Mercury Pollution in the Chesapeake Bay
Tristan Kading - Honor's
Thesis Research
Human activity has contributed to increased
concentrations of mercury and other metals in the Chesapeake
Bay. The history of mercury and other metal pollution can
be interpreted from sediment cores that are taken from sites
free of erosion and bioturbation. The age of sediment at a
given depth within the core can be deduced using Lead-210
dating. This work examines trends in mercury and other metal
pollution over time through Lead-210 dating of sediment cores
collected from the Chesapeake Bay, continental shelf, and
shelf break.
Undergraduate Research in
Chemistry
A number of undergraduate students have completed, or are
currently registered, under the Chemistry Department URAP
Program (CHEM 155) to do research for credit within the Mason
Laboratory. These students have an independent project that
is related to the work done by the students, or other lab
members, and they are mentored through the semester by these
individuals. In addition, students can do research as CHEM
296. The following students have done research in this manner.
Alex Dozier, Spring 2006, Chem 155.
Alex worked on a project looking at the effect of organic
matter on the binding of methylmercury to iron oxide. His
results were presented as a poster at the student symposium
(link to poster).
Huawen Zheng, Spring 2006, Chem 155. Wen worked
on a similar project looking at the impact of major ions in
solution on mercury adsorption to iron oxide. Her results
were presented as a poster at the student symposium (link
to poster).
Robert Busch, Spring 2007, Chem 155.
Robert is working on a project that will examine differences
in the concentration of mercury and methylmercury across a
variety of ecosystems, focusing mainly on estuarine and coastal
shelf sediments. This work is related to a number of on-going
NSF studies
Michael Spangler, Spring 2007, Chem 296.
Michael will be looking at the concentration of
trace metals in precipitation in and around the Groton region
in an effort to examine the more important local sources in
the area. He will be involved in the sampler deployment, sample
collection and in sample analysis (ICP-MS). He will contrast
his results to those found by other investigations
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