Features

SAS Colloquium Review: Contaminants of Emerging Concern

By Olivia Scheibl (oscheibl@css.edu)

November 22, 2024

      The term contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) was introduced on Friday Nov. 8 in the St. Scholastica Library’s Raven Room during the College’s third colloquium event. Members of the public, faculty and students gathered to hear the head of the college’s chemistry department, Dr. Heather Brown, present the work she and her students did to identify CECs in the Duluth region.

     Brown, an analytical chemist, began her presentation with a brief introduction of her career path. After completing Graduate School and receiving a job at St. Scholastica, Brown realized that she desired to research a topic that was relevant and meaningful, not only to herself, but also to the students who would be helping her with the project. Brown settled on developing a new method of identifying contaminants of emerging concern that would be understandable and affordable so that people interested in testing for these chemicals wouldn’t need to spend thousands.  

     At this point, most non chemists are likely wondering what CECs are. Brown thoroughly addressed this in the talk, explaining that they are chemicals, such as cholesterol, that don’t occur naturally but are present in nature, typically in the surface water of lakes. 

     No one knows exactly how these chemicals get into nature, but one theory proposes that these chemicals pass through the human digestive system and are deposited in the water through human waste. However they get there, the CECs are usually present in a relatively low concentration. Nonetheless, the increase and continuance of these CECs in the water could lead to harm for our planet and ourselves.

      In order to work on cleaning the water of these contaminants, one must first identify if they’re present, which is where Brown’s research comes into play. She and her students had the idea to create a detector that can show the presence of certain contaminants by producing light. This device works in connection with a specific smartphone. A sample of water is taken and put on a slide in the device, the device then produces an illumination with a laser if any one of five specific contaminants are present. The phone then takes a picture of the light and an app is used to understand the results. 

     This device, which is still in the creation process, has had hours and hours of labor put into it by both Brown and the nineteen students who worked with her. Brown remains optimistic that this device will eventually be ready for sale and will enable the ordinary person to collect important information about the presence of CECs in the water and the environment.