Environmental Chemistry
Eunice Newton Foote (1819-1888)
Eunice Newton Foote was a citizen scientist and women’s right activist. In 1856 Foote recognized that atmospheric gases such as H2O(g) and CO2 can cause climate change — three years before its independent discovery by John Tyndall who is generally regarded as the founder of climate science.
Foote was active in the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and signed its Declaration of Sentiments that demanded equality with men, including the right to vote — a right that was not granted in the USA until 1919.
Source: Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_Newton_Foote; www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lady-scientist-helped-revolutionize-climate-science-didnt-get-credit-180961291/ ; Eunice (a short 2018 film) is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxgAOKzOcBU
Ellen H. Swallow Richards (1842-1911)
One of America’s first female professional chemists and the first woman to be accepted by a scientific school, Ellen H. Swallow Richards is best known for pioneering the field of sanitary engineering. Richards performed an unprecedented survey in 1890 that led to the first state water-quality standards in the nation. She is credited for making important contributions to the understanding of environmental systems.
When MIT opened the nation’s first laboratory of sanitary chemistry in 1883, Richards was appointed assistant chemist. Within that time, she participated in sewage treatment research, analyzing as many as 40,000 samples. Her work is distinguished in the final report: “The accuracy of the work and the no less important accuracy of the records were mainly due to Mrs. Richards’s great zeal and vigilance.”
George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
George Washington Carver believed he had a God-given mission to use his training as an agricultural chemist to help improve the lot of poor black and white Southern farmers. He did this by teaching farmers about fertilization and crop rotation and by developing hundreds of new products from common agricultural products.
Late in Carver's life he became a devotee of the chemurgy ("chem" from chemistry; urgy, Greek for work) movement. The term was used to describe scientists, agriculturalists, and industrialists who were determined to put chemistry to work to find nonfood uses for agricultural surpluses.
Source: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/carver.html; https://cen.acs.org/people/lgbtq-scientist-chemist-history/99/web/2021/06?utm_source=Essential
Rachel Carson (1904-1964)
If inspiring the global environmental movement can be credited to one individual, that person is marine biologist Rachel Carson. Her work on how pesticides damage natural habitats had a lasting impact on government, industry, and society. A 1985 article in the EPA Journal calls the US Environmental Protection Agency “the extended shadow of Rachel Carson.” Her 1962 book, Silent Spring, on the detrimental effects of pesticides, significantly affected the way people think about the environmental impact of chemical use, and regulators subsequently banned many of the pesticides she wrote about in the book.
Source: https://cen.acs.org/people/lgbtq-scientist-chemist-history/99/web/2021/06?utm_source=Essential; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson
Katsuko Saruhashi (1920-2007)
Katsuko Saruhashi was a Japanese geochemist who created tools that let her take some of the first measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in seawater. She later showed evidence of the dangers of radioactive fallout and how far it can travel. Along with this focus on safety, she also researched peaceful uses of nuclear power.
Her other major area of significance involved raising the number and status of women scientists, especially in Japan. She established both the Society of Japanese Women Scientists and the Saruhashi Prize, which is awarded annually to a female scientist who serves as a role model for younger women scientists.
Among her other honors, she was the first woman elected to the Science Council of Japan, to earn a doctorate in chemistry from the prestigious University of Tokyo, and to win the Miyake Prize for Geochemistry.
Nina McCelland (1929-2020)
In 1967, while earning her PhD, McClelland became involved with the American Chemical Society. The next year, McClelland was named president and chief executive officer of the National Sanitation Foundation International. During her time at the National Sanitation Foundation, McClelland led the International Clean Water program and served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Water Treatment Chemicals. She also created a Water Quality Index to report water quality in lakes, rivers and streams. After the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed in the 1970s, McClelland also helped create the governmental standard for chemicals to treat drinking water. In 1986, McClelland sat on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Advisory Committee.
In 1991, McClelland was the recipient of the Walter S. Mangold Award from the National Environmental Health Association. In 1993, McClelland spoke in front of the United States Congress Committee on Environment and Public Works to promote cost-effective treatments to assist smaller, isolated communities in accessing clean drinking water. In 1995, McClelland was awarded chairwoman emeritus status and started her own, independent consulting firm. As well, McClelland was later elected American Chemical Society Board of Directors Chair.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_McClelland; https://www.nsf.org/news/nsf-remembers-nina-mcclelland
Mario J. Molina (1943-2020)
The first Mexican-born scientist to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Mario Molina discovered the serious environmental threat posed by chlorofluorocarbon gases (CFCs). Along with fellow chemist Sherwood Rowland, Molina found that CFCs—chemicals commonly used as refrigerants, and colloquially known as Freon—released into the atmosphere were contributing to ozone depletion.
Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/86985/10-game-changing-hispanic-scientists-you-didnt-learn-about-school; Image by https://www-chem.ucsd.edu/faculty/profiles/molina_mario_j.html
Winifred Burks-Houck (1950-2004)
Winifred Burks-Houck was an environmental organic chemist and the first woman president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE), where she served from 1993 until 2001. She was born in Anniston, Alabama on August 20, 1950 and is the great, great, great granddaughter of abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
Burks-Houck worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as an environmental chemist for many years analyzing environmental hazards, minimizing potential threats to worker safety, and ensuring that the lab limited environmental impacts during its operation. Best remembered for her leadership in advancing Black chemists, Burks-Houck was critical in the establishment of NOBCChe on the West Coast. She served as president for an unprecedented four consecutive terms, where she was remembered for her unique brand of leadership, positive attitude, and devotion to the advancement of other black members.
Source: https://chemistry.wustl.edu/news/celebrating-black-history-month-2021; https://cen.acs.org/people/profiles/Six-black-chemists-should-know/97/web/2019/02
Susan Solomon (b. 1956)
Susan Solomon is an atmospheric chemist, working for most of her career at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 2011, Solomon joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she serves as the Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry & Climate Science. Solomon, with her colleagues, was the first to propose the chlorofluorocarbon free radical reaction mechanism that is the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole.
Solomon is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences, and the French Academy of Sciences. In 2008, Solomon was selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She also serves on the Science and Security Board for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
María Esperanza Martínez-Romero
Dr. Martínez-Romero is a Professor of Environmental Science at the National University of Mexico, Mexico City. She received the L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science International Awards 2020 for her pioneering work for increased agricultural productivity while reducing the use of chemical fertilizers.
She studies the beneficial bacteria associated with plants, not only from a basic aspect but also in search of applications. She published a Manual addressed to farmers on the use of biofertilizers. She has given a large number of lectures on the use of biofertilizers to farmers and she participated in the Produce Biofertilization program. Her studies on symbiosis also include animal microbiomes, especially of some insects native to Mexico. She has studied their endosymbionts, which are inherited from mothers to offspring, have reduced genomes, and produce vitamins and essential amino acids for their hosts.
Source: https://www.ccg.unam.mx/en/maria-esperanza-martinez-romero/; https://twitter.com/LuBruGonzaga/status/1281222386801614856/photo/1
Nancy B. Jackson (1956-2022)
Jackson earned a BS in chemistry from George Washington University in 1979. After college, she worked in the ACS education division before leaving to pursue chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned an MS in 1986 and a PhD in 1990.
In 1991, she started a decades-long career at Sandia National Laboratories, first as an energy researcher, then as manager of the Chemical and Biological Sensing, Imaging, and Analysis Department, and later as deputy director of the International Security Center. She retired from Sandia in 2017 as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff.
Jackson had Seneca heritage and served for 2 years as Sandia’s tribal government liaison. She worked with tribal colleges to expand their science programs and helped support marginalized students in science, technology, engineering, and math through the Science and Technology Alliance. In 2005, she received the American Indian Science & Engineering Society’s Professional of the Year Award. The American Chemical Society’s first Native American president promoted chemical nonproliferation and supported marginalized chemists.
Source: https://cen.acs.org/people/obituaries/Nancy-B-Jackson-former-president/100/web/2022/01?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=CEN; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_B._Jackson
Pedro J. J. Álvarez (b. 1958)
Dr. Álvarez's research interests include environmental implications and applications of nanotechnology, bioremediation, fate and transport of toxic chemicals, water footprint of biofuels, water treatment and reuse, and antibiotic resistance control. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in recognition for his pedagogical and practical contributions to bioremediation and environmental nanotechnology.
He serves as the George R. Brown Professor of Engineering; Professor of Chemistry; Director of Nanosystems Engineering Research Center on Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT), Rice University. He is also a founding member of the Nicaraguan Academy of Sciences.
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_J._J._Alvarez, https://twitter.com/LatinXChem/status/1282808137481744385
Diana Aga
Diana S. Aga is a Filipino-American chemist who is the Henry M. Woodburn Chair at the University at Buffalo. Her research considers the presence of contaminants in groundwater. She was awarded the 2017 American Chemical Society Schoellkopf Medal in recognition of her work in environmental chemistry.
Aga, PhD, is an internationally recognized environmental and analytical chemist, and a devoted mentor who has encouraged and helped to launch the careers of a new generation of diverse scientists in her field.
Aga’s research has had a far-reaching impact on the analysis of emerging contaminants such as antimicrobials and other pharmaceuticals, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and engineered nanomaterials, as well as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides in a wide range of biological and environmental samples.
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Aga; http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2021/07/023.html;
Najat A. Saliba
Najat Saliba, an atmospheric chemist at the American University of Beirut, has studied the city’s air quality for years and is now examining the environmental effects of the explosion. She did her Ph.D. work in Southern California and has compared air samples from Los Angeles and Beirut to understand their similarities and differences: both cities are coastal metropolises with a Mediterranean climate and are affected by smoke from forest fires.
She established the first Lebanese atmospheric pollutants database. She became concerned about the open-air burning of Lebanese waste; and showed that the incineration could increase the amount of carcinogens in the air by 2,300%. Saliba contributed to the American University of Beirut Guide to Municipal Solid Waste. She established international protocols for the chemical studies of water pipes. Saliba develops innovative materials and methods to study atmospheric pollutants. In 2018 Saliba's American University of Beirut Nature Conservation Center was selected as one of the top influencing organizations in the regeneration movement by Lush.
Source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.1c00424; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Najat_A._Saliba
Jane Catherine Ngila
Ngila obtained her B.Ed. in 1986 and M.Sc. in chemistry in 1992 from Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. She was awarded a scholarship, AIDAB/EMSS scholarship, by the Australian government. Ngila obtained her PhD in analytical-environmental chemistry from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 1996. She started her career as a tutor in the chemistry department at Kenyatta University in 1989, and was appointed as a lecturer in 1996. She later worked at the University of Botswana (1998–2006) and then as a senior lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (2006–2011) before being appointed a professorship of applied chemistry at the University of Johannesburg in 2011. Ngila has been a deputy director at the Morendat Institute of Oil & Gas (MIOG), Kenya Pipeline Company.
Professor Catherine Ngila was one of five women researchers to receive a prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award 2021. Prof Ngila is regarded as one of the most productive and prolific scientific researchers in Africa. Her field is Analytical / Environmental Chemistry and focuses on water quality and pollution monitoring, methods of water treatment based on nanotechnology, and the development of analytical methodologies for detecting metal pollutants and other chemical substances, including their speciation analysis, in water.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Catherine_Ngila; http://100.newafricanmagazine.com/influencer/prof-catherine-ngila
Joana Correia Prata
In the past 2 decades, countries, municipalities, and manufacturers alike had pledged to reduce their plastic waste and recycle more plastic. Then COVID-19 happened. Governments rolled back regulations and people increased their consumption of plastic masks, gloves, takeout packaging, and more. Recycling centers temporarily closed just as stay-at-home orders triggered falling oil prices that made manufacturing more virgin plastic a bargain. Researchers are already noticing an impact on the world’s oceans.
Joana Correia Prata was alarmed. Since March 2020, the veterinarian and microplastics researcher at Portugal’s University of Aveiro has coauthored multiple publications recommending policy priorities for managing the boom in plastic waste. Carmen Drahl spoke with her about the scope of the problem and her hopes for the future.
Amina Traoré Schartup
As a young girl in Mali, Amina Traoré Schartup wanted to be a philosopher. “There’s something about enjoying the unknown and trying to ask questions about the world around you,” she says. But, inspired by her geophysicist father, she decided that the best way for her to seek answers was science. Schartup attended a French international school in the city of Bamako, and hoped to study geoscience at a college in France. Access to information was scant—Schartup had to travel into town to use a computer because she didn’t have electricity at her house. Despite that challenge, Schartup was accepted into the first college she applied to, which happened to be the only one on her list that didn’t have a geoscience major. Instead, the school focused on premed, and she got her bachelor’s degree in organic chemistry.
Schartup is an assistant professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. Her lab focuses on different aspects of the mercury cycle and includes projects that are purely geochemical and those related to human health. Her career may look planned, but “at every step, you try all these different things,” she says. “One of them works out, but 30 failed.” That’s especially true for students who may have limited access to resources and information, Schartup adds. “If you are in a developing country—give me a call. We can talk,” Schartup says. “That’s a difficult path, that’s for sure.”
Source: https://cen.acs.org/careers/Career-Ladder-Amina-Traore-Schartup/99/i40; https://www.aminaschartup.com/