Noriko Nishino selected for Outstanding TA Award

Noriko Nishino, a current ETOX student working with Drs. Arey and Atkinson, was recently awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the Department of Environmental Sciences. Above is a picture of Noriko (holding certificate) and Lynnie Cua. Our congratulations to Noriko for this nice recognition.

2009 Annual Student Symposium Photos

This year's annual student symposium took place on Tuesday June 23 at the Botanic Gardens. The weather was very pleasant and for the first time in many years, we did not need to use the air conditioning. There were 21 excellent student presentations as well as a hosted lunch and evening reception. Noriko Nishino won the T. Roy Fukuto award, Kelly Thrippleton Hunter and Jean-Paul Baquiran were honorable mentions, and Gayatri Sankaran received the award for best 1st year student presentation. The students gave the outstanding mentor award to Janet Arey and their choice for best presentation also went to Noriko Nishino. The seminar committee did a great job in planning and organizing the event. Our thanks go to Dawn Huffman and the members of the Student Symposium Committee (Dr. Paul Ziemann, Seminar Chair, Dr. Janet Arey, Richard Belcher, Zhenshan Chen, Lynnie Cua, Lei Ren, Kristy Richardson and Gayatri Sankaran) for organizing the Symposium and Reception. Special thanks to Zhenshan Chen who took most of the photos which are posted below.

Yinsheng Wang, the Program Director (on left) and the student award winners (from the right, Noriko Nishino, Gayatri Sankaran, J.P. Baquiran, Kelly Thrippleton Hunter).

Janet Arey with her outstanding mentor plaque and Zhenshan Chen

Kristy Richardson and Katy Zimmerman announcing the students' choice award.

Kristy Richardson presenting a gift card to Noriko Nishino.

First year students (Kristi Capsel, Si Bui, Gayatri Sankaran, Minh Vuong

Yehong "Heather" Wang with her child

Students in Bob Krieger's lab

Kelly Thrippleton Hunter and Lynnie Cua

JP Baquiran and Lei Ren

Zhenshan Chen and Gayatri Sankaran

An evening group shot.

Commencement Photos

The Environmental Toxicology Program was very well represented at UCR's Commencement ceremonies that took place on June 7. Eight students (Melinda Bigelow Dyk, Noriko Nishino, Kelly Thrippleton Hunter, Yanhong Li, Wesley Hunter, Homero Camacho, Yehong "Heather" Wang, and Mae Nillos) who have finished their dissertation this past year (or plan to finish shortly) were hooded by their faculty advisors. Below are a number of photos of most of the graduating students in their robes.

Belated congratulations to Wesley Hunter and Mae Nillos

I am a little slow posting this but didn't find out about it until this past week. Wesley Hunter's poster entitled, "Sampling pyrethroid bioavailability with disposable PDMS fibers." was selected as the Best Student Poster Presentation at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 5th World Congress in Sydney, Australia, last fall. Mae Nillos's poster was given an honorable mention. Our congratulations to both Wesley and Mae for this nice recognition. Above is a picture of Wesley and his wife Katie who was able to travel to Australia with him.

News and a photo from alumna Mary Ann Rempel-Hester

Things are going pretty well here. I got married two weeks after finishing my degree, and moved back up to the Pacific Northwest where I grew up. We recently bought a cute old house overlooking Puget Sound in Bremerton, Washington, across the water from Seattle. There's a bald eagle that hangs out near our house. It's pretty neat to look out the front window and see him flying by. In December 2007 I started working for Nautilus Environmental, a consulting company that specializes in aquatic toxicology. I'm currently in charge of the Washington state operations; we have a laboratory in Tacoma, Washington. My husband works for a competing firm, which makes for interesting dinner time conversation :). Brian and I are also trying our hands, in our spare time, at breeding polychaetes, Neanthes arenaceodentata, which are commonly used in evaluating marine sediment toxicity.Yes, we are science nerds. The picture is of Brian and I at the Grand Tetons on a family trip last summer.

Have fun at the symposium, and congrats to everyone that's graduating this year!!

Mary Ann Rempel-Hester

News and a photo from Genevieve Obermeyer

Genevieve Obermeyer (M.S. 2008) is the proud mother of a son (Leo Thomas Wen) who was born May 28. Above is a photo of Genevieve and her little boy. She says that so far she is loving motherhood. We are very happy for Genevieve and wish her the best in this new phase of her life.

News and two photos from alumna Tracey Varvel

ETOX alumna Tracy Varvel (M.S., 2003) sent the following message and photos of her son.

I am still working for Ana-lab as the Assistant Manager of Quality Assurance. I began telecommuting in March due to my husband's promotion and our subsequent move to El Paso, TX. I must say, working out of your home takes some getting used to, but has some definite benefits.

On a personal note, our son is growing like a weed and talking up a storm. I have attached a a couple of recent photos of him. He will turn 2 this July.

I wish all of the presenters the best of luck.