Sunday, June 28, 2009

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.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

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.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

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