The California Department of Toxic Substances Control has paid internships available for both graduate and undergraduate student interested in chemicals in consumer projects. The positions are part-time during the academic year and can be full-time during the summer or when classes are on break. More information can be found at this link or by scanning the QR codes above. Our thanks to ETOX alumnus Tom Tam for letting us know of this opportunity.
On Feb. 6, 2025, the UC Riverside held an awards dinner at the Mission Inn in downtown Riverside to recognize faculty on campus who had been promoted or were recipients of national awards. The Environmental Toxicology Faculty were well represented. Below are the names and recognitions received by our faculty. More information about the event can be found in a recent Inside UCR News article.
Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure: Joseph Genereux, Sachiko Haga-Yamanaka and Samantha Ying
Promotion to Full Professor: Emma Aronson
Advancement to Professor Step VI: Jason Cheng and Ryan Julian
Advancement to Distinguished Professor: Dan Schlenk
David Eastmond - Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society Education Award and Women in Toxicology Special Interest Group of the Society of Toxicology Mentoring Award
Our congratulations to all of these faculty members for their promotions and recognitions. [The photo is from the Inside UCR article.]
Roya Bahreini, Professor of Environmental Science and ETOX faculty member, helps lead ASCENT, a National Science Foundation-funded air pollution monitoring project, that allows real-time monitoring of selected air pollutants, and makes the information available on the internet. This information has been particularly useful in tracking air pollution resulting from the recent fires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles and nearby communities. The three Southern California sites, in Pico Rivera, Riverside and Joshua Tree, allow one to see changes in selected pollutants as they move from the Los Angeles metro area through Riverside towards the desert. Roya's work and insights have recently been highlighted in a UC Riverside News article. Our thanks to Roya, her students and colleagues for helping make this resource available.
Western Washington University (WWU) invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in environmental toxicology beginning Fall Quarter 2025. The Environmental Science Department and the College of the Environment support Western’s mission to bring together individuals of diverse backgrounds and perspectives in an inclusive, student-centered university that develops the potential of learners and the well-being of communities. WWU encourages applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this faculty position. A full job description and online application may be found at: Careers at Western | Human Resources | Western Washington University (wwu.edu)
All research foci in the broad field of environmental toxicology are encouraged to apply. Potential areas of research include but are not limited to: multi-stressor research; molecular, biochemical, and physiological responses to contaminants; new approach methodologies; and the use of non-mammalian model organisms. The successful candidate would be expected to leverage state-of-the-art approaches to understand responses to contaminants, contributing to our understanding of contaminant impacts on the environment.
Review of applications begins Februrary 18th, 2025; position open until filled. Inquiries about the position may be addressed to the search committee chair, Prof. Manuel Montaño, at manuel.montano@wwu.edu.
WWU is a primarily undergraduate state institution (about 15,000 students) in Bellingham, WA, 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia and 90 miles north of Seattle. We have developed a strong undergraduate research culture that values excellence in research and teaching.
Haizhou Liu, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and an ETOX faculty member, and a consortium of researchers from several other University of California campuses have been awarded a $1.4 million grant to develop new approaches to clean and reuse agricultural water. More information about their award can be found in a recent UC Riverside News article. The proposed work builds upon recent research by Prof. Liu and other UCR researchers including professors Jay Gann and Yujie Men, two other ETOX faculty members, in which they identified a chemical process where salt commonly found in the wastewater of water treatment plants is able to catalyze the break down of hard-to-degrade poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This research was highlighted in a May 30th 2024 UCR News article. Our congratulations to Haizhou, Jay and Yujie for their important research and the recognition that it is receiving. [The photo above is from the May UCR News article and shows water samples being treated with UV light.]
In 1983, three years after the eruption of the Mt. Saint Helens volcano, professors Mike Allen of UC Riverside and James McMahon of Utah State University traveled to a devastated area on Mt. Saint Helens and released gophers into fenced enclosures for one day. They returned six years later and documented that the areas where the gophers had been released contained thousands of plants whereas the untouched plots remained barren. Now, forty years later Mike Allen, an emeritus professor (and former ETOX faculty member) and Emma Aronson, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology and a current ETOX faculty member, returned and demonstrated that the gopher plots had dramatically different and improved soil microorganisms. Their work was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiomes and was highlighted in UC Riverside News. It was also featured in many other news reports such as this report in IFLScience. Our congratulations to Mike, James, Emma and colleagues for their interesting work and the attention that it has received. [The photo above is of a gopher and plant near the gopher enclosure fence from 1982. It is from Mike Allen and was published in the UCR News Article.]
