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In: Andrew Glasgow, Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program, Haoran Wei, PFAS, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Water Science and Engineering Laboratory

An evening view of Lake Mendota from outside UW-Madison’s Water Science and Engineering Laboratory. Image credit: Andrew Glasgow

This summer, 31 students from across the country were chosen for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program, which is affiliated with Wisconsin Sea Grant, the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School. Many of the students provided reflections on what they learned. We’ll share several over the coming months. Here’s Andrew Glasgow, an undergraduate in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

When people hear that I spent my summer on the shore of Madison’s Lake Mendota, many imagine leisurely days basking in the sunshine. While many of my evenings were spent outdoors with colleagues and new friends, the bulk of my daylight hours were instead spent indoors at UW-Madison’s lakeside Water Science and Engineering Laboratory—where matters far removed from summer fun weighed upon my mind.

As part of the Freshwater@UW research program this summer, I worked to develop an inexpensive, accessible method for detection of PFAS in drinking water. PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” are a group of over 4,000 toxic, synthetic substances with high persistence and ubiquity in the environment and drinking water. However, due to the cost and time constraints of current detection methods, many communities—especially those without access to financial resources—cannot monitor their water supply for PFAS contamination. As such, these communities may unknowingly continue to ingest high levels of PFAS, potentially leading to cancer and other health issues. Through my involvement in this project, I sought to help protect human health by combating this state of affairs.

The Ramen Spectrometer used by Glasgow in Wei’s lab. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

My mentor, Haoran Wei, and I hoped to detect PFAS using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS): a rapid, inexpensive technique that uses a laser to detect different molecules. While prepared for failure, we had high hopes for success; SERS’ usage had facilitated the detection of other micropollutants in the past. And to our great encouragement, our hopes seemed to be affirmed by the initial results. With further research, we discovered that these groundbreaking results were not as they seemed; our method had been detecting another substance instead and was thus unsuccessful.

One half of the program had passed when we made this discovery—one month spent performing dangerous and tedious work, in service of an illusion waiting to be shattered. Considering the mental tolls of PFAS work, learning the truth of our results was a disorienting blow, as our confidence and endurance of those struggles now felt purposeless. Not only would our work not improve the current detection methods for PFAS in drinking water, but it could likely not be published for other researchers (despite its value), due to publication bias and the optics of “failed” results.

While my mentor and I still attempted to analyze why PFAS could not be detected, technological limitations unfortunately prevented final confirmation after weeks of analysis. Our project ended on this anticlimactic note.

Despite this conclusion, however, if given the opportunity to live the entire experience over, I would do so in a heartbeat. Although the final research outcome was disappointing, I developed essential skills and learned powerful lessons that I will carry throughout my career. Even more valuable was the opportunity to become integrated into a research community—which, as I discovered, is an opportunity to cherish. When there are new undergraduate and graduate friends to connect with, to mutually share excitements and failures, the weight of any personal defeat pales in comparison. I am very grateful for both the research and the friendships that the Freshwater@UW program provided me.

 

The post A PFAS conundrum first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/a-pfas-conundrum/

Wisconsin Sea Grant

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In: adjusting to adverse research situations, Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program, Jessica Alcorn, Northwest Missouri State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Water Science and Engineering Laboratory

When too much water hinders water research

By Jessica Alcorn, Freshwater Collaborative summer research student

This summer, 32 students from across the country were chosen for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program, which is affiliated with Wisconsin Sea Grant. Many provided reflections on what they learned. We’ll share several over the coming months. Here’s the first, from Jessica Alcorn, an undergraduate senior in general chemistry from Northwest Missouri State University.

Jessica Alcorn. Image credit: unkKinetics

Since I was young, I was interested in chemistry and the environment, and was certain I would end up in a science field. I get much of my inspiration and passion for the environment from my grandfather. He was a hydrologist for the USGS and never failed to discuss his current research with his grandkids any opportunity he had.

As I entered my senior year, I was hoping to earn opportunities and gain experiences that would help me achieve my goals, which include earning a Ph.D. Near the end of the fall 2022 semester, I began searching for summer research programs at universities around the Midwest. The Freshwater Collaborative Program immediately stuck out to me because of the interdisciplinary emphasis in water research. By participating in this program, I hoped to get hands-on laboratory experience, and learn what graduate school research is like. This program exceeded all expectations, was a great experience, and solidified my plans for attending graduate school. 

Throughout this summer, my eyes were opened to what graduate school can really be like. Many things did not go as expected, meaning plans were constantly being adjusted and changed. The biggest, unexpected event that occurred during my time here was the flood in the Water Science and Engineering Laboratory (WSEL).

For my project, I performed a chemical synthesis that produces chlorine gas. Because of this, the synthesis needed to be done in a chemical fume hood. There are only two fume hoods in WSEL that are at the proper grading to support chlorine gas, both of which were on the second floor. On this day, I had just finished my synthesis, put the sash up, and left the room to begin washing the solutions. In the short time I was gone, the sash failed and crashed down, causing the water main to burst. Water gushed from the wall inside and outside of the fume hood. Within minutes, the floor was covered and water was leaking through the floor all the way to the sub-basement. 

The flood made it so I was unable to perform another synthesis at WSEL, it also hindered the work I was doing in my main wet lab. Because of this, I got a few days behind on my research plan. I had to take extra steps to do my everyday tasks. To perform another synthesis, my graduate student mentor and I transported all the necessary equipment and materials across campus to the Geoscience Building, where we gained permission to use their fume hood. I also moved much of my equipment to a different lab in WSEL to continue performing work without the flood damage and maintenance equipment in the way.

Through this experience, I was able to understand how to conduct research, but also how to be flexible when unexpected events occur. Science comes with many uncontrollable events; this experience taught me to persevere and continue making progress through adverse situations.  

 

The post When too much water hinders water research first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/when-too-much-water-hinders-water-research/

Wisconsin Sea Grant