Environmental and Human Health

Research in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences explores how human activities and environmental exposures affect people, wildlife, and ecosystems. Drawing on expertise in environmental chemistry, ecology, toxicology, and public health, faculty and students investigate pollutants, assess risks, and develop methods to better understand environmental impacts.

Human Health Risk Assessment

Human health risk assessment estimates the likelihood and nature of adverse health effects from exposure to environmental contaminants. SEES research improves toxicity estimates for chemicals of concern, evaluates emerging chemical exposures, and examines how chemicals move through the environment. Researchers combine exposure assessment, toxicity testing, and studies of chemical transformation to strengthen the scientific basis for risk assessment.

Marine Mammal Stress

Researchers use whale earplugs and baleen to reconstruct patterns of chemical exposure and biological stress throughout a whale’s life. Baleen whales accumulate earwax in layers that can preserve a record of age, exposures, and physiological changes. These records help researchers examine how different stressors interact and contribute to stress in individual whales, species, and populations.

Urban Air Quality

Urban air quality research examines the composition, chemistry, and potential effects of the air people breathe. Faculty and students investigate how emissions, weather, geography, and ecological processes influence pollutants through field campaigns, laboratory analysis, and collaborative research.

Research capabilities include real-time measurements of gases and aerosols, particulate matter sampling, personal air sampling, and chemical analysis. A mobile air monitoring trailer supports field measurements, while laboratory facilities allow researchers to study pollutants and their behavior in greater detail.

Collaborative Research

These research areas connect environmental conditions with the health of people and ecosystems. Faculty and students collaborate across disciplines to develop bioassays, investigate how organisms transform chemicals, and improve assessments of environmental and human health risks.

Explore the Sheesley Research Group and Usenko Research Group to learn more.