Wheaton student wins award at environmental chemistry symposium

Wheaton chemistry major Tom Morgan '04 received an award for ''best student poster'' at the April 24, 2003, annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), North Atlantic Chapter, in Mystic, Connecticut. Morgan presented a poster entitled, ''Mercury in the Wheaton Vernal Pool,'' summarizing the findings of a faculty-student research project conducted last summer by Morgan, Rachel Fontaine '04 and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Janina Benoit.

Vernal pools are bodies of fresh water that exist only in the springtime and that are critical to amphibian reproduction. In view of the worldwide decline in amphibians and the widespread incidence of mercury contamination, researchers at Wheaton and elsewhere are seeking to understand mercury dynamics in vernal pools. Specifically, the Wheaton study is examining the methylation of mercury in the pool and how the toxin methyl mercury (MeHg) accumulates in the sediments and in the food chain.

At the SETAC meeting, Morgan presented the results of the researchers' preliminary study in the summer of 2002, during which they developed sampling and analytical methods to be used in a long-term investigation of mercury in the vernal pool on campus. The team analyzed the mercury concentration of pool soil samples throughout the summer and produced data that set the direction for future research.

SETAC is an international society for environmental chemists. The North Atlantic Chapter's annual symposium, attended by about 50 professionals, graduate students and undergraduates, featured talks on environmental risk assessment, green chemistry and geographic information systems (GIS), as well as the afternoon poster sessions. Morgan was one of the only undergraduate presenters at the symposium, according to Professor Benoit.

The Wheaton team's preliminary study was funded by a grant from the Mars Fellowship Program, established at Wheaton in 2000 by Adrienne Bevis Mars '58 and her husband, John. Since its inception, the program has funded more than 30 faculty-student research partnerships in the arts and sciences.

A resident of Pepperell, Mass., Morgan will spend the summer of 2003 in a different kind of exploration: teaching physics to high school students in South Africa through a program led by Shelly Leibowitz, professor of mathematics at Wheaton.