Environmental Forensics for Persistent Organic Pollutants

Dr. O'Sullivan is an environmental chemist whose technical expertise includes environmental chemistry, environmental forensics, and contaminated land and groundwater. Dr. O'Sullivan earned a BSc in Environmental Sciences from University of Limerick, and a PhD from the Environmental Engineering Research Center within the department of Engineering at Queen's University of Belfast. She has worked on numerous projects including the development of technologies and remedial actions plans for the treatment of petroleum hydrocarbon, chlorinated solvent, and saline impacted sites. She has also designed and managed environmental forensics investigations involving compounds of concern including drilling fluids, petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, methane, and nitrates. She has also authored several successful research grant applications to major research councils, both nationally and internationally. Dr. Sandau is an analytical environmental chemist with expertise in environmental forensics investigations, biomonitoring, data quality and data validation, legal sampling, and expert witness and litigation support. Dr. Sandau obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Western Ontario and his PhD from Carleton University. Dr. Sandau has developed and validated numerous analytical methodologies to quantify many different chemical contaminants and written standard operating procedures to meet the stringent criteria of laboratory governing bodies. Dr. Sandau specializes in evaluating and establishing strict quality assurance and quality control for investigations involving analytical data from sampling techniques and strategies to third party data validation.Dr. Sandau's experience includes working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). At CDC, Dr. Sandau managed a laboratory responsible for the analytical toxicology and exposure assessment of humans to environmental contaminants. He has been involved in numerous epidemiological studies (including recruiting public participation) examining the impact of chemical contaminants on cancer, endocrine function, brain development, and other measures of health impacts. Previously, Dr. Sandau worked at the National Wildlife Research Center measuring contaminants in environmental and wildlife samples with the purpose of examining the biomagnification, biotransformation, and toxicological effects of priority pollutants in the arctic and Great Lakes food webs.Dr. Sandau is currently the sole proprietor of Chemistry Matters and is an Adjunct Professor in the Engineering Department at the University of Calgary where he lectures on the subject of environmental forensics.

1. Brief Overview: Discovery, Regulation, Properties, and Fate of POPs
2. Environmental Regulation and Litigation
3. Sample Collection and Management for Environmental Forensic Investigations
4. Analytical Methodology of POPs
5. Advanced Statistical Analysis
6. Biomonitoring for POPs
7. Atmospheric Fate and Behavior of POPs
8. POPs in the Terrestrial Environment
9. POPs in Marine and Freshwater Environments
10. Future Perspectives and Challenges