General Information:
Graduate Programs in Chemistry
Chemistry Department Homepage
Research in Environmental Chemistry 
Environmental Chemistry Laboratory

Course Information:
Chemistry 211 (Gen Chem I)
Chemistry 212 (Gen Chem II)
Chemistry 427 (Aquatic Chem)
Chemistry 651 (Env Chem)
Chemistry Course Descriptions
Recommended Courses for EChem

Good Information:
Get a BIKE, join a CLUB to enjoy nature and get a good work out, and help minimize GLOBAL WARMING by riding to campus.
Find out if the PHARMACEUTICALS AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS you use wind up in streams and rivers.  Learn more about how they get there AND POTENTIAL CONCERNS.
Stick-resistant and stain-resistant materials contain PFOA, a potential carcinogen.  The manufacture of perfluorinated polymers such as Teflon can emit  PFOA.   

Ride on!

Research :
Current research in our laboratory is divided among  assessing urban regions as sources of organic contaminants to coastal air- and watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay region, developing technologies to remove contaminants that harm the aquatic environment, and developing analytical methods. Existing projects are devoted to quantifying organic substances, primarily contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls, in urban runoff entering the Potomac River (Washington, DC) watershed, and characterizing how engineered biofilters act to reduce contaminant loads to streams and rivers in urban regions.  Urban runoff alters water and sediment chemistry and quality.  Treatment technologies can minimize environmental impacts.  The final principal area is the development of new analytical methods for the detection and quantification of emerging organic contaminants in the environment, which is currently focusing on the HPLC/MS and GC/MS determination of pharmaceutical compounds in wastewater discharges to coastal rivers.

Selected Publications:
Hwang and Foster (2008) Polychlorinated biphenyls in stormwater runoff entering the tidal Anacostia River, Washington, DC, through small urban catchments and combined sewer outfalls. J Environ Sci Health A43, 567

Cui and Foster (2008) PAHs and PCBs deposited in surficial sediments along a rural to urban transect in a mid-Atlantic coastal river basin (USA). ) J Environ Sci Health A43, 1333

Shala and Foster (2010) Surface water concentrations and loading budgets of pharmaceuticals and other domestic-use chemicals in and urban watershed (Washington, DC). Arch Env Contam Toxicol 58, 551