Trent Environmental and Life Sciences M.Sc. student Shawna Corcoran will have to adjust her academic schedule in the New Year to accommodate a new scientific research opportunity. It’s a welcome disruption that she says will benefit both her own education and people in a foreign country.

Ms. Corcoran has been selected to receive the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement and will be travelling to Argentina for three months to look at anti-androgens and anti-estrogens contaminants released into surface waters from wastewater discharges and agricultural runoff.

“I have always been interested in chemistry and the environment so this field of study is well-suited for me,” Ms. Corcoran says.

While in Argentina, Ms. Corcoran will be working with Dr. Mirta Menone at the National University of Mar del Plata. Dr. Menone, a Trent alumna, completed her PhD work at Trent more than a decade ago.

“I hope to further my research project with data from Argentina and get involved in other countries,” Ms. Corcoran adds. “I am interested in seeing the differences between Canadian surface waters and Argentina’s surface waters.”

With Dr. Menone, Ms. Corcoran will be studying pesticides in the agricultural watershed of Argentina’s wine region. The area is well known for its wine and the industry uses various pesticides on the grapes prior to the wine production. She will be looking at whether the pesticides get into the rivers and streams. She’s hoping her research could be used to help encourage better regulations on the use of pesticides and more effective wastewater treatment plants.

In her research, Ms. Corcoran will use passive sampler technology, where devices are left in water for a period of time. When they are retrieved, they are examined to see whether any contaminants are absorbed.  It is technology she is familiar with after working with her Trent advisor Dr. Chris Metcalfe, director at the Institute for Watershed Science. Dr. Metcalfe explains that passive samplers haven’t been used in that area of Argentina before so the research conducted could be of great benefit to the region.

"This is a great opportunity for Shawna to have some international research experience, and it also will benefit my colleague in Argentina, Dr. Menone, by having Shawna there to pass along some of our research techniques," said Professor Metcalfe. "It is great that a Trent graduate student is the recipient of this prestigious scholarship."

Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2014.