Deena Small elected president and three students present at NACSETAC annual meeting

Deena Small, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, was elected as chapter president of the North Atlantic Chapter of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (NACSETAC) at the June 2014 short course and annual meeting, which was held in Amherst, Massachusetts, June 10-13, 2014.  In addition, three UNE students made presentations at the event.

Small’s election is for a one-year term.  She served as vice president of the chapter from 2013-2014 and was a member the Board of Directors for three years previous.  She served as student chapter liaison since 2012.  

Christopher G. Goodchild, a graduate student in the Department of Marine Sciences gave a platform talk titled "AMP-Activated Protein Kinase as a Tool for Assessing Sub-Lethal Stress in Caged Mussels Exposed to Municipal Wastewater Effluents."  His work was conducted under Markus Frederich, Ph.D., associate professor and assistant department chair, and Stephan I. Zeeman, Ph.D., professor, both in the Department of Marine Sciences. 

Claire C. Whalen (Marine Biology, '17) presented a poster titled "Whole Animal and Organismal Responses of Blue Mussels (Mytilus Edulis) Incubated in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent.”   Goodchild, Frederich and Zeeman served as co-authors on the poster.  Whalen won "Best New Student Poster Presentation,” an award given to the best presentation by an undergraduate student who has never presented a research talk or poster at either a regional, national or international meeting. 

Margaret Williams (Biochemistry, '14) gave a platform talk titled "From Small Town Maine to an International Stage- Observing the Global Climate Talks" and a poster presentation titled "Comparing mRNA Expression of Potential Detoxification Enzymes in Mice and Zebrafish in Response to Decabrominated Diphenyl Ether (DBDE) Treatment.”  Small served as co-author on the poster.

NACSETAC is a regional chapter of the international Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) and encompasses all of New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island).  Members include scientists, environmental policy professionals and regulators from government, academia and industry.