Two Environmental Toxicology Graduate Students Receive TWRI Grants

Two environmental toxicology graduate students were each awarded a grant up to $5,000 from the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) for their water-related research. Deborah Carr’s proposal, “Biotransformation of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) at an Effluent Land Application Site,” focuses on the appearance of prescription, over-the-counter drugs and personal care products in drinking water sources and how soil bacteria and fungi can be used to transform these PPCPs before entering the groundwater. Adcharee Karnjanapiboonwong’s proposal, “Occurrence of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) at an Effluent-dominated Wastewater Application Site: Estrogens, Triclosan and Caffeine,” focuses on what the effects of PPCPs reaching the soil and aquatic environment are at field scale.  This year, TWRI has awarded 10 grants for water-related research to graduate students from around the state through funding from the U.S. Geological Survey as part of the National Institutes for Water Research annual research program. CONTACT: Deborah Carr, graduate student, Department of Environmental Toxicology, Texas Tech University, (806) 885-4567 or deborah.carr@ttu.edu, or Adcharee Karnjanapiboonwong, graduate student, Department of Environmental Toxicology, Texas Tech University, (806) 252-2039 or adcharee.kwong@tiehh.ttu.edu.