The Scientists at ALEC

The Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC) is co-directed by Jon Chorover and John Chesley. Leif Abrell and Mary Kay Amistadi manage organic, and inorganic analyses, respectively. Raina Maier and Jay Gandolfi advise and develop ALEC research efforts, seek new avenues for collaboration, and work to enhance our competitiveness for extramural funding.

Jon Chorover Co-Director
(PhD, Soil Chemistry, 1993) is Professor of Environmental Chemistry in the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science at UA. He has authored over sixty publications on biogeochemical processes occurring in soil, sediment and water. Of particular interest are components and processes that influence the form and mobility of metals and organics in the Earth’s near-surface environment. He also has an appointment in Hydrology and Water Resources and Geosciences.

John Chesley Co-Director
(PhD, Geochemistry, 1993) is a Research Scientist and Development Coordinator in the Department of Geosciences at UA. His research includes using elemental, isotopic and noble gas geochemistry in research areas involving the tracing of fluids, dust and other components in large and small-scale earth processes. He has also employed elemental and isotopic techniques for the identification and quantification of pollution sources in natural ecosystems and biologic food webs. He has over 40 peer-reviewed publications in the field of earth science.

Mary Kay Amistadi Inorganic Analyses
Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science
(MS, Soil Chemistry, 1988) Mary Kay’s research has focused on developing instrumental methods for measuring various species of metals, metalloids and radionuclides using separation methods coupled to ICP-MS.

Leif Abrell Organic Analyses
Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science
Department of Chemistry
(PhD, Organic Chemistry, 1997) Leif’s research has focused on the analysis of biogenic organic compounds, like semiochemicals and secondary metabolites, in trace amounts from animals and plants using mass spectrometry. He has studied insect-plant systems in the Sonoran Desert and Biosphere 2, marine microorganism assemblies, mammalian ligand receptors, and interstellar chemistry.