Join us for the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America’s 46^th Annual Meeting.

The meeting program is packed with presentations, plenaries, mixers, exhibitors and networking events over four days. A total of 80 oral platform sessions are expected and daily poster sessions, including over 1,000 total presentations.

Chemical Insights Research Institute will be well represented by Shaligram Sharma, David Kalafut, Qian Zhang, Patrick Chepaitis, Cynthia Choo, and Sandra Brown-Ford.

Research Scientist, Chemical Insights Research Institute

Field Research Scientist, Chemical Insights Research Institute

David Kalafut is the Field Research Scientist in the Center for Exposure Sciences within UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights. At Chemical Insights, his efforts focus on the collection and identification of chemical and elemental hazards and particulate matter across different environmental media (air, soil, and water). These environmental samples are the foundation for Chemical Insights’ efforts to evaluate potential human health effects and to evaluate and develop strategies to minimize human and community exposures to environmental hazards. Kalafut employs a wide variety of sampling tools and strategies and is a driving force in Chemical Insights’ effort to integrate high resolution geospatial data with analytical results to determine concentrations and locations of potential hazards.

Kalafut received a Bachelor of Science in Geology from University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Before coming to Chemical Insights, Kalafut worked as an environmental consultant for companies in the southeast with a focus on large-scale environmental exposure assessments ranging from PFAS at military bases, lead in drinking water at elementary schools, to chemical and particulate exposures in industrial/manufacturing centers.

Kalafut’s broad expertise in environmental sampling and familiarity with sampling instrumentation is beneficial for all community-based and field sampling projects that Chemical Insights is engaged in. Kalafut’s work has led to the development of training materials to assist with project-specific environmental sampling needs, a water fountain flushing program for the Nashville Public School system, and an established procedure to sample for the presence of PFAS in large-scale wind propulsion tunnels.

Research Scientist, Chemical Insights Research Institute

Zhang’s research interests focus on indoor and outdoor air quality and pollution, particle and chemical emissions from emerging technologies, human exposure and health impacts. Her experience and expertise include particle and chemical emission characterization, aerosol measurement and instrumentation, aerosol toxicity assessment, and indoor air exposure estimation. Her motivation is to understand the science behind environmental pollutions and associated concerns and contribute to the improvement of the environment and human health.

Zhang received her Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2018. Her doctoral research focused on aerosol emissions from consumer level 3D printers, with specialties in aerosol characterization, aerosol dynamic modeling, and aerosol toxicity assessment. Starting 2019, she joined Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. as a post-doctoral researcher, and became a Research Scientist in 2021. At Chemical Insights Research Institute, she conducts research on particle and volatile organic compound emissions from 3D printing, aerosol emission characterization from electronic nicotine delivery systems, exposure estimation of emerging indoor emissions, exposure mitigation strategy evaluation; and advances her skills in experimental design, field study sampling, data analysis and management. Before she came to the U.S., she received her master’s and bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from University of Science and Technology Beijing, China and worked on water and wastewater treatment technologies.

Beyond publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at domestic and international conferences, Zhang also serves as reviewer and member in scientific communities. She holds an engineer-in-training certification.

Laboratory Manager, Chemical Insights Research Institute

Patrick Chepaitis is a Laboratory Manager with UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights. His research includes analyzing chemical emissions from consumer products such as building materials and emerging technologies such as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). He maintains the Center for Advanced Measurements and runs the analytical instrumentation necessary for the identification of chemicals of concern within ongoing research projects.

Chepaitis holds a Master of Science in Chemistry from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. His undergraduate research experience included an internship with a scientific consulting company studying environmental coal particle emissions within a legal framework. During his graduate work, Chepaitis gained experience in glycan signaling among cells and computational modeling of DNA repair macromolecules. For seven years, Patrick was a forensic chemist with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, utilizing analytical instrumentation to identify controlled substances within evidence submissions. He also validated and wrote a standard operating procedure for new instrumentation at the crime lab.

He is an active member of the American Chemical Society.

Research Scientist, Chemical Insights Research Institute

Cynthia Choo is a Research Scientist in the Center for Exposure Science within Chemical Insights Research Institute. Her work aims to better understand and reduce human’s exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile compounds (SVOCs) in indoor environments. Choo’s research focuses on chemical characterization of the post-fire residue from wildland or wildland urban interface (WUI) fires and exposure modeling to assess corresponding human exposure through inhalation, ingestion and dermal exposure. Using advanced analytical instrumentation like gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS), Choo implements green analytical methods for the analysis of VOCs and SVOCs in different matrices.

Choo received a Ph.D. and a Master (M.S.) in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Memphis. After graduate school, Choo worked as a tenure track assistant professor, at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) teaching undergraduate level foundation of analytical chemistry and instrumental analysis as well as graduate level special topics in chromatography. Besides teaching, Choo remains active in her research. She was a co-PI in a project funded by the Missouri Department of Conservation to study pallid sturgeon’s environmental life history in the Missouri and Mississippi River. After spending 3 years in academia, Choo then went on to work as an R&D chemist for various companies, leading research and development teams to develop new testing capabilities and improving existing practices. Choo is dedicated to mentorship, having served as a research mentor at the University of Memphis. She mentored students selected for American Chemical Society (ACS) Summer Experiences for the Economically Disadvantaged (SEED) program and National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.

Laboratory Manager, Chemical Insights Research Institute

Sandra Brown-Ford, Ph.D., is the Laboratory Manager at the Center for Toxicology and Human Health within UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights. Her work aims to assess absorption models. Brown-Ford primarily focuses on assessing PFAS in first responders and consumer textiles, and long and short-term exposure. Using automated dry heat diffusion and other techniques, Sandra works to answer questions on how much PFAS is absorbed and how this may potentially affect health.

Brown-Ford received a Ph.D. in Physiology from the Medical College of Wisconsin and a Masters in Biomolecular Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After graduate school, Brown-Ford worked as a postdoctoral researcher in innate immunity and genomics. During that time, Brown-Ford managed in vitro studies of TLR4 and TLR2 pathway-response to Staphylococcus aureus infection, such as in Sepsis hyper-immune and inflammation response. In addition, at Concordia’s School of Pharmacy, Center for Structure-based Drug Design and Development, Brown-Ford researched estrogen receptor beta agonists. Brown-Ford is dedicated to mentorship, serving as a mentor to junior scientists as a teaching assistant, and she also served on the board of directors for Elmbrook Schools.

Oregon Convention Center

777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd,

Portland, OR 97232