Dr. David K. Ryan is an environmental/analytical chemist whose research interests center around the development of instrumental techniques to determine the various forms and reactions of pollutants in the environment. He has been involved in projects aimed at the assessment of chemical processes and environmental monitoring for over thirty-five years. For nearly eight years, he conducted research at the Edgerton Research Laboratory of the New England Aquarium and performed several studies of contaminants in Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay. These included analysis of trace elements, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other parameters in water, biota, soil and sediments. These projects were funded by the Massachusetts Bays Program, the South Essex Sewerage District (SESD), the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Dr. Ryan has been involved in the analysis of trace metal pollutants in Lake Chapala, Mexico with funding from the Government of Mexico and investigation of the impact of agrochemicals on the waters of Tortuguero, Costa Rica, funded by the Caribbean Conservation Corps. Work in the area of soil remediation has focused on the use of electrokinetics for the removal of inorganic contaminants and soil flushing with surfactants for the removal of organic compounds. Grants from the U.S. Geological Survey through the Water Resources Research Center at UMass Amherst have funded this work. Current research efforts are directed in three primary areas; the use of fluorescence spectroscopy to study the binding of potential pollutants to humic materials (fluorescence quenching/enhancement), investigation of novel methods to measure and remediate trace metal pollutants in soil and water (artificial phytoremediation and field portable electronic tongue), and nanostructured metal catalysts for the production of fuels (hydrogen and hydrocarbons) from carbon dioxide and water. Funding in recent years has been from NSF, DOE, Mass DEP, Bausch & Lomb and the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC).
Students
Current Undergraduate Students
Ryan Hannagan, BS in Chemistry, Senior Thesis, “Development of an Electrochemical Probe for In Situ Detection of Toxic Metals in Water and Sediment”
Current Graduate Students
Mahesh Jayamanna, Ph.D. Candidate (Analyatical Chemistry) “Hydrocarbon Production from CO2 and Water with Sunlight on Zero Valent Iron Nanoparticles”
Kehley Davies, Ph.D. Candidate (Analyatical Chemistry)
Yipei Zhang, Ph.D. Candidate (Analytical Chemistry) ” Tocopheral Extraction and Separation”
Former Students
Dipak Goyal, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) 2014, “Investigation of Phosphatidic Acid as a Curvature Forming Lipid”
Dawn Hengl, BS in Chemistry, Senior Thesis, “Hydrocarbons from Artifical Photosynthesis”
Bingqi Zhu, Ph.D. (Analytical) 2013, “Fluorescence Techniques and Data Treatment Methods Relating the Interaction Between Uranyl Ion and Fulvic Acid and Their Environmental Application”
Rahul Manmode, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical), “Discovery of Two Biomarkers in Blood of the Marine Mussel to Monitor Metal Pollution in U.S. Coastal Waters”
Isso Bayala, Ph.D. BioMedical Engineering & Biotechnology 2008, “alpha-Tocopherol.” “Extraction of Tocopherolquinone from Industrial Oil Waste and Its Regeneration Back to Vitamin E”
Sindhura Mogulla, M.S. in Chemistry (Analytical) 2011, “Determination of α-Tocopherol Quinone in Sunflower and Soybean Oil Deodorizer Distillates by Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography and its Reduction Back to α-Tocopherol (Vitamine E)”
Timothy Martin, BS in Chemistry, Senior Thesis, “Development of Nickel and Vanadium Analysis as a Possible Tracer Technique for Petroleum Hydrocarbons”
Deuk Hwang, BS in Chemistry, 2011, Senior Thesis, “Recovery of Petroleum Hydrocarbons from Tar Sand Using an Ionic Liquid”
Bao Nguyen, BS in Chemistry, 2010, Senior Thesis, “Analysis of Mercury as a Tracer in Raw Petroleum Materials by Long-Path UV”
Ben Salley, BS in Chemistry, 2010, Senior Thesis, “Fluorescence Studies of Metal Complexation by Natural Organic Materials”
Dan Derochers, BS in Chemistry, 2010, Senior Thesis, “Electrochemical Measurement of Cationic Polymers”
Matthew Woodcock, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical), 2008, “Partitioning of Metals in Blood Plasma from the Blue Mussel, Mytilus edulis.”
Julie Nobrega, BS in Chemistry (Senior Thesis), 2007, “Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and GC Analysis of Atropine in Urine.”
Leanna Conway, B.S. in Chemistry (Senior Thesis), 2006, “Use of Field Portable X-Ray Fluorescence in Remediation Studies of Lead Contaminated Soil.”
Patrick McEnaney, B.S. in Chemistry (Senior Thesis), 2006, “Liquid Chromatography/Atomic Emission Measurements of Metal Binding Proteins From Bivalve Blood.”
Norman Lee, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical), 2005, “An Investigation of Binding Between Metal and Soil Fulvic Acid by Aluminum-27 and Proton Pre-Saturation Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry.”
Qi Zhang, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical), 2005, “Analysis and Oxidation/Reduction Studies of alpha-Tocopherol.”
Raja Manjeeth Avanadula, M.S. in Chemistry (Analytical), 2004, “Measurement of Free Metal Ion in Equilibrium with Humic-Metal Complexes Using an NMR Solvent Suppression Technique.”
Julie Nobrega, Summer Opportunity in Science, 2003, “Isolation and Analysis of Humic Materials.”
Jennifer St. Hilaire, B.S. in Chemistry (Senior Thesis), 2003, “Proton Water-Suppression NMR studies on Copper and EDTA.”
Elizabeth Newman, Summer Opportunity in Science, 2002, “Protein Isolation and Protein Characterization Analysis from Bivalve Blood.”
Margaret Larrousse, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical), 2002, “A Novel Technique using presaturation water suppression to measure unbound Copper(II) ion in solution of fulvic acid and EDTA and the use of NMR relaxation measurements and fluorescence quencying to investigate the effect of Calcium on Copper-Fulvic Acid complexation.”
Cheryl L. Coolidge, Ph.D. in Chemistry, Environmental Studies Option, 1999, “Binding of Organic Nitrogen Compounds to Soil Fulvic Acid as Measured by Molecular Fluorescence Spectroscopy.”
Chi-ying Hsieh, Ph.D. in Chemistry, Environmental Studies Option, 1998, “Development of Analytical Protocols Designed to Effectively and Efficiently Monitor and Assess Toxic Chemical Pollutants and Toxicity in Watersheds.”
G. Christopher Butler, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical), 1998, “Investigations of metal-humic complexation using ion-pair reversed-phase HPLC coupled with fluorescence quenching titrations.”
Matthew M. Staffier, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical), 1997, “Bioconcentration of eight metals by the mussel Mytilus edulis in Boston Harbor.”
Xiaojun Liu, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical), 1997, “Characterization of fulvic acids using HPLC with FT-IR spectroscopy and MALDI mass spectrometry.”
Femi A. Obateru, Ph.D. in Chemistry, Environmental Studies Option, 1997, “Microwave acid digestion for trace metal analysis: Atmospheric aerosols, gram quantities of animal tissue and monitoring of digestion progress by fiber optic fluorimetry.”
Michael D. Hays, Ph.D. in Chemistry, Environmental Studies Option, 1996, “Data treatments relating metal ion and organic contaminant binding to soil fulvic acid as measured by fluorescence spectroscopy.”
Hsienching Hsieh, M.S. in Chemistry (Analytical), 1996, “Cadmium Uptake and Depuration in the Mussel Mytilus edulis: A Nonlinear Toxicokinetic Model Approach.”
Chih-Ping Shia, Ph.D. in Chemistry, Environmental Studies Option, 1995, “Determining Aluminum-Fulvic Acid Complexation in Acidic Waters by Fluorescence Enhancement.”
Linda Sulkowski, M.S. in Chemistry, 1995, “Development and Validation of an Analytical Method for Extractable Petroleum Hydrocarbons by Capillary Column Gas Chromatography.”
John W. Duggan, Ph.D. in Chemistry, Environmental Studies Option, 1994, “Enhanced Recovery of Gasoline Hydrocarbons by Soil Flushing with Solutions of Dissolved Organic Matter and Nonionic Surfactants”
Xiaojun Liu, M.S. in Chemistry (Analytical), 1993, “Ion pair reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography studies of fulvic acid complexation with Al(III) and Cu(II).”
Chun-Yi Shen, M.S. in Chemistry, 1992, “Determination of Selected Pesticides in Natural Waters with Solid Phase Extraction Followed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography.”
Karin R. Di Chiara, B.S. in Chemistry (Senior Thesis), 1992, “Square Wave Voltammetry Trace Analysis for Lead, Copper, Cadmium and Zinc.
Robert Guenard, B.S. in Chemistry (Senior Thesis), 1992, “Evaluation of Iridium and Indium as Activable Tracers for Monitoring of Sewage Effluent in the Marine Environment.”
Sheila Feltman, B.S. in Chemistry (Senior Thesis), 1991, “Automated Preconcentration of Natural Water Samples Using Chelation Ion Chromatography for Analysis of Trace Metals.”
Lisa S. Ventry, Ph.D. in Chemistry, Northeastern University, 1989, “Copper(II) Complexation with Humic Materials: A Fluorescence Quenching and HPLC-UV-Fluorescence-DCP Study.”
Holly Ellen Pevzner, B.S. in Chemistry (Senior Thesis), Simmons College, 1984, “Fluorescence Quenching Studies of Iron (II) and Iron (III) Complexation to Real and Model Humic Materials.”