Finding a niche in chemistry, geology, and engineering
New ES&T associate editor Jennifer Field has opened doors for many scientists with her novel analytical techniques.
Jennifer Field is focused and confident as she rides the trails behind her office at Oregon State University (OSU) on her mountain bike during her lunch break. This is also the way she pursues research, sort of. Friends note that Field is brazenly competitive on the trail, but despite several scientific achievements, she isn't one to brag. "Jennifer's just not the type of person who wants to toot her own horn," says longtime friend and ES&T editorial advisory board member David Sedlak, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California Berkeley.
Field was named an ES&T associate editor on September 1. Her expertise is firmly rooted in environmental chemistry, and she has experience in engineering and hydrology. Field has seen much success developing methods for the quantitative analysis of organic compounds in sediment, soil, and sewage sludge. Her work on developing new methods for detecting perfluorinated surfactants and nonylphenol polyethoxy carboxylates, and most recently fullerene nanoparticles, has truly opened the door for other scientists. Typically self-effacing, Field notes that she "looks for niches in science, especially in the places where engineering, geology, and chemistry intersect."
Edward Furlong, a research chemist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Quality Laboratory in Denver, Colo., met Field when she was toiling on her Ph.D. in geochemistry at the Colorado School of Mines. Field has always pursued leading-edge questions in science, Furlong says. "She was always a very focused scientist, very disciplined, a very creative thinker."
Field spent two years "turning her lab upside down" trying to remove all of the polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) from instruments and containers, so she could get clean samples for her work on perfluorinated compounds, explains Sedlak. "Now, more people can measure perfluorinated surfactants because Jennifer showed them how to do it," he says. She began investigating surfactants as a research fellow at what was then known as the Swiss Federal Institute for Water Resources and Water Pollution Control (Eawag) where she worked with ES&T associate editor Walter Giger.
Caleb Banta-Green, a University of Washington scientist who studies drug abuse, has worked with Field for only one year along with several OSU scientists. The team just released their findings measuring the quantity of illicit drugs in urban sewage sludge. "She cold-called me," says Banta-Green about his first contact with Field. He says he marveled at Field's quick turnaround on the work, all conducted through emails and phone calls. "She is easy to connect with, and she is a great teacher," he says.
Field was a guest editor on the December 1, 2006, ES&T Special Issue on Emerging Contaminants, and she will handle the papers in an upcoming tribute to Giger, who will be retiring from ES&T in January 2008. She calls her experience with the special issue "her training wheels" for this editorship. Field adds that riding the trails on her mountain bike is part of what she does to create harmony in her life, despite a high-energy career. "I really value balance in my life, and this is something I want my students to know, too," Field says. "This is where my 11-year-old daughter and husband come in."
