StanfordNSF Environmental Molecular Science Institute

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Stanford-NSF Environmental Molecular Science
Institute High School Science Teachers
Workshop July 21-24, 2009 Gordon Brown, EMSI
Director Stanford University, Stanford, CA
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Some Key Issues in Molecular Environmental Science
Water and Interfaces
Complexity
Speciation
Cr6
Natural Organic Matter
Microorganisms Biofilms
Nanoparticles
Surface Reactions
10mm
Brown Lecture 1 - Stanford EMSI High School
Science Teachers Workshop, July 21, 2009
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Importance of Solid/Water Interface Reactions in
Modern Technology and Environmental Chemistry
Modern Technology Heterogeneous Catalysis
Corrosion Inhibition Chemical Sensors Energy
Storage and Conversion Semiconductor Device
Fabrication Chip-based Biotechnology From the
point of view of the chemist, the structure of
the surface must be of utmost importance, for
the chemical reactions in which solids take part
are practically always surface reactions.
Irving Langmuir, 1916 Environmental
Chemistry/Geochemistry Speciation,
Transformation, and Sequestration of
Environmental Contaminants Mobility and
Potential Bioavailability of Contaminants in
Aquatic Systems Availability of Plant Nutrients
in Soils and Waters Composition of Natural
Waters Chemical and Biological Weathering of
Natural Solids Acid Mine Drainage Corrosion
of Cements, Building Stones, and Metals Almost
all the problems associated with understanding
the processes that control the composition of
our environment concern interfaces, above all,
the interfaces of water with naturally
occurring solids. Werner Stumm, 1987
H2O/a-Fe2O3 (0001)
EDL at Metal Oxide-Water Interface
Brown Lecture 1 - Stanford EMSI High School
Science Teachers Workshop, July 21, 2009
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Examples of Heavy Metal and Actinide Pollution in
Different Environmental Settings
U, Cs, and Sb Plumes in the Hanford Vadose Zone
Heavy Metal and Radionuclide Contamination in the
Hanford Vadose Zone
A.W. Pearsons (2000) Hanford Tank Farms Vadose
Zone Monitoring Project, BX Tank Farm Addendum.
U.S. Department of Energy GJO-98-40-TARA,
GJO-HAN-19
Brown Lecture 1 - Stanford EMSI High School
Science Teachers Workshop, July 21, 2009
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Uranium-Contaminated Sites at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory
Mercury-Contaminated Sites in California
Arsenic Contamination in Bangladesh
Acid Mine Drainage Pond at New Idria Mercury
Mine, CA
Y-12 Uranium Processing Plant
pH 2.5
Ferrihydrite in Acid Mine Drainage Stream at
Klau Mine, CA
S-3 Effluent Collection Ponds
Capped S-3 Ponds
Brown Lecture 1 - Stanford EMSI High School
Science Teachers Workshop, July 21, 2009
6
Attributes of Synchrotron Radiation
Brightnesses 105 to 1010 greater than
standard sealed X-ray tube
Broad spectral range continuously tunable
from the IR to hard X-rays
High degree of polarization in the plane of
the storage ring
Natural collimation and small source size
Pulsed time structure
High vacuum environment
High stability
Brown Lecture 1 - Stanford EMSI High School
Science Teachers Workshop, July 21, 2009
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Brown Lecture 1 - Stanford EMSI High School
Science Teachers Workshop, July 21, 2009
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Stanford EMSI Participants
Stanford EMSI Management Team (Stanford
University) Gordon Brown (Geochemistry - SSRL
Faculty and Dept. of Geological Environmental
Sciences) PI Anders Nilsson (Chemical Physics -
SSRL Faculty) Co-PI Jennifer Saltzman
(Oceanography - Educational Outreach Coordinator,
School of Earth Sciences) Alfred Spormann
(Microbiology - Dept. of Civil Environmental
Engineering and Clark Center for BioX)
Co-PI Stanford EMSI Co-Investigators Hendrik
Bluhm (Physicis - Chemical Sciences Div.,
LBNL) Anne Chaka (Computational Chemistry -
National Institute for Standards
Technology) Scott Fendorf (Soil
Chemistry/Geomicrobiology - GES Dept., Stanford
U.) Satish Myneni (Soil
Chemistry/Surface Geochemistry - Geosciences
Dept., Princeton U.) Kevin Rosso
(Geochemistry/Computational Chemistry -
Environmental Molecular Science Lab, PNNL) Miquel
Salmeron (Materials Chemistry - Materials Science
Div., LBNL) Thomas Trainor (Analytical
Chemistry/Geochemistry - Dept. of Chemistry
Biochemistry, U. Alaska, Fairbanks) Stanford
EMSI Associate Investigators Uwe Bergmann
(Physical Chemistry - SSRL, Stanford U.) Michael
Toney (Physical Chemistry - SSRL, Stanford
U.) Stanford EMSI Academic Collaborators Bryan
Brown (K-12 Science Education - School of
Education, Stanford U.) Georges Calas
(Environmental Geochemistry - IMCMP, U. Paris VI,
France) Guillaume Morin (Environmental
Geochemistry - IMCMP, U. Paris VI-VII,
France) Andrea Foster (Geomicrobiology - Geologic
Division, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park,
CA) Francois Farges (Geochemistry - Geomaterials
Dept., U. Marne-la-Vallee, France) Stanford EMSI
Industrial Collaborators William Addiego
(Physical Chemistry - Corning, Inc.) David
Ellis (Environmental Chemistry - DuPont) Brent
Constantz (Biomineralogy - Skeletal Kinetics)
Peter Wagner (Molecular Biology - Zyomyx)
Brown Lecture 1 - Stanford EMSI High School
Science Teachers Workshop, July 21, 2009
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Stanford EMSI Goals

• 1. To develop a quantitative molecular-level
  understanding of the chemical and biological
  processes occurring at environmental interfaces
  and how they affect pollutant speciation,
  toxicity, mobility, and potential bioavailability
• To explore how such interactions studied in the
  laboratory relate to the complexity found in
  natural environments
• To provide platforms for new approaches to
  address environmental challenges involving
  pollutants
• To recruit a diverse group of qualified graduate,
  undergraduate, and postdoctoral students,
  particularly women, under-represented minorities,
  and people with disabilities, to help conduct the
  proposed research
• To create a stimulating multidisciplinary
  research/learning environment in which students
  and post-Ph.D. participants can tackle complex
  systems and questions relevant to problems in
  environmental chemistry, ranging from molecular
  to field scales
• 6. To effectively disseminate our research
  results to the broader public and to future
  generations of scientists, engineers, and policy
  makers and to engage K-12 science teachers in
  current topics in environmental chemistry

Brown Lecture 1 - Stanford EMSI High School
Science Teachers Workshop, July 21, 2009