Toxicology and Societies Presents: Communicating About Pesticide Risk

Kaci Buhl, MS is a Professor of Practice at Oregon State University (OSU). She leads the Statewide Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP), working to educate professional pesticide applicators in collaboration with state agencies and NGOs. On the national level, Ms. Buhl is the Deputy Director of the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative (PERC), which creates pesticide-related videos, manuals, exams, and other resources for farmworkers, pesticide handlers, and licensed applicators. Additionally, she’s involved with the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC) at OSU.

Ruth Sofield is a Professor of environmental toxicology and chemistry in the College of the Environment. She received her PhD and MS in Environmental Science and Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Ruth's research group focuses on the effects of water and air pollution. Their current projects include the aquatic toxicity of microplastic and tire wear particles, and the use of moss as a biomonitoring tool for particulate matter. Ruth is a member of the Puget Sound Partnership Science Panel and the President of the Pacific Northwest Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Tracy Collier received his PhD in Fisheries Sciences from the University of Washington. He has worked for over 45 years as a toxicologist, with more than 35 of those years spent at NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center, where he served as the director of a science division that employed up to 100 people, covering several disciplines, including environmental toxicology, analytical chemistry, harmful algal blooms, and watershed processes. He has over 175 scientific publications, and currently is an affiliate faculty at Western.

Ian Moran is a newly appointed Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Western Washington University. He conducted his PhD research at Oregon State University leveraging passive chemical samplers and embryonic zebrafish to investigate the occurrence, movement and toxicity of chemical mixtures at contaminated sites in Oregon and Alaska. As an alumnus of the College of the Environment Ian is excited to be back on campus to teach toxicology courses this year!