Larissa Montas, a PhD candidate in the College of Engineering’s Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, presented her research, entitled, “Integrating the Results from a Fate and Transport Model in the Interpretation of Oil Spill Concentration Distributions within Nearshore Environmental Samples,” on February 6, at the 2019 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference in New Orleans.
Montas’s research focuses on the human health risks of chemicals associated with marine oil spills. She has been working closely with Helena Solo-Gabriele, associate dean for research at the College of Engineering and a professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, to study and predict the distributions of chemicals related to oil spills in the ocean.
“Marine oil spills frequently affect coast lines around the world, making it imperative to understand the human health risks of oil spill chemicals,” explains Montas. “Predicting how these chemicals are dispersed throughout the ocean and spread into areas where humans can be exposed to them – such as beaches – remains a major challenge.”
The objective of the study she presented at the conference was to evaluate the concentration distributions of the many oil spill chemicals along the Gulf Coast, with the aim of improving estimates of uncertainty in children’s exposures and risks to OSCs. Her research is part of a larger study led by Solo-Gabriele, called the Beach Exposure And Child Health Study (BEACHES), which aims to address the uncertainty and unknown health risks resulting from exposure to oil spill chemicals during recreational beach use.
“The results of the research will be integrated into a risk assessment modeling platform that considers cumulative and aggregate risks to children’s health,” says Montas. “Our all-encompassing goal it to help guide policies for the protection of public health in the event of an oil spill.”
To learn more about the New Orleans Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference, click here.
