Chelsea Rochman – Assistant Professor and Co-Founder of the U of T Trash Team
I am currently on the faculty in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of Toronto. I am also a scientific advisor to the Ocean Conservancy and a National Geographic Explorer.
Previously, I was a David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellow at the Aquatic Health Program at the University of California, Davis. I received my PhD in a joint program with San Diego State University and UC Davis in Ecology and was advised primarily by Swee Teh and Eunha Hoh. For more about me, please download my CV.
Current Members:
Keenan Munno – Lab Manager & Research Assistant
Keenan is a recent M.Sc. Ecology graduate from the University of Toronto with a particular interest in the fate and effects of microplastics in fish. Her work focused on method development, as well as microplastic ingestion and retention in freshwater fish from the Great Lakes. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Queen’s University in Biology, with a thesis in freshwater oil spill toxicology. She is continuing to pursue her interests in identifying and quantifying microplastics through her work as a Research Associate and Lab Manager in the Rochman lab.
Madeline Milne – Research Assistant
Madeleine is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and minoring in English and Art History. She is currently working on her fourth-year thesis project in the lab, after beginning it as a NSERC USRA student over the summer. Her research is in collaboration with the provincial Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP), and is examining microplastic contamination in sport fish from Lake Ontario to help better understand consumption risks to human health.
Jacob Haney – MSc Student
Jacob received his Honours BSc in Environmental Science from Carleton University and is currently a MSc student in the Rochman Lab at the University of Toronto. He is studying the transport and fate of micro-and macro-plastics in urban stream environments in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire and Loyola University Chicago. Additionally, he will be conducting microcosm experiments that will study the effect of microplastics on freshwater benthic invertebrates. Jacob is also taking part in the pELAstics project by identifying and quantifying microplastics.
Meredith Omer – PhD Student
Meredith Omer is a PhD student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto St. George, studying microplastics fate and effects in freshwater fish. Meredith earned her undergraduate degree at Mount Holyoke College in environmental studies, with an honors thesis in biology researching the impacts of the pesticide Imidacloprid on rusty crayfish (Orconectes rusticus). She will be conducting her PhD research as part of the pELAstics Project.
Alice (Xia) Zhu – PhD Candidate
Alice (Xia) Zhu is a PhD student in the Rochman Lab studying the fate of plastic pollution in the marine environment. Alice is working in collaboration with researchers at CSIRO’s Marine and Atmospheric Research flagship and scientists at Acadia University to quantify plastic masses in global marine reservoirs. Alice will also be determining the transport mechanisms of plastic pollution throughout the ocean using a combination of field campaigns and oceanographic modelling in collaboration with various partners in research institutions and academia. Alice is excited about all things environmental and food-related.
Rachel Giles – PhD Candidate
Rachel uses field and laboratory approaches to understand how mixtures of anthropogenic contaminants impact wildlife in urban streams in two urban areas: the Greater Toronto Area and Northern Vietnam. She collaborates locally with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the Sinton Lab to understand how benthic macroinvertebrate communities respond to salt-laden urban runoff during the winter months. Internationally, she collaborates with Ocean Conservancy (US) and The Center for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (Vietnam) to investigate how litter and inorganic contaminants impact invertebrate communities. This multi-stressor, community-focused approach complements current research that recognizes the aforementioned contaminants that have harmful ecological effects.
Bonnie Hamilton – PhD Candidate
Bonnie combines manipulative and observational studies to answer questions about environmental fate and effects of emerging contaminants. Her PhD work focuses on understanding environmental transport of microplastics and their associated chemicals and how these contaminants impact wildlife in the Canadian Arctic. She works closely with local, Northern partners, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada. She is an active member under the Arctic Council’s Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program’s Litter and Microplastic Expert Group and is a National Geographic Explorer.
Eden Hataley – PhD Student
Eden is a PhD student in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough studying plastic pollution policy and management. She is also a member of the pELAstics Project. Eden received her undergraduate degree in environmental chemistry and master’s degree in environmental studies from Queen’s University where she investigated the potential role of microplastics in influencing the environmental fate of waterborne toxins produced by cyanobacteria.
Dr. Ludovic Hermabessiere – Postdoctoral Fellow
Ludovic recently received his PhD from the University of Littoral Côte d’Opale (France). His PhD focused on developing methods to study microplastics and their plastic additives in seafood products. Here at U of T, Ludovic will work in collaboration with the Drinking Research Water Group and the Ministry of Environment to develop Pyrolysis-GC/MS and Raman methods to analyze microplastics in drinking water and other matrices.
Dr. Garth Covernton – Postdoctoral Fellow
Garth is postdoctoral fellow working in the Rochman lab and the McMeans lab at U of T Mississauga as part of the pELAstics project. He studies how microplastic exposure affects the structure and energy flow within lake food webs using stable isotopes and fatty acids analyses. Garth is broadly interested in how potentially non-lethal contaminant stressors, such as microplastics, interact with aquatic ecology. He is especially intrigued by how stochastic statistical models can be used to characterize complex systems, such as food webs, to track how they respond to perturbations.
Dr. Wilson Ramirez-Duarte – Postdoctoral Fellow
Wilson worked as Postdoctoral Researcher at the Aquatic Health Program at the University of California-Davis, where he also completed his PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology as a Fulbright Scholar, mentored by Dr. Swee Teh. He is also a Diplomat of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology. He is currently investigating the role environmental changes (pollution, climate change, water quality) have on fish hybridization by studying the effects of multiple stressors on different levels of biological organization in parentals and hybrids in two populations of sympatric species in Mexico and Portugal. This research project is conducted in collaboration with the University of Lisbon, the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and Stanford University, and sponsored by the Human Frontier Science Program.
Dr. Rafaela F. Gutierrez – Postdoctoral Fellow
Rafaela is a social scientist with expertise in waste policy. She has a keen interest in up- and downstream processes for plastic recycling. Over the past decade she has studied, advocated and worked with low-income communities in Brazil focusing on how to improve socio-productive integration into formal recycling streams. She is currently a research fellow at U of T, working on food waste awareness and reduction. She is excited to be part of the U of T Trash team and to develop strategies about how to deal with plastic waste and to increase waste literacy.
Alishba Afaq – Undergraduate Researcher
Alishba is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto studying Neuroscience, Immunology, and Biology. She is interested in how microplastics can affect ecosystems and humans. Last summer, she worked with PhD candidate Bonnie Hamilton to identify and characterize the presence of microplastics in Arctic char and their summer feeding habitats. She is currently helping Bonnie characterize microplastics temporally in Arctic ice cores.
Zoë Ungku Fa’iz – Undergraduate Researcher
Zoë is an undergraduate student completing a specialist degree in Materials Science with a double minor in Chemistry and Forest Biomaterials. Her interest in learning more about the harmful materials in our environment grew through an internship with Ocean Uprise by Parley for the Oceans. She is a member of the U of T Trash Team and has worked on the Fighting Flotables – Seabin Project. She is currently working on characterizing and quantifying microplastics being emitted from landfills as leachate.
Elli Hung – Undergraduate Researcher
Elli is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto working with the Rochman Lab as part of an ROP299 project. She’s studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and Environmental Science. She’s currently helping out with research on the effects of road runoff on freshwater mussels. She’s very excited to study aquatic organisms and ecosystems and is on the verge of suffering from multiple tank syndrome with her home aquariums.
Emilie Nero – Undergraduate Researcher
Emilie is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto studying Health and Disease and Environmental Science. As a ROP299 student, she is currently working with Bonnie Hamilton researching the effects of microplastics in Arctic char. Emilie is passionate about investigating the effects of anthropogenic stressors on both ecosystems and humans. She looks forward to learning more about aquatic and Arctic ecosystems.
Ariba Afaq – Undergraduate Researcher
Ariba is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto doing a double-major in Industrial Relations & Human Resources and Criminology & Sociolegal studies, along with a minor in Writing & Rhetoric. She is interested in how scientific research is involved in implementing new policies that could lessen plastic pollution, and is part of the lab’s Fighting Floatables project. In the summer, she characterized and quantified microplastics found in Toronto’s macrophytes through Seabin usage. Ariba is currently helping analyze the data found in the summer by helping create a policy brief.
River Sung – Undergraduate Researcher
River is a fourth-year undergraduate student double majoring in Biodiversity & Conservation Biology and Animal Physiology, with an additional minor in Environmental Geography. Over the summer, she collaborated with Academia Sinica Research Center in Taiwan to conduct independent research on the biodiversity of intertidal gastropods using molecular barcoding techniques. Within Rochman Lab, River is helping with the pELAgic project. She particularly enjoys being outdoors and observing all kinds of wildlife. River wishes to pursue marine-related fields in the future.
Kate Patton – Undergraduate Researcher
Kate is a second-year undergraduate student studying biology and physiology at the University of Toronto. She is working with PhD candidate Bonnie Hamilton to quantify and classify microplastics in Arctic char tissue and organs. She is interested in the physiological effects of microplastics and the movement of microplastics through ecosystems. Outside of school, Kate enjoys gardening, painting, reading, and baking.
Mira Ghosh – Undergraduate Researcher
Mira is a third-year undergraduate majoring in biodiversity and conservation biology and minoring in forest conservation science and biology. She’s currently helping with the pELAstics project with Gloria. She’s particularly excited about learning more about plastics and getting involved at the lab. In her free time, Mira loves long walks, ice skating, crochet, and journaling.
Katie Wang – Undergraduate Researcher
Katie is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto specializing in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, majoring in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and minoring in Computer Science. She is currently helping with the pELAstics project where she is investigating the fate of microplastics in freshwater food webs. Outside of her academic interests, Katie loves snowboarding, traveling, photography, and filmmaking.
Johny Wang – Undergraduate Researcher
Johny is a third-year undergraduate student studying at the University of Toronto, currently working on a systematic review assessing different pathways for microplastics to enter aquatic ecosystems. Johny also helps out with different projects in the lab – such as analytical chemistry and fish rearing. In addition to his academic interests, Johny loves traveling, swimming, and trying out new things.
Past Lab Members:
Dr. Leah Chibwe – Visiting Research Fellow
Sam Athey – PhD
Lisa Erdle – PhD
Kennedy Bucci – PhD
Dr. Anna O’Brien – Postdoctoral Fellow
Hannah De Frond – Research Assistant (Currently with the U of T Trash Team!)
Hayley McIlwraith – Undergraduate Researcher and Research Assistant
Cassandra Sherlock – Undergraduate Researcher
Lauren Ead – Undergraduate Researcher
Arielle Earn – Undergraduate Researcher
Dorsa Nora-Parto – Undergraduate Researcher
Anthony Carrozzi – Undergraduate Researcher
Dr. Stephanie Borrelle – Postdoctoral Fellow
Lingyun Li – Visiting PhD Student
Clara Thaysen – MSc Student
Jan Bikker – Undergraduate Research Student
Cole Brookson – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Antonino Calarco – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Monina Cepeda – 299 Undergraduate Student
Miguel Felismino – NSERC Undergraduate Research Fellow
Gloria Gao – Research Assistant
Jelena Grbic – Research Assistant
Aimee Huntington – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Joel Kim – MSc Student
Natasha Klasios – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Dr. Anna Kolomijeca – Postdoc (Rochman and Sinton Group)
Anna Lisa – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Nicholas Tsui – MSc Student at UTM
Matthew Tulio – work study student
Lara Werbowski – NSERC Undergraduate Research Fellow
Tina Wu – Undergraduate Researcher
Rochman Lab 