Alice (Xia) Zhu, M.Sc.
Environmental Analytical Scientist | Plastic Pollution Researcher | Environmental Champion
I am a PhD student in the Rochman Lab at the University of Toronto studying the sources, transport, and fate of plastic pollution in the environment with a focus on the ocean. On the side, I also investigate the interconnections between plastic pollution, carbon cycling, and climate change.
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I am a modeler and environmental analytical scientist. I have extensive training in environmental sampling methods including sampling water and sediment for microplastics, sampling air for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and sampling benthic macroinvertebrate communities to assess ecosystem health. I also have extensive training in operating analytical instrumentation including cavity ring-down spectroscopy for greenhouse gas quantification, ion chromatography, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, and GC-MS and LC-MS for the detection and quantification of organic compounds in air and groundwater. I am proficient in using R, Python, MATLAB, and GIS software for data analysis, spatial analysis, and predictive modelling.