Gabrielle West | The Surratt Group at UNC Chapel Hill

Department of Chemistry
College of Arts & Sciences
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Email: gwest@unc.edu

Hobbies

Horseback riding, kayaking, and plant-keeping

Education

Bachelor of Science – Chemistry, Saginaw Valley State University (2017-2021)

Projects

Characterization of Airborne Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in North Carolina Firehouses Using Offline and Real-Time Mass Spectrometric Techniques

Firefighters face an occupational exposure risk to PFAS because their turnout gear is treated with fluoropolymers and because of the use of aqueous film forming foams (AFFF), a special class of firefighting foams that are composed at least partially of PFAS chemicals. While some studies characterizing PFAS in fire station dust and firefighter turnout gear have been published, there are currently no studies of airborne PFAS in firehouses. This pilot study aims to characterize airborne PFAS in several North Carolina firehouses 1) through the collection of time-integrated offline samples (e.g. PUF-XAD cartridges and PM2.5) for analysis by GC-MS and UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS and 2) in real time using HR-TOF-CIMS.