Center for PFAS Research

Holden is a Ph.D. student in the Departments of Integrative Biology and Chemistry. He completed his undergraduate education at Westfield State University in 2023 with degrees in chemistry and mathematics. He is broadly interested in the application of stable isotopes in ecology, forensics, and environmental contamination. Holden has prior experience in working with stable carbon isotopes in biofuels, using secondary ion mass spectrometry in food authentication, and spectroscopic techniques in identifying environmental concentrations of inorganic pollutants. 

 

At MSU, his research primarily focuses on using chemical and geochemical information to solve environmental forensic problems, such as identifying signature signals to back trace sources of chemical pollution and discerning the mechanisms of distribution and transformations of these compounds in the environment. He's working on using emerging chemical instrumental techniques to enable stable isotope analysis of environmental PFAS pollutants for fingerprinting and identifying fractionation effects of remedial processes.