This award supports three years of collaborative research interaction by Dr William Cooper of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with recently established colleagues in New Zealand and Australia. It also enables a female undergraduate student from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to partipate in the research in New Zealand. Professor Cooper's primary collaborators are Dr. Barrie Peake, University of Otago, Department of Chemistry, and Dr. T. David Waite, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Centre for Water and Waste Technology, University of New South Wales (UNSW.) Other project participants in New Zealand include a U.S. graduate student of Dr. Cooper's who is funded from other sources.
The main focus of the research in New Zealand is the aquatic chemistry of two reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide radical anion, O2- , and hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, in several distinctly different environments. There are three specific research objectives in New Zealand. 1) To study the effect of depleted stratospheric ozone (i.e. increased UV-B) on surface water photochemistry (i.e. the formation of ROS) in both fresh waters (impounded water reservoirs and running streams) and coastal oceans and estuaries. 2) To continue a study of the variability of H2O2 in rain collected at several sites that was initiated by Dr. Robert Kieber during his sabbatical in New Zealand in early 1999 and to extend these data on rainwater to the concentration of H2O2 in the troposphere in regions of depleted stratospheric ozone. 3) To conduct studies to obtain a better understanding of the relationship of ROS and the production of toxins by phytoplankton during harmful algal bloom. The research in Australia will be a continuation of studies begun by Dr. Cooper during his 2003 sabbatical at UNSW. This work is in the area of kinetic modeling of an Advanced Oxidation Process, "Fenton's chemistry."
Scientific Merit
The flux of atmospheric ozone is the focus of substantial attention because of the role it plays in global change. This work will also focus on biologic and non-biologic sources of hydrogen peroxide production; preliminary results suggest that in some cases microbial and algal sources may outweigh photochemical sources. Improved understanding and modeling of the sources and behavior of reactive oxygen species in aquatic environments may therefore also contribute to work in environmental engineering aimed at relevant pollution abatement procedures.
Broader Impact
The collaborative research involves U.S. graduate students as well as a female undergraduate student from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The PI intends that the supported visits will firmly establish and advance several lines of research that will involve long-term collaboration with his new partners in New Zealand and Australian. The PI will prepare a series of lectures on radiation chemistry, ballast water treatment with ozone, and the relationship of ROS and harmful algal phytoplankton. Dr. Cooper and Drs. Peake and Waite have planned an international symposium entitled "Free Radical Chemistry in the Environment." It has been accepted for inclusion in the 2005 Chemical Congress of the Pacific Rim (Pacifichem 2005). The initial visit supported by this award will also be used for coordinating the planning of this meeting. The research results of this project will be presented at this conference, some of them by the U.S. students that are involved in the project.
