Jim Gawel, Ph.D.

My academic background is in the fields of environmental engineering and environmental chemistry. I teach courses in both of these areas, as well as other courses that examine environmental contamination and resource management in the larger social and political context. My research interests are broad and include the following:

• The fate and transport of metal contaminants in terrestrial and aquatic systems;
• Using bioindicator proteins in plants and animals to monitor physiological metal stress in the environment;
• Urban water management issues related to anthropogenic influences; and
• Environmental science education.

I believe strongly in undergraduate research as an important learning experience and a valid means of conducting scientific research. Student researchers working with me have presented their research on arsenic fate and transport in area lakes, metal stress in mussels in Puget Sound and in forests in Norway, harmful algae dynamics in Puget Sound, and more.

Selected Publications:

• Senn, D.B., J.E. Gawel, J.A. Jay, H.F. Hemond, and J.L. Durant. 2007. Long-term fate of a pulse arsenic input to a eutrophic lake. Environmental Science and Technology, 41: 3062-3068.
• Horner, R.A., C.L. Greengrove, J.R. Postel, J.E. Gawel, K.S. Davies-Vollum, A. Cox, S. Hoffer, K. Sorensen, J. Hubert, J. Neville, and B.W. Frost. 2007. Alexandrium cysts in Puget Sound, Washington, USA. In: Moestrup et al. (Eds.) Proceedings of the XII International Conference on Harmful Algae, Copenhagen, DK, 4-8 September 2007. International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.
• Gawel, J.E., and C.L. Greengrove. 2005. Designing undergraduate research experiences for nontraditional student learning at sea. Journal of Geoscience Education, 53: 31-36.
• Acker, L., J.R. McMahan, and J.E. Gawel. 2005. The effect of heavy metal pollution in aquatic environments on metallothionein production in Mytilus sp. Proceedings of the 2005 Puget Sound/Georgia Basin Research Conference, March 29-31, 2005, Seattle, Washington.
• Gawel, J.E., and H.F. Hemond. 2004. Biomonitoring for metal contamination near two Superfund sites in Woburn, Massachusetts, using phytochelatins. Environmental Pollution, 131: 125-135.
• Durant, J.L., T. Ivushkina, K. MacLaughlin, H. Lukacs, J. Gawel, D. Senn, and H.F. Hemond. 2004. Elevated levels of arsenic in the sediments of an urban pond: sources, distribution and water quality impacts. Water Research, 38: 2989-3000.
• Gawel, J.E., P. Lovelady, S. Winch, and T. Kapler. 2004. Video Documentary: Urban Water: Sustainability in the Balance. Funded by the Alliance for Global Sustainability and the University of Washington, Tacoma.
• Wagner, W., J. Gawel, H. Furumai, M.P. De Souza, D. Teixeira, L. Rios, S. Ohgaki, A.J.B. Zehnder, and H.F. Hemond. 2002. Sustainable watershed management: an international multi-watershed case study. Ambio, 31: 2-13. (cover article)
• Gawel, J.E., C.G. Trick, and F.M.M. Morel. 2001. Phytochelatins are bioindicators of atmospheric metal exposure via direct foliar uptake in trees near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Environmental Science and Technology, 35: 2108-2113.
• Gawel, J.E., B.A. Ahner, A.J. Friedland, and F.M.M. Morel. 1996. Role for heavy metals in forest decline indicated by phytochelatin measurements. Nature, 381: 64-65.