Fall Cleansweep Science Litter Cleanup Join RIT, The Lake Ontario Microplastics Center, Marilla's Mindful Supplies, and the the Seneca Park Zoo for a cleanup in the south wedge. Location: Marilla's Mindful Supplies. November 15th 11am to 2pm. Questions? Email ap3989@rit.edu

It's getting cold! Come help us with a litter cleanup before the season is over! We'll be outside Marilla's Mindful Supplies this week to clean up and collect data. It only takes a little of your time to have a big impact.

This crocodile hunter is also hunting for plastics in the environment!

Our team attended an event with the Sustainable Lab Initiative at @urochester.bsky.social to celebrate Halloween this year! We think plastics are spooky... Do you?

Last Thursday we were thrilled to attend a fundraiser for Walking For Rochester. Our student Alonso Ponce also did a speech! Check out their page for more information about their litter cleanups! walkingforrochester.org

We're hiring!

The RIT CPE is looking for a Research Assistant to join our Lake Ontario Microplastics (LOMP) Team. Applicants must have either a Master’s degree or a Bachelor’s degree with two years of relevant experience.

Find out more and apply here:

tinyurl.com/y7dnu95b

Two events in one week? What a treat! Come join us for another community science cleanup!

We're hiring!

The RIT CPE is looking for a Research Assistant to join our Lake Ontario Microplastics (LOMP) Team. Applicants must have either a Master’s degree or a Bachelor’s degree with two years of relevant experience.

Find out more and apply here:
tinyurl.com/y7dnu95b

Join us for a #cleanup as part of our clean sweep science events! Picking up #litter helps us reduce what ends up in the environment, but also helps us collect data!

Hear from Alonso Ponce about how we sample #plastics in stormwater with our #LittaTrap from EnviroPod. Part 2 coming soon!

What happens to #plastics once they’re in the #environment? We’re going to find out with our research at the RIT Tait Preserve @ritarenas.bsky.social #studentresearch #microplastics @ritscience.bsky.social

Did you know plastics can also be a habitat? Check out what’s living on this polystyrene sheet!

The trash is hiding, but so are we. Stealth mode
activated, target food wrappers acquired, cleanup
complete.

We are hosting more #communityscience #litter
#cleanups this fall! Stay tuned for our fall schedule with
the Seneca Park Zoo and Walking for Rochester!

IHHE faculty member Dr. Katrina Korfmacher and Dr. Christy Tyler @ritcpe.bsky.social, co-directors of the Lake Ontario MicroPlastics Center (LOMP), are featured in this NIH podcast:

"Human Health Impacts of Microplastics in the Great Lakes"
niehs.nih.gov/research/pro...

#SciComm #microplastics

Dr. Becca Lauzon from the IHHE engagement team and environmental education specialist Kaeti Stoss from
@ritcpe.bsky.social presented a workshop on microplastics at Rochester Ecology Partners' Nature-Based Learning Symposium.

#microplastics #SciComm

We had a great time at the Waste Management open house at the High Acres Landfill! We learned so much about how our waste is processed here and we got to talk to so many amazing people about our research on plastics! #HighAcresOpenHouse #CommunityEngagement #plasticpollution

Come work with us! We are hiring a Post-doctoral Researcher for the Lake Ontario Center for Microplastic and Human Health.
Research will focus on input, transport, and fate of plastic debris in the Great Lakes basin. The position will begin ASAP.
For additional info, job #9770BR at rit.edu/careers.

We are so proud of our undergraduate students,
Isabelle, Andrew, Hana, and Benicio! They have done
incredible work this summer which they presented at
the undergraduate research symposium last week.
We're so grateful for all their amazing work!
#undergraduateresearch #RIT

We were pretty busy at the cleanup on Monday so we didn't finish all the #plastic sorting with our #communityscience participants. Alonso finished it up back at our labs at #RIT!

We had a great time at the Edgerton R-Center cleaning up #litter with the Seneca Park Zoo and collecting #plastic #data. We collected more than 60 pounds of debris on Monday thanks to our amazing #communityscience participants! We hope you join us next time!

Join us Monday for a #cleanup with the Seneca Park Zoo and the Edgerton R-Center! We'll be collecting #plastic #data and we'd love your help!

Last Thursday we launched our plastic limnocorral experiment at Tait Preserve! We have been working on this for a year now so we're very excited to start getting results! Stay tuned to hear more about this experiment and what we find. #PlasticPollution #Microplastics @ritscience.bsky.social

Ever Wonder: How Are Plastics Harmful to Our Health? YouTube video by University of Rochester

Dr. Katrina Korfmacher, IHHE co-leader of engagement, explains current research into how microplastics enter our environment, our bodies, and how they may be impacting our health.

#microplastics #SciComm

youtu.be/QKPJntne8tI

Last Friday we tagged along on one of Walking For Rochester's events! We will collect data from more cleanups like this one this one throughout the summer! Check out their page to find out more about how to join us! #cleanup #plasticpollution #rochesterny walkingforrochester.org

Hear from Alonso about how our community cleanups work. We cleaned more than 230 pounds of #litter with the Seneca Park Zoo on Saturday! #cleanup #CommunityScience #communityscience #plasticpollution #rochesterny @rittigers.bsky.social @ritscience.bsky.social

Check out two interesting items we found during our cleanup last weekend! What will we find next time?

We will be using the data to tune a model to predict where to install even more in the coming years. Stay tuned for more updates! We got these in just in time to capture the big rain this week and any #plasticpollution it washed down the drains.

We installed LittaTraps this week in partnership with
Monroe County, NY. Nine have gone in this year, with 10 more to go over the coming weeks to intercept debris from entering the storm water system and the environment. @ritscience.bsky.social @rittigers.bsky.social

Team member Ren Staggs has been at @iisd.org ELA in Canada collecting #microplastics samples from rocks, plants, and biofilm as part of the #pELAstic project. Ren's MS thesis is on the physical fate of #microplastics in the nearshore part of lakes. @rittigers.bsky.social @ritscience.bsky.social

Then Christy Tyler and @matthewhoffman.bsky.social talked about modeling plastic moving through and accumulating in the Monroe County watershed and the #greatlakes. They also participated in a panel discussion on #microplastic research and policy. @ritscience.bsky.social @rittigers.bsky.social

Wrapping up #iaglr25: Autumn Potts gave a great talk on how we are assessing our educational program around stormwater and debris and #plasticpollution.

More #IAGLR25: Congrats to our @jaykucharek.bsky.social, who won Best Presenter in his session. Jay discussed installing 50 new LittaTraps in #Rochester to capture #plasticpolltion in storm drains to keep it out of the #greatlakes @rittigers.bsky.social @ritscience.bsky.social @iaglr.bsky.social