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Three AgChem PhD students received the 2025-2026 Jastro-Shields fellowship award for their research proposals on:
Angela (left)- “Tracing Pesticide Flow in Honey Bee Colonies Using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS): Mapping Physical and Biological Hotspots”
Eli (middle)– “Mechanisms of Cellular Uptake and Toxicity of Inhaled Pollutant-Absorbed Nanoplastics”
Zeke (right)– “Determining the Extent to Which Microplastics have Infiltrated a Protected Marine Ecosystem”
Eli received the Comparative Lung Biology and Medicine Training Grant (T32) from the National Institutes of Health. His proposal on “Mechanisms of Biodistribution and Toxicity of Inhaled Pollutant-Absorbed Nanoplastics (PANs)” was funded to conduct research in collaboration with the Carney lab for a year.


Leo will be part of the 2025 EVE Scholars Program. This 10-week summer program will allow Leo to pursue his research interests in aquatic toxicology at the Bodega Marine Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. John J. Stachowicz and Graduate student Serina Moheed.

PhD student Zeke Spooner received the 2025 George Alexeeff Memorial Fellowship for his research proposal on “Determining the Extent of Microplastics Infiltration Into a Protected Marine Ecosystem”. From left to right Zeke Spooner, Jean Ackerman and Christina Pasparakis.

Angela was invited to present at the “Emerging Professionals in Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management” symposium which was part of the Entomological Society of America Annual meeting at Phoenix, AZ.
The ESA Program Enhancement Funds (PEF) was a travel fellowship awarded Angela to help offset for the expenses of this trip, where she presented her research on “Multidrug resistance ABC transporter ortholog expression pattern across honey bee castes“.
Bee sure we will be back next year with more exiting research to share!

Three AgChem PhD students received the 2024-2025 Jastro-Shields fellowship award for their research proposals on:
Zeke (left)– “Characterizing Microplastics Accumulation in Wild California Rockfish”
Eli (middle)– “ Investigating the Toxicity and Biodistribution of Pollutant-Adsorbed Nanoplastics (PANs) on Lung and Glial Cells ”
Angela (right)- “C14 as a Novel Method for Tracing Pesticide Mixtures in the Honey Bee Hive”

Zeke received the 2024 Dennis Salsbury & Patricia K. Salsbury Graduate Student Award for his proposal on “Fueling Coastal Microplastics Research with Community Engagement” to conduct research at Bodega Marine Laboratory.

Zeke received the 2024-25 Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Fellowship for his proposal on “Fueling Coastal Microplastics Research with Community Engagement” to conduct research at Bodega Marine Laboratory.

Zeke received the 2024-25 Donald Crosby Fellowship in Environmental Chemistry for his proposal on “Characterizing Microplastics Leachate Accumulation in Wild Rockfish Along the California Coast” by the Annual Internal Fellowship Competition for Continuing Graduate Students.