Heather Lanza

Currently completing my MS in Environmental Toxicology, I am a student seeking a position with a passionate and innovative company with opportunities for environmental consulting. My expertise exists with water resources and aquatic biota field sampling and analysis for environmental contaminants. I am available to begin working in early Summer 2015 upon defense of my thesis. My experience hails from my education at Pacific University as an undergraduate research assistant, an undergraduate research internship with the Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction (CMOP, a branch of Oregon Health and Science University), and of course, as a MS candidate with Texas Tech. I have been extensively involved in all aspects of the scientific process, including sample collection and processing of water, sediment, and biota, chemical extractions and clean up, and instrumental analysis and technical writing practices. Through these projects I became passionate about effects on aquatic biota as a result of anthropogenic input into environmental systems and my work has focused predominantly on accumulation of organochlorines and perfluorinated compounds into aquatic biota compartments. Hardworking and attentive to detail, I have been recognized by my department by receiving the Syngenta Outstanding Master's Student Award in 2014, in addition to being invited to the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. I have presented my work at five different events in the last year, and have received awards for three of these presentations. I would love to bring my technical and interpersonal skills to work for you!