Former Shaw Institute Intern Now One of Maine’s Leading PFAS Experts

Now in its 20th season, the Shaw Institute’s Environmental Speaker Series is yet again offering the community an interesting and eclectic mix of topic experts. For the third lecture of 2023,?we are delighted to present former intern, Louise Roy, L.G. , who is now one of the state of Maine’s leading experts on PFAS contamination.

Ms. Roy is an environmental hydrogeologist with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), a position she’s been in for over five years now. She holds an MS in oceanography, from the University of New Hampshire, and also served as an environmental specialist with the Council on International Educational Exchange.

She is the Institute's featured speaker on Thursday, July 27, at our research center in Blue Hill, Maine. Her the title of her talk is:

THE ABCs OF PFAS: IMPACT AND PROGRESS IN MAINE

A cheese and wine reception begins at 5pm, with Ms. Roy’s talk starting at 6pm. This event is free and open to the public. If you can’t attend in-person, it can be viewed live via Zoom, HERE, and it will also be recorded and made available on our website within 48 hours, HERE.?

We recently asked her a few questions, which we are happy to share here:

We are so proud to call you a former intern of ours. When were you with us and what can you tell us about your experience here?

Louise Roy: I was there from June 2016 until October of 2017. I came to the Shaw Institute after my master's program. Due to some uncontrollable circumstances, my thesis defense was delayed until after I left campus, so I needed a position where I could apply my skills while still having the time and energy to finish writing my thesis. This internship was the perfect situation. The other researchers generously offered to provide edits for my writing at night. During my internship I had a few projects. First, we continued to help with the beach monitoring. I'm sure the program is the same as it was then. Second, I designed a research project that was trying to discern if microplastics in Blue Hill Bay were concentrated at different depths, or if it was variable throughout the water column. Third, I helped with other research efforts- such as looking at microplastics concentrations in blue mussels.?

What can you tell us about the role you have now??

I am currently an Environmental Hydrogeology Specialist with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection that focuses on sites in Maine contaminated with PFAS. My primary responsibility is ensuring the people of Maine have clean, safe drinking water. I also work to help remediate sites contaminated with anything from petroleum products to PCBs to hexavalent chromium.

How did your internship help you prepare for the real world?

My internship with the Shaw Institute (MERI at the time) helped me with many different parts of my professional life. It helped confirm that I wanted to have a profession where I was helping people every day. The beach monitoring and microplastics studies solidified my interest in protecting our water resources, especially here in Maine- a place that many people think of as pristine and untouched. In the internship I, somewhat surprisingly, worked a lot on interpersonal communication. We were working in tight quarters (and on a boat every other day) with the other research staff, so it was important to communicate clearly. We also communicated beach monitoring results to the general public- an invaluable skill I still utilize today. I continued to work on clear, efficient written communication, as well.?

The internship also helped me recognize that I wanted a career that had a portion of my time outdoors. I loved being out on the boat, whether it was getting up at 4:30am or being out til dusk. In my current job I get to plan and conduct sampling all over the state, from Kittery to Rangeley to Caribou. I average about 40% of my time in the field (variable by the seasons- up to 80% in the summer to about 20% in the winter).

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

Ten years from now I still plan to be in Maine, continuing to protect our beautiful state. I enjoy communicating scientific concepts to the general public, be it through teaching or presentations like the Shaw Lecture Series, so maybe I will find a way to incorporate more of that into my work.?

The next featured speaker will be Rosemary Seton, the Marine Mammal Stranding Coordinator for Allied Whale, College of the Atlantic. For more details, click HERE.?