Faculty Researchers
Faculty Research Interests Heading link
Dr. Samuel Dorevitch’s research focuses on waterborne bacteria, viruses, and parasites in water. Over the past decade, dozens of graduate students have worked in his laboratory and field studies. Students that he has mentored for their MS and PhD research have published their water research findings in leading journals, and have taken positions in government and in the private sector. Ongoing research funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, focuses on sustainable, decentralized approaches to making clean water available in resource-poor parts of the world. Other recent projects have addressed lead in drinking water and the Flint, Michigan water crisis.
Dr. Susan Buchanan is the Director of the Great Lakes Center for Children’s Environmental Health where she provides education, outreach, and technical assistance on issues such as lead poisoning and prevention, health effects from exposures to air pollutants and other environmental toxicants, and risk communication to communities, individuals, and public health agencies. Her research has focused on environmental exposures to women of childbearing age and underserved populations.
Susan Kaplan, JD, is a research assistant professor. As a lawyer, she developed regulations at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and managed Rhode Island’s brownfields program. Her teaching, research and technical assistance focus on environmental sustainability, public health and policy development and advocacy. She is especially interested in policies to protect vulnerable populations like children and environmental justice communities from exposure to toxins.
Kristen Malecki, PhD, is the director of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. Her research focuses on the combined impacts of chemicals such as air pollution, water pollution, physical and social stressors and their influence on adult chronic disease, aging and health disparities.