Ethan Sontarp
Graduate Student
Ethan studies how industrial organic pollutants move and transform in environmental systems.
Ethan is a first-year PhD student in Elsie Sunderland’s Biogeochemistry of Global Contaminants group. His work focuses on a class of organic contaminants called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known colloquially as ‘forever chemicals’. These pollutants are ubiquitous in the environment, and are associated with negative human and ecosystem health outcomes. Ethan is currently using analytical chemistry and molecular modeling techniques to understand the chemical alteration and movement of PFAS in agricultural soils.
Ethan studied environmental geochemistry at Princeton University, where he conducted research on a broad array of subjects including carbon cycling in agricultural fields, mineral surface chemistry, and accumulation of organic pollutants at air-water boundaries.
Contact Information
ethansontarp@g.harvard.edu