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Can sewers help determine changes in drug comsumption?

Can sewers help determine changes in drug comsumption?

Recreational marijuana use for those 21+ was voted into law in 2012 with the passing of WA I-502. Now that recreational marijuana is legal, is there an effect in its consumption? Wastewater-based drug epidemiology may be the fastest and most objective way to answer this question.

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Emissions from in-use Locomotives

Emissions from in-use Locomotives

Emissions standards are getting tighter for trains, but are locomotives actually producing less pollution in the Real-world? (Photo Credit: Peter Haley TNT) Data available at https://www.pugetsound.edu/files/resources/train-data-for-public-use.pdf

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Sewers to track the use of "Smart Drugs"

Sewers to track the use of "Smart Drugs"

Students are prescribed medications such as Adderall for their ADHD but what about students who use the medication as a "Smart Drug"? We test campus wastewater to determine this trend.

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Ocean-Going Ship Emissions

Ocean-Going Ship Emissions

Using a ground-based remote sensing device we were the first to measure emissions from individual cruise ships and other ocean-going ships. Here they passed under the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, BC. Check out the publication in Atmospheric Environment.

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High Mileage Fleets

High Mileage Fleets

Many taxi fleets are switching to alternative fuels or using vehicles such as the Toyota Prius. Here in WA, the SeaTac airport requires non-traditional, low emitting vehicles in the taxi fleets. However, there vehicles are driven many more miles than typical vehicles. How do the emissions…

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Daniel Burgard, PhD

Research Interests        Courses        Curriculum Vitae

Dan Burgard

Professor and Chair, Chemistry

BA, Colorado College, 1996
PhD, University of Denver, 2006

Analytical, Environmental, Instrumental

Dan is interested in environmental analyses and monitoring of air and water. Projects with Puget Sound students have included remote sensing measurements of in-use emissions from vehicles such as cars, trucks, school buses, transit buses, trains, and  boats (small personal vessels, commercial vessels and ocean-going vessels) both in the U.S. and internationally. Water analyses include quantifying trace levels of pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs in wastewater.  Dan teaches Analytical Chemistry (Chem 230), Analytic Methods (Chem 231), Instrumental Analysis (Chem 330), and Environmental Analytical Chemistry (Chem 333), as well as the connections course, The Art and Science of Color (Conn 375).

Dan completed his undergraduate degree at Colorado College and then taught at a Denver area high school before returning to do graduate work at the University of Denver under the direction of Donald Stedman. Dan joined the Chemistry Department at Puget Sound in 2006.