ACQUISITION OF A TRIPLE QUADRUPOLE LC/MS SYSTEM FOR ENABLING EDUCATION AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN SAFE WATER FOR FOOD PRODUCTION AT MSU

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1022423
• Grant No.: 2020-70001-31294
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $149,239.00
• Proposal No.: 2019-08189
• Project Start Date: Jun 15, 2020
• Project End Date: Jun 14, 2023
• Grant Year: 2020
• Program Code: [NLGCA]- Capacity Building Grants for Non Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture

Project Director
Deng, Y.

Recipient Organization
MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY
1 NORMAL AVE
MONTCLAIR,NJ 07043

Performing Department
Earth and Env. Studies

Non Technical Summary
Funds are requested for the acquisition of a Triple Quadrupole Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) to strengthen hands-on education and analytical training in safe water for food production at Montclair State University (MSU). Water is vital to agriculture. However, emerging contaminants (e.g. per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) present in irrigation water are challenging the safety of the U.S. food production. The project efforts aims to address the nationwide challenge in the U.S. agriculture. The instrument will allow for accurate identification and quantification of various emerging contaminants in irrigation water, thereby enabling new education and technical training in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human (FANH) sciences at MSU. Specifically, the instrument and new teaching modules will be integrated into existing courses. The enhanced learning experience, together with well-designed activities in Open House, will retain and attract more students to choose FANH related careers. Meanwhile, the LC/MS/MS will serve as a major instrument to open more thesis/dissertation research opportunities in FANH sciences. The instrument will be also planned in summer research of high school students who mostly come from minority and economically disadvantaged families. MSU is a Hispanic-Serving Institution. Therefore, this project will have a profound impact upon underrepresented groups. Undoubtedly, this project is tightly aligned to the purpose of NLGCA, i.e. to main and expand capacity to conduct education, research, and outreach/extension activities relating to the FANH sciences through the purchase of equipment. It also targets at a USDA strategic goal -improved infrastructure, broadband access and connectivity, and support for workforce availability.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
133	0210	3020	70%
133	0210	2020	15%
133	0210	2000	15%

Knowledge Area
133 - Pollution Prevention and Mitigation;

Subject Of Investigation
0210 - Water resources;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering; 3020 - Education; 2000 - Chemistry;

Keywords

lc/ms

agriculture water

emerging contaminants

pfas

pollution

safe food production

Goals / Objectives
The primary objective of this NLGCA project is to acquire a Triple Quadrupole LC/MS system to accurately and consistently identify and quantify traceable contaminants of emerging concerns, particularly PFAS, in agricultural water, for strengthening agricultural water science-based education and technical training across different disciplines at Montclair State University (MSU). The new instrument will enable a variety of education activities for fostering both college and pre-college students to address emerging and future environmental quality challenges in agricultural water science. Meanwhile, the instrument will provide faculty a powerful tool to strengthenexisting, and also develop new, food and agriculture-based research programs. Undoubtedly, acquisition of the LC/MS/MS will strongly support MSU in maintaining and expanding its capacity to implement education and technical training tightly related to FANH sciences.

Project Methods
A Triple Quadrupole LC/MS system will be immediately purchased at the beginning of this project. A well-prepared FANH relevant education and research training plan will be launched in the three aspects: 1) to strengthen the unique and multidisciplinary PhD program in Environmental Science and Management at MSU; 2) to enrich the existing undergraduate curricula and develop early undergraduate research plans; and 3) to increase and enhance the FANH education and participation of undergraduate students and high school students, particularly from underrepresented and economically disadvantaged groups. The plan is particularly focused on safe agricultural water science. These education activities herein with an emphasis on both college and pre-college students will motivate bright young minds to pursue careers in the FANH-related fields. A systematic evaluation plan is also proposed. Key educational activities are discuss in detail below.3.1 Graduate level: integrating the instrument into teaching materials at two graduate courses and delivering a research presentation in PhD program seminar series.Modifying the teaching modules in a PhD course. The PD successfully added a teaching portfolio on wastewater reuse for agriculture to EAES 592 Pro Seminar: Water Treatment and Reuse for MSU's multidisciplinary PhD program in Environmental Science and Management. With the project opportunity, the PD will introduce two more new components into the teaching materials, including a laboratory project to analyze emerging contaminants in irrigation water collected from neiberboing urban farms, and addition of a new teaching section on Safe and Clean Water for Agriculture, which comprises a 4-hr lecture and a class project.Integrating the instrument into a MS analytical course. The MS program in Earth and Environmental Science at MSU, which the PD directs, provides a rigorous educational experience, training in state-of-the-art field, laboratory, and quantitative methods, and the opportunity to participate in the discovery of new knowledge. This project will allow the program to add the LC/MS/MS among the major components of EAES 529 Environmental Instrumental Analysis, a course for MS in Earth and Environmental Science and an elective for MS in Sustainability Science. The two course instructors will work together with the PD to develop a 2-hr lecture on the LC/MS/MS and analysis of organic pollutants in different water samples related to agriculture, including runoff, irrigation water, and wastewater from food processing.Promoting student expertise. The PhD program hosts the Sustainability Seminar Series where talks are delivered by leading experts. The Seminar Series is also a required course-Colloquium (1 credit/semester) in the program. PhD students must complete a minimum of 6 semester hours. Meanwhile, it is free for all the other MSU students, faculty and staff, as well as people from the community interested in environmental issues. There are approximately 50-80 attendances in each seminar, including our PhD students and doctoral faculty, together with undergraduate students, college staff, and community residents.During the project duration, the PD as a speaker will deliver a presentation on emerging pollution of agricultural water and its threats to our food in the seminar series. The PD will introduce the current studies on fate and transport of emerging water contaminants in agriculture. He will also discuss the state-of-the-art analytical techniques and show the LC/MS/MS purchased from this project. The PD will also share the analysis data from his class students in the talk to raise public awareness on the urgency of water pollution to food safety.3.2 Undergraduate level: enriching the existing curricula & developing early undergraduate research plan Integrating the relevant topics into an existing course. The proposal also includes efforts at the undergraduate level to address present and future FANH education challenges. New teaching modules will be added to an existing undergraduate course - Earth and the Environment (EAES 107). This course is an introductory course mostly composed of non-science majors fulfilling their general education requirements. Currently, water pollution and various treatment technologies are a key component of this teaching portfolio. The new module will include a 2.5-hr lecture in emerging water pollutants at farms as well as water reclamation for the U.S. agriculture practices, in addition to a class project. These topics will be taught using supplemental handouts and multimedia materials, which will be readily available to course students by downloading them from university Canvas web pages. This project will span 3 weeks and require a 2-3 student teamwork. Each team selects an issue of interest, search literature, prepare a project report, and finally give a mini talk in the class.Early research experience for undergraduates. The PD will initiate a senior level Independent Study course (EAES 494) that allows 1-2 undergraduates every semester to participate in the PD's FANH project. The undergraduates will be intensively trained in literature review and environmental analysis, followed by "stand-alone" projects that integrally support larger doctoral dissertation projects, and allow the undergraduates to become a part of the publication team. All the undergraduates are encouraged to present their works in the MSU's Student Research Symposium.Open House (undergraduate/graduate). Undergraduate and Graduate Open Houses are a large-scale event designed to introduce prospective new students and their families to what we can offer. This provides a perfect opportunity to deliver academic presentations for attracting potential students to FANH sciences. Every year the PD serves as a faculty representative in the events. In this project, he will show the prospective students the NIFA funded instrument in the lab tour and present the emerging contaminant data collected from his class in his presentation.3.3 Pre-college level: mentoring high school students to attract underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students to FANH disciplines This instrument will be integrated into the FANH-related summer research interns for high school students. Under this NIFA project, the PD will continue to supervise 1-3 students from Union City High School (UCHS) (Union City, NJ) under the ACS SEED program or others through Liberty Science Center in their summer research interns every year. Students will be trained and mentored collaboratively by the PD and his graduate students. Specific training will cover laboratory safety, laboratory techniques, analytical instrumentation, data analysis, and the scientific method. Prior to work, all the students will complete a 1-hr MSU laboratory safety course. Project topics will be carefully selected to be tightly related to FANH sciences. The LC/MS/MS will be a major tool for completing their projects. They will be encouraged to enter their projects in the North Jersey Regional Science Fair, or the Intel Science Talent Search, according to their interest.?3.4 Stakeholder involvement. The primary stakeholders involved in this project include landowners and farm workers. Approximately five farms in New Jersey will be involved in the NIFA project. Some of them has a longstanding education and research collaboration with MSU and PD, such as the Montclair Community Farm and MSU Community Garden. Others will be identified with the New Jersey Agricultural Extension Station (NJAES). The stakeholders' engagement includes: 1) to provide irrigation water samples for analysis in the aforementioned classes; 2) to provide our students a field trip for their irrigation systems and directly communicate with our students on their irrigation challenges and issues.

Progress 06/15/20 to 06/14/23

Outputs
Target Audience:The LC/MS/MS purchased from this grant has been utilized in different research and education activities, which have reached different target audiences. PFAS research and PhD students' dissertation research. This project enables research on PFAS and other emerging contaminants in agricultural irrigation at Montclair State University. The instrument is being used as a major instrument in PI's other USDA-NIFA research project, in which innovative wastewater reuse technologies are explored for irrigation. A PhD student (Dr. Junkui Cui) used the instrument to complete his dissertation defense. He finished his defense in the December of 2022. 2. To a broad academic community 2.1 A peer-reviewed journal article has been published from Dr. Cui's dissertation (please see the detailed information below). The paper reports a new method to remove PFAS in water in a cost-efficient manner. The new findings are disseminated through the paper in academic community. The USDA grant is particularly appreciated in the Acknowledgement section. Cui, Junkui, and Yang Deng. "Hydrated Electron Degradation of PFOA Laden on Ion-Exchange Resins in the Presence of Natural Organic Matter."ACS ES&T Engineering3.1 (2022): 86-93. 2.2 Oral presentations to wide-ranging audience from academia and industry Deng, Y (2023) "Advancing Treatment Technologies to Enable Non-traditional Water for Agricultural Irrigation: A Pathway toward Innovation," The 2nd International Conference on Optimizing Green Environment: Soil, Air, Energy, Plants, Waste Remediation and Reuse- Sinai and Other Remote Areas, Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt, September 2023. Cui, J. and Deng, Y (2023) "Hydrated Electron Decomposition of PFOA Sorbed on Ion Exchange Resins in the Presence of Natural Organic Matter," 2023 ACS National Fall Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, March 2023. 2.3 The instrument has been used as one of major instruments in the information session in MSU's Open House (twice every year). The information regarding our research on food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) has been also introduced in the Open House events. 2.4 Research enabled by the LC/MS/MS, such as emerging contaminants in agricultural irrigation, has been integrated into the teaching materials in graduate and undergraduate courses at MSU. For example, EAES 505 Environmental Geosciences: approximately 25 graduate students in environmental geoscience, sustainability science, and marine biology programs attended the course every spring semester. EAES 101 Planet Earth, approximately 75 undergraduate students in non-STEM programs attended the courses every year. 2.5 Reached pre-college students. In total, five high school students participated in summer research enabled by the instrument in their summer intern. The students came from three high schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Their research projects focused on urban agriculture, agricultural stormwater management, and emerging environmental pollutants. Particularly, the project has profound impacts on underrepresented groups, given that 80% of them are female and two of them are from economically disadvantaged Hispanic families (they are supported by ACS SEED program). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our lab instrument specialist or PI had provided training and professional development training in four aspects At least, 5 PhD students in Environmental Science Program and Biology Program were trained for their dissertation or project research; At least, 3 Postdocs were trained for their dissertation or project research; The instrument was demonstrated in EAES 107 Planet Earth ?a general education course at Montclair State University?. About 75 students registered for this course every year. High school students used the instrument in their summer research intern. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?It has been disseminated by multiple approaches, including: 1)Peer-reviewed journal article; 2) Oral presentation in national research conference 3) Seminars provided at other institutions 4) Open house at Montclair State University What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Enable MSU's new research regarding emerging contaminants, particularly PFAS, in agricultural irrigation at MSU. For example, the instrument availability allowed the PI to leverage more new fund opportunities, such as Hydrated Electron-Driven Advanced Reduction Process Enables In-Situ Ion Exchange Resin Regeneration for Efficient Mitigation of PFAS in Water (PI, $250,000, Desalination and Water Purification Research Program (DWPR), US Department of the Interior (DOI), 2022-24) Strongly support existing research projects and graduate students' dissertation/thesis research on FANH sciences. Currently, one PhD student and two Postdoc use the LC/MS/MS as a major instrument in their project research on FANH studies. Support pre-college students' research and potentially promote the student recruitment in FANH-related majors. This will potentially increase the future workforce in agricultural engineering and science. Have a profound impact on underrepresented and underserved groups, given that MSU is a Hispanic-Servicing Institution and underrepresented high school students participated in the research activities.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Cui, J., & Deng, Y. (2022). Hydrated Electron Degradation of PFOA Laden on Ion-Exchange Resins in the Presence of Natural Organic Matter. ACS ES&T Engineering, 3(1), 86-93.

Progress 06/15/21 to 06/14/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The LC/MS/MS purchased from this grant has been utilized in different research and education activities, which have reached different target audiences. PFAS research and PhD students' dissertation research.A PhD student (Dr. Junkui Cui) used the instrument to conduct his dissertation defense. To a broad academic community. 1) The instrument has been used as one of major instruments in the information session in MSU's Open House (twice every year). The information regarding our research on food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) has been also introduced in the Open House events. 2) Research enabled by the LC/MS/MS, such as emerging contaminants in agricultural irrigation, has been integrated into the teaching materials in graduate and undergraduate courses at MSU. For example, EAES 505 Environmental Geosciences: approximately 25 graduate students in environmental geoscience, sustainability science, and marine biology programs attended the course every spring semester. EAES 101 Planet Earth, approximately 75 undergraduate students in non-STEM programs attended the courses every year. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?LC/MS/MS training for analysis of emerging contaminants, such as algal toxins and PFAS, in different engineered and natural water matrixes has been provided for one postdoc and three PhD students in the multiple disciplinary PhD program in environmental science and management. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue the training of research staff in the college of science and mathematics with the advanced LC/MS/MS; recruit high school students who will conduct summer research intern; and publish the research in academic journals, which was enabled by the instrument.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Major accomplishments include: Enable MSU's new research regarding emerging contaminants, particularly PFAS studies, in agricultural irrigation at MSU. PI prepared a PFAS research proposal for the Department of the Interior. Hydrated Electron-Driven Advanced Reduction Process Enables In-Situ Ion Exchange Resin Regeneration for Efficient Mitigation of PFAS in Water (PI, $250,000, Desalination and Water Purification Research Program (DWPR), US Department of the Interior (DOI), 2022-24) Strongly support existing research projects and graduate students' dissertation/thesis research on FANH sciences. Currently, one PhD student used the LC/MS/MS as a major instrument in their project research on FANH studies. Have a profound impact on underrepresented and underserved groups, given that MSU is a Hispanic-Servicing Institution.

Publications

Progress 06/15/20 to 06/14/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The LC/MS/MS purchased from this grant has been utilized in different research and education activities, which have reached different target audiences. PFAS research and PhD students' dissertation research. This project enables research on PFAS and other emerging contaminants in agricultural irrigation at Montclair State University. The instrument is being used as a major instrument in PI's other USDA-NIFA research project, in which innovative wastewater reuse technologies are explored for irrigation. A PhD student (Dr. Junkui Cui) used the instrument to complete his dissertation defense. He finished his defense in the December of 2022. To a broad academic community A peer-reviewed journal article has been published from Dr. Cui's dissertation (please see the detailed information below). The paper reports a new method to remove PFAS in water in a cost-efficient manner. The new findings are disseminated through the paper in academic community. The USDA grant is particularly appreciated in the Acknowledgement section. Cui, Junkui, and Yang Deng. "Hydrated Electron Degradation of PFOA Laden on Ion-Exchange Resins in the Presence of Natural Organic Matter."ACS ES&T Engineering3.1 (2022): 86-93. An oral presentation to report the research findings in the aforementioned paper has been accepted and will be presented in American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring Meeting 2023 in Indianapolis, IN on March 26, 2023. PI will use the remaining budget in the grant to give an in-person talk. Detailed information is as below. PAPER ID: 3815473 PAPER TITLE: Hydrated electron decomposition of PFOA sorbed on ion exchange resins in the presence of natural organic matter DIVISION: Division of Environmental Chemistry SESSION: Advances on PFAS Treatment Technologies: Search for Innovative Separation & Destruction Technologies, & Advancement in Analytical Methods PRESENTATION FORMAT: Oral - In-person DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Sunday, March 26, 2023 from 4:00 PM - 4:20 PM ROOM & LOCATION: Room 133 - Indiana Convention Center The instrument has been used as one of major instruments in the information session in MSU's Open House (twice every year). The information regarding our research on food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) has been also introduced in the Open House events. Research enabled by the LC/MS/MS, such as emerging contaminants in agricultural irrigation, has been integrated into the teaching materials in graduate and undergraduate courses at MSU. For example, EAES 505 Environmental Geosciences: approximately 25 graduate students in environmental geoscience, sustainability science, and marine biology programs attended the course every spring semester. EAES 101 Planet Earth, approximately 75 undergraduate students in non-STEM programs attended the courses every year. Reach pre-college students. In total, five high school students participated in summer research enabled by the instrument in their summer intern. The students came from three high schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Their research projects focus on urban agriculture, agricultural stormwater management, and emerging environmental pollutants. Particularly, the project has profound impacts on underrepresented groups, given that 80% of them are female and two of them are from economically disadvantaged Hispanic families (they are supported by ACS SEED program). Changes/Problems:The project should have ended earlier. However, we were waiting for an appropriate opportunity to present the project findings. Now our oral presentation has been accepted in a national conference. We will present the findings in March, 2023 before the project is completed. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?2) The instrument has been introduced in different graduate and undergraduate courses, thereby permitting more college students to learn the state-of-art instrument and enabled FANH science research? How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?4) Open house at Montclair State University What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will give an in-person presentation on the research enabled by this research in American Chemical Society (ACS) national conference in Indianapolis, IN in March, 2023. Detailed information is as follows. PAPER TITLE: Hydrated electron decomposition of PFOA sorbed on ion exchange resins in the presence of natural organic matter DIVISION: Division of Environmental Chemistry SESSION: Advances on PFAS Treatment Technologies: Search for Innovative Separation & Destruction Technologies, & Advancement in Analytical Methods SESSION TIME: 2:00 PM - 5:25 PM PRESENTATION FORMAT: Oral - In-person DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Sunday, March 26, 2023 from 4:00 PM - 4:20 PM ROOM & LOCATION: Room 133 - Indiana Convention Center

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Major accomplishments include: Enable the research regarding emerging contaminants, particularly PFAS, in agricultural irrigation at MSU. Specially, it can support existing research projects and graduate students' dissertation/thesis research, while allowing for submission of more new research proposals on FANH sciences. Allow more MSU's students, at graduate/undergraduate levels, to access the major instrument and learn recent advances on FANH sciences. This will potentially increase the future workforce in agricultural engineering and science. Support pre-college students' research and potentially promote the student recruitment in FANH-related majors. Have a profound impact on underrepresented and underserved groups, given that MSU is a Hispanic-Servicing Institution and underrepresented high school students participated in the research activities.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Cui, Junkui, and Yang Deng. "Hydrated Electron Degradation of PFOA Laden on Ion-Exchange Resins in the Presence of Natural Organic Matter." ACS ES&T Engineering 3.1 (2022): 86-93.