Today, Dan started a set of experiments to determine the soil texture (percentage of sand, silt, and clay) of the Troy soil samples. Sand, silt, and clay are the main nonliving solid components of soils. The primary difference between sand, silt, and clay particles is their size.

Dan is continuing to work on the Community Soil Study Toolkit in the Ramírez-Andreotta laboratory with the field test for measuring copper in soil. This test is based on a method developed by our collaborators on the Nuestros Suelos project in Chile.

Dan is continuing to work on the Community Soil Study Toolkit in the Ramírez-Andreotta laboratory, now looking at a field test for measuring arsenic in soil. This test is based on a method under development in the Ramírez-Andreotta laboratory. He has completed measurements for the soil samples used with the soil lead field test earlier in the month: samples from public spaces in and around Troy, NY, and several samples archived in the Ramírez-Andreotta laboratory.

Dan is working in the Ramírez-Andreotta laboratory with the field test for measuring lead in soil reported by Landes et al (2019) [open access article here]. He has completed measurements for the soil samples from public spaces in and around Troy, NY, as well as several soil samples archived in the Ramírez-Andreotta laboratory.

Dan used a portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer to measure lead, arsenic, and copper in the soil samples from public spaces in and around Troy, NY, as well as soil samples archived in the Ramírez-Andreotta laboratory. The results will be compared to another laboratory technique, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), as well as the field tests for lead, arsenic, and copper in the Community Soil Study Toolkit.

Mónica’s interview with Dan aired on Tucson community radio station KXCI 91.3 as part of its Thesis Thursday program. Mónica and Dan discuss the Our Soil project that brought him to the Ramírez-Andreotta laboratory, what he will be doing there to support the project, and music for long road trips. You can listen to the interview on KXCI’s website here.

The delay on our laboratory work with the Community Soil Study Toolkit due to COVID-19 has come to an end:

RPI undergraduate student Tal Margalit returns to the Our Soil project team this semester to assist us in documenting our project as well as facilitating our auto-ethnography, or “self-study” process. Welcome back!

Abby, Kathy, Dan, and Branda Miller (RPI Professor of Arts and Sanctuary for Independent Media Arts & Education Coordinator) gave a presentation titled “Lead Poisoning and Environmental Justice” as part of the Frontiers in Biotechnology Seminar Series hosted by RPI’s Cente

Abby was interviewed by Peter Sergay of The Sanctuary for Independent Media on WOOC 105.3 about the Our Soil project. They discussed the potential of the Community Soil Study Toolkit to allow people to measure the concentration of heavy metals like lead, arsenic, and copper right in their backyards and neighborhoods without the need for additional laboratory equipment.