Phytoremediation is the use of plants for the purpose of environmental remediation. I am presently working in the area of phytoextraction, whereby plants take up specific contaminants from the soil and sequester these contaminants in their tissue. This process results in the accumulation of toxins in harvestable biomass which can then be easily collected and disposed of in hazardous waste sites. Phytoextraction is an economical and clean method of remediation, relative to other current techniques of extraction, and when naturally occurring plants are used it poses little to no negative environmental impact.

My current work focuses on understanding the behavior of arsenic in the rhizosphere of an As-hyperaccumulating plant in order to predict arsenic bioavailability and toxicity. I am using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) on live plants to investigate the speciation and distribution of arsenic taken up by Pteris cretica.