James H. Martin

The research programs led by Kevin L. Armbrust, the Department Chair at Louisiana State University, focus on the movement, disposition, degradation, and toxicity of chemicals in environmental matrices such as water, sediment, and biota, particularly in Louisiana's watersheds, wetlands, and coastal areas. His team develops laboratory and field methods to assess biological and physical dissipation processes in surface soils and near-surface water while measuring the contributions of chemical loads from various use patterns to non-target freshwater and marine ecosystems. Their work includes studying the transport of pesticides, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals, examining how sunlight affects their degradation and toxicity, and assessing the environmental impact of these substances. Additionally, they investigate chemical contamination in food and animal feed and its implications for human health. A significant emphasis is placed on integrating research findings into regulatory science to inform ecological and human health risk assessments at multiple governance levels.