Undergraduate Researchers Win Two Awards for PFAS Environmental Justice Research
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Sophomores Jimmy Cantarero and Samantha Harrison of the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department and senior Olivia Whynott of the Environmental Science Department have won two prestigious UMass Amherst awards related to their research on perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), infamously known as “forever chemicals,” and their disproportionate impact on Latino communities in the United States. All three students did their research in the Soil and Water Lab (Home | soilandwater) of CEE Assistant Professor Christian Guzman in collaboration with CEE graduate student Raul Vera.
As a part of collaborative research with CEE Assistant Professor Sean McBeath (https://www.wwetlab.com/), Guzman and Vera have investigated PFAS concentrations in stormflow and tributary networks in experimental sites around Hampshire County. McBeath’s recent work with Resource Economics Assistant Professor Tihitina Andarge, funded by the Institute of Diversity Sciences, demonstrates the social landscape of water contamination in Massachusetts, serving as motivation for the undergraduates’ work.
As Guzman explains about his lab, the research focuses on soil and water resources at various scales within watersheds that contribute food, energy, water, and societal needs. His lab collaborates with researchers from a variety of disciplines interested in soil-surface dynamics, surface-water-quality degradation, and socio-hydrological development. Guzman says that the work pursues “scholarship with a socio-hydrological perspective that benefits the local community, nation, and the world, including marginalized and underserved communities.”
In this context, the award-winning undergrads did their research on PFAS, which are synthetic substances known as “forever chemicals” due to their extreme persistence in, and negative impact on, the environment and human body.
The three undergraduate researchers originally collaborated to win a UMass Amherst Libraries 2026 Undergraduate Sustainability Research Award for their paper titled “Analysing Trends in PFAS Distribution Across Race and Income in the United States.”
According to the UMass Amherst Libraries, the award promotes in-depth understanding of sustainability topics, research strategies, and the use of library resources, thus “providing participating students with vital skills they will carry into future academic and vocational endeavors.” The competition was open to all currently enrolled campus undergrads. Five winners were chosen for their outstanding research papers and received scholarships of $1,000-$2,500 as funded by the UMass Amherst Libraries Sustainability Fund.
From that award-winning paper, the team of three undergrads developed a poster and presentation titled “Are ‘forever chemicals’ disproportionately impacting Latino communities in the Eastern United States?” Cantarero exhibited the poster and gave the presentation, which in turn won the UMass Amherst Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS) Undergraduate Research Award Poster Competition. (See CLACLS Presents Inaugural Undergraduate Research Award : UMass Amherst)
The research depicted in the poster and presentation examines environmental justice and health disparities through a quantitative analysis of PFAS contamination across New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Using statistical modeling, the research explores correlations between environmental exposure and Latino-population distribution, thereby contributing to ongoing conversations about environmental inequities affecting Latino communities.
The CLACLS competition included an initial poster review, from which eight finalists were selected, followed by a public poster session held on April 29 at Bromery Plaza as part of UMass Amherst Founders Day. Finalists presented their work to both the campus community and a panel of evaluators that included the dean of the Manning College of Information & Computer Sciences, the dean of the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, the dean of the College of Humanities & Fine Arts, the dean of the College of Natural Sciences, the dean of Commonwealth Honors College, and Isabel Espinal from the CLACLS Advisory Board.
As Guzman aptly sums up the award-winning research by his three undergraduate lab members, “This work reflects the growing interdisciplinary engagement of Riccio College of Engineering students in research that connects environmental justice, public health, and Latino community issues.”
The research was supported by funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass Amherst under project number MAS00644. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIFA or the USDA. (June 2026)