Dr. Sara Belontz received her PhD in Geology from the University of Western Ontario investigating the sources, transport, and fate of microplastics in freshwater compartments. Her dissertation reported the spatial and temporal distribution of microplastics in benthic sediment of Lake Huron, North America.
Sara has published in various academic journals with the Synthetic Collective, many of which include “Embracing an interdisciplinary approach to plastics pollution awareness and action”, and “A comprehensive investigation of industrial pellets on beaches across the Laurentian Great Lakes and the factors governing their distribution”. Sara is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher at California State University, San Marcos, developing a novel technique using NanoIR instrumentation to identify and classify nano- and microplastics in aqueous solutions.