Leif Abrell (PhD, Organic Chemistry; BA, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) has measured and detected organic chemicals in trace amounts from animals, plants, water, and other substances using mass spectrometry and other organic spectroscopies for over twenty years. He has studied how these chemicals interact in, and affect, ecosystems like the North American Sonoran Desert, Biosphere 2, the Amazonian tropical forest, and watersheds like the Colorado River and the local Santa Cruz River. He has also investigated chemical interactions amongst marine microorganism assemblies, mammalian ligand receptors, and in the interstellar media. Most recently he is developing methods for analysis of organic contaminants in matrices like breastmilk and different sources of water. He enjoys working with all kinds of students, especially in informal learning environments.