PROTECT Trainee Norma Torres Featured in SRP Newsletter

The July Edition of the SRP Newsletter “Trainee Spotlight” features PROTECT Project 4 trainee Norma Torres, highlighting her work with Dr. Ingrid Padilla on contaminant distribution in karst aquifers. Norma has been with PROTECT since 2011, during which time she has received two Individual Development Plan Awards from PROTECT as well as the prestigious Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, awarded this year.

Norma is the first student from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez to be awarded a Ford Fellowship. The award will support her dissertation research that will determine potential relationships between changes in groundwater contamination in karst groundwater system and hydrogeologic conditions and anthropogenic factors, and covers her stipend and provides travel funds to present at the annual conference of Ford Fellows.

Norma recently published a paper on her research in the journal Environmental Pollution. The paper focuses on phthalate contamination in the karst region of Puerto Rico using data from historical records as well as recent field measurements.

Congratulations again, Norma!