Short Bio

Professor Elsie Sunderland is the Fred Kavli Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University where she has been a faculty member since 2010 and leads the Biogeochemistry of Global Contaminants Research Group. Her research aims to better understand how chemical pollutants interact with natural ecosystems and affect life. Her group quantitatively analyzes the entire exposure pathway for pollutants to identify key processes that have a large influence on their accumulation in living organisms. Prior to joining the Harvard Faculty, she spent five years at the headquarters for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency working on regulatory impact assessments and developing guidance on how to best use environmental models to inform regulatory decisions. Over the past 20 years, she has collaborated extensively with indigenous groups, NGOs, and state, federal and international government organizations. Her work has informed strategies for managing risks associated with environmental chemical exposures from energy infrastructure such as coal-fired power plants and hydroelectric dams, and global regulatory efforts for mercury and PFAS. Professor Sunderland has mentored >50 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. She is the Editor-in-Chief for the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts and on the Editorial Advisory Board for Environmental Science & Technology. Prof. Sunderland received her B.Sc. from McGill University in 1997 and Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University in 2003. Outside of science, she is interested in dogs (particularly if they have beards), running, being a soccer/sailing mom for her two kids, and coastal conservation.

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Full CV (updated 01/24)