UC Davis - Poulin Research Group

Welcome!

Welcome! The Poulin lab is a young group of multidisciplinary researchers in the Environmental Toxicology Department at UC Davis. Our research focuses on understanding and addressing issues of metal contaminants in man-made and natural environments. The research carried out by our group helps decrease the amount of metals humans and wildlife are exposed to and improves the understanding of the toxicologic pathways of metals. Our current research projects span from studies that evaluate remediation strategies of managed aquatic systems (e.g., wetlands, reservoirs), understanding how perturbations are impacting contaminants on the landscape (e.g., sea-level rise, permafrost thaw), and how metals could impact humans through aerosols. Check out the Research page for more information!

Recent Lab News

Undergrads Emily Richter and Zap Perkins graduate!

June 13, 2026

PhD Candidate Taylor Evinger sampling rivers in Alaska

Taylor Evinger Awarded Crosby Fellowship in Environmental Chemistry

April 17, 2026

Graphical representation of thiol equilibrium

New Study in Analytical Chemistry on Organic Sulfur Characterization

February 24, 2026

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Fall 2024 Lab Outing - strikes and gutters...

Iron rock drainage on the Igning River, Gates of the Arctic National Park

Blue crab checking out a pore water sipper (Shark River, Everglades National Park)

Hells Canyon Dam, Snake River (Idaho) (credit: Brett Poulin)

Cape Krusenstern Nat. Monument, Alaska (credit: Brett Poulin)

Peat core from Frozen Pond Fen, Alaska (credit: Brett Poulin)

Pore water, Florida Everglades (credit: Brett Poulin)

Flasks for dissolved gaseous mercury measurements, Eight Mile Lake, Denali State Park Alaska (credit: Brett Poulin)

Snake River Dam Graffiti (credit: Brett Poulin)

X-ray Emission Spectrometer for tender X-ray range, ESRF ID26 (credit: Brett Poulin)

Dissolved Organic Matter Across A Wetland Gradient, Frozen Pond Fen Alaska (Credit: Brett Poulin)

Beaver Pond in Noatak Nat. Preserve, Alaska (credit: Jon O'Donnell)

Periphyton from the Florida Everglades used for experiments on mercury methylation

Our trusty YSI measuring in-situ conditions of an acidic seep (pH 2.5!) on the Agashashok River (Noatak National Preserve)

Tissue samples for Hg speciation by HERFD-XANES, ESRF ID26 (credit: Brett Poulin)

Postdoc researcher Ben Peterson sampling a sediment core from Rabbit Creek beaver pond for field experimentation (Cape Krusenstern NP, Alaska) (credit: Brett Poulin)

Postdoctoral Fellow Abagael Pruitt (third from left) with other panelists to deliver the 2025 NOAA Arctic Report Card (New Orleans; Dec 2025).

PhD student Virginia Krause collecting pore water along the Snake River (credit: Brett Poulin)

Lab group outing at the Sacramento Kings basketball game (Feb., 2023)

Jeff Murray presenting his research on mercury in fish in the Arctic at the UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities Conference (April, 2023)

Mark Salazar, left, and Brett Poulin in lab with disposable vape pods (Credit: Kat Kerlin)

PhD Student Julia Davidson at the Inner Shell Spectroscopy beamline (8-ID) at NSLS-II for measurements of Hg speciation by HERFD-XANES spectroscopy. (Credit: Brett Poulin)

Comfort Chukwuere (PhD student) sampling water at depth in a selenium-impaired lake in Michigan. (Credit: Brett Poulin)

Students of ETX180 tour the Advanced Light Source (Spring, 2024).

Waters samples from the Nakolikruk Creek staged for filtering (Noatak National Preserve)

Brett Poulin with an crystal analyzer at ID26 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Nov 2023

Red Mangrove stands at low tide in the coastal Shark River, Everglades National Park

Ben Peterson filtering water on Kelly River (Alaska) at sunset

PhD student Taylor Evinger collecting water for the radiocarbon age of DOC in thermokarst lakes, Alaska

PhD Student Mark Salazar presenting at the Society of Toxicology meeting (March, 2024)

PhD student Ania Szlembarska and Brett Poulin sampling pore water from mangroves along the Shark River in Everglades National Park.

PhD Student Julia Davidson at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (Brookhaven National Labs) for measurements of mercury speciation by HERFD-XANES spectroscopy.

A set of dissolved organic matter solutions (same [DOC], varying SUVA) for use in an experiment.

Undergraduate researcher Emily Richter sampling plankton for mercury and selenium measurements. (Credit: Brett Poulin)

An impaired tributary entering the Kougarok River (Noatak National Preserve, Alaska) (Credit: Brett Poulin)

Virginia Krause presenting at the 2024 ASLO meeting, Madison WI. (Credit: Dave Krabbenhoft)

Lab BBQ (June 2025) seeing off several undergraduate researchers.

Lab rafting trip on the American River (June, 2025).

MS student Jeff Murray collecting S XANES spectra at SSRL (beamline 4-3). (Credit: Brett Poulin)

Undergraduate students (Reagan Ochalek, ETOX) presenting at the 2025 International Conference on River Sciences (Oct, 2025).

Fish samples collected on the Nakolikruk Creek (Noatak National Preserve, Alaska). (Credit: Brett Poulin)

A steep tributary of the Igning River (Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska) impaired by acid rock drainage. (Credit: Brett Poulin)

First year students sampling the UC Davis arboretum waterway for water quality. (Credit: Brett Poulin)

PhD Candidate Mark Salazar at SOT 2026.

Undergraduate researcher Emily Richter presenting her work at the 2025 UC Davis Undergraduate Research Conference.

PhD Candidate Virginia Krause filling experimental bags to quantify rates of methylmercury formation in Guadalupe Reservoir (CA).