Kerensa King is a Ph.D. student with the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Washington’s (UW) School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. She obtained her B.S. in Wildlife Sciences and M.S. in Fisheries from UW as well.

Kerensa first became interested in contaminant issues after working on an environmental assessment dealing with the application of herbicides to control noxious weeds in several local watersheds. She was surprised at how little information there was on the effects to non-target species, particularly aquatic species.

As a result, the research project she chose to do for her Master’s was to examine the effects of 4-nonylphenol on smoltification in juvenile Pacific salmonids. 4-nonylphenol is a breakdown product of surfactants that are used with herbicides to improve their efficacy.

After completing her Master’s and returning to work for the U.S. Forest Service for two years, she has returned to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. Her dissertation work will culminate a 5-year effort to determine the direct toxic effects of pesticides reported in urban streams on the survival and reproduction of salmon, using coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) as a model.

As the 2007-08 At-Large (Student) representative Kerensa looks forward to assisting the PNW-SETAC Board and promoting student participation and activities. She requests feedback from student members regarding ways that the society can better serve them. Her email address is kerensa@u.washington.edu.