CHEMISTRY MATTERS® - Key Persons

Dr. David Megson is a Senior Environmental Chemist. His specialty is the analysis of environmental samples and interpretation of multidisciplinary data. He has experience in planning, developing and delivering a wide range of environmental projects for academic and industrial clients. His investigations generally involve organic contaminants specifically involving persistent organic pollutants (POPs). For the investigation of POPs, he specializes in identifying sources of contamination using advanced analytical techniques and multivariate statistics. Dr. David Megson brings a wealth of experience to the Chemistry Matters team. Based in the UK, Dr. Megson earned his BSc in Environmental Forensics (2:1) at University of Wales Bangor (Sept 2003 - June 2006), his MSc in Environmental Analysis and Assessment at Royal Holloway University of London (Sept 2006 - Sept 2007), and his PhD in Environmental Chemistry at University of Plymouth (Sept 2011 - Sept 2014). Dr. Megson's specialty is the analysis of environmental samples and interpretation of multidisciplinary data. He has extensive experience in planning, developing and delivering a wide range of environmental projects for academic and industrial clients. His investigations generally involve organic contaminants, specifically persistent organic pollutants (POPs). For POPs, he specializes in identifying sources of contamination using advanced analytical techniques and multivariate statistics. To date, Dr. Megson has published 15 peer reviewed papers in scientific journals with an average impact factor of >3.5. In ten of these published papers, he has been the lead author. He has also published in 13 book, book chapters and bulletins, which include being an editor for several special issues in peer reviewed journals. He has given over 25 oral presentations in the last 5 years as well as being on the organizational committee of several major international conferences including the International Network of Environmental Forensics annual conference (INEF 2015, 16, 17 & 18), the annual workshop on Brominated and Other Flame Retardants (BFR2016) and Dioxin (2017). Since 2016, Dr. Megson has been awarded a total of £401,100 in research funding (£91,100 of which as the primary investigator). Highlights from Dr. Megson's career, include personal achievements such as winning awards for presenting research at conferences, publishing research and defending his PhD. He has also been involved in several large scale contaminated land remediation jobs in the UK. David finds it rewarding to see the land transformed from a contaminated site turned to a useful resource. Dr. Megson has achieved the following committee positions and status with professional bodies;

Grace was born and raised in the southwestern part of Nigeria. The foundation of her career has been in academia, offering platforms for knowledge building and honing her technical skills. She is currently transitioning into more practical roles of applying the skills and knowledge to solving real issues affecting our environment and social life.

Job Titles:

• Environmental Data Analyst With

Steve Shideler brings his passion for applying scientific knowledge and experience with big data to the Chemistry Matters team. Steve Shideler is and Environmental Data Analyst with Chemistry Matters. He holds a BSc in Biological Sciences with a focus in environmental and pathogenic microbiology, as well as an MSc in Microbiology, Infectious Diseases - both from the University of Calgary. Previously, Steve studied business 20 years ago, and worked in international business development in Asia for ten years, alongside top business executives for LG, Samsung, Doosan, and other multinationals. Then he returned to Canada to pursue education in science. He pursued science to apply knowledge to solving problems in his community. He is passionate about applying scientific knowledge to solving real world problems and communicating science within his community through volunteering and science outreach. Steve's specialties are in handling big data, from his experience with handling terabytes of data from whole genome sequencing, and synthetic molecular genetics techniques in a laboratory, along with project management. He has developed biological sensors for the detection of naphthenic acids in oil sands wastewater.