Parker Chang '25 is an incoming PhD candidate at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

Parker Chang’s senior essay, “Characterizing PFAS Exposures from Residential Floor Dust Using an Integrated GC- and LC-HRMS Non-Targeted Analysis Approach,” was advised by Dr. Krystal Pollitt and received the prestigious Gaylord Donnelley Prize. His research examined exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of persistent environmental pollutants, in residential floor dust. Using advanced non-targeted analytical techniques, Parker demonstrated that while many PFAS compounds were detected in relatively few homes, chemical profiles varied considerably from home to home, highlighting how indoor environments can influence exposure to environmental contaminants.

Following graduation, Parker has continued to do research at the intersection of analytical chemistry and exposure science, using high-resolution mass spectrometry and ion mobility data to identify PFAS in environmental and biological matrices. Parker currently works as a Research Assistant at the Yale School of Public Health, and he has had the opportunity to present his research at the 2025 International Society for Exposure Science and International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISES-ISEE) Joint Conference and the 2026 American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) Annual Conference. 

This fall, Parker will be starting a PhD program in Environmental Health Sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He is excited to further his experience in exposomics research and hopes to assess the influence of environmental chemical exposures on biomarkers, human health outcomes, and disease.