Sherri A. Mason

Dr. Sherri A. Mason (aka “Sam”) earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She completed her doctorate in Chemistry at the University of Montana as a NASA Earth System Science scholar. While a Professor of Chemistry at SUNY Fredonia, her research group was among the first to study the prevalence and impact of plastic pollution within freshwater ecosystems.

Sam has been featured within hundreds of mass media articles including the BBC, The Guardian, the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Studio A1. Her work formed the basis for the Microbeads-Free Water Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in December 2015. Similar legislation has been approved or is being considered at various locations internationally.

She currently serves as the Director of Project NePTWNE at Gannon University.

Awards-Recognition

Great Lakes Leadership Award, Great Lakes Protection Fund, September 2021

Heinz Award, Heinz Family Foundation, October 2018

Environmental Excellence in Research, Earth Month Network, April 2017

EPA Environmental Champion, EPA Region 2, April 2016

Expertise

Freshwater Plastic Pollution

Professional Experience

Director, Project NePTWNE, Gannon University, Erie, PA. (2024–present)

Director of Sustainability, Penn State Behrend, Erie, PA. (2019-2024)

Chair, Department of Geology & Environmental Sciences, SUNY-Fredonia, Fredonia, NY. (2016-2018)

Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, SUNY-Fredonia, Fredonia, NY. (2001-2018)

Publications

Michida, Y., et al. (2023) Guidelines for Harmonizing Ocean Surface Microplastic Monitoring Methods. Version 1.2. Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan, Ministry of the Environment Japan, 73pp. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25607/OBP-867-2

Jenkins, T., et al. (2022) ‘State of Microplastic Pollution Research Data: Trends in Availability and Sources of Open Data,’ Frontiers in Environmental Science.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.912107

Lenaker, P. L., S. R. Corsi, S. R., and S. A. Mason. ‘Spatial Distribution of Microplastics in Surficial Benthic Sediment of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie,’ Environ. Sci. Tech., 55, 373-384, 2021

Cox, K., E. Brocious, S. Courtenay, M. Vinson, and S. A. Mason, ‘Distribution, abundance and spatial variability of microplastic pollution in surface waters of Lake Superior,’ J. Great Lakes Res.,47, 1358, 2021.

Mason, S. A., G. Aleid, R. Ricotta, M. Smith, K. Donnelly, W. Edwards, and M. J. Hoffman, ‘High Levels of Pelagic Plastic Pollution within the Surface Waters of Lakes Erie and Ontario,’ J. Great Lakes Res., 46, 277-288, 2020.

Lenaker, P.L., A. K. Baldwin, S. R. Corsi, S. A. Mason, P. C. Reneau, and J. W. Scott, ‘Vertical Distribution of Microplastics in the Water Column and Surficial Sediment from the Milwaukee River Basin to Lake Michigan,’ Environ. Sci. Tech., 53, 12227-12237, 2019.

Mason, S. A., V. Welch, and J. Neratko, ‘Synthetic Polymer Contamination in Bottled Water,’ Front. Chem. 6:407, 2018.

McNeish, R. E., L. H. Kim, H. A. Barrett, S. A. Mason, T. J. Hoellein, and J. J. Kelly, ‘Microplastic in riverine fish is connected to species traits,’ Sci. Reports 8:11639, 2018.

Kosuth, M., S. A. Mason, and E. V. Wattenbery, ‘Anthropogenic Contamination of tap water, beer and sea salt,’ PLOS One, 13(4): e0194970, 2018.

Naji, A., Z. Esmaili, S. A. Mason, and A. D. Vethaak, ‘The occurrence of microplastic contamination in littoral sediments of the Persian Gulf, Iran,’ Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 24, 20459, 2017.

Grigorakis, S., S. A. Mason, and K. G. Drouillard, ‘Determination of the gut retention of plastic microbeads and microfibers in goldfish (Carassius auratus),’ Chemosphere, 169, 233, 2017.

Baldwin, A. K., S. R. Corsi, and S. A. Mason, 'Plastic Debris in 29 Great Lakes Tributaries: Relations to Watershed Attributes and Hydrology,' Environ. Sci. Tech., 50, 10377, 2016.

Mason, S. A., D. Garneau, R. Sutton, Y. Chu, K. Ehmann, J. Barnes, P. Fink, D. Papazissimos, and D. L. Rogers, ‘'Microplastic pollution is widely detected in US municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent,’ Environ. Pollut., 218, 1045, 2016.

Sutton, R., S. A. Mason, S. K. Staneka, E. Willis-Norton, I. F. Wren, and C. Box, ‘Microplastic Contamination in the San Francisco Bay,’ Marine Pollut. Bullet., 109, 230, 2016.

Mason, S. A., L. Kammin, M. Eriksen, G. Aleid, S. Wilson, C. Box, N. Williamson, and A. Riley, ‘Pelagic Plastic Pollution within the Surface Waters of Lake Michigan, USA,’ J. Great Lakes Res., 42, 753, 2016.

McCormick, A., T.J. Hoellein, S. A. Mason, J. Schluep, and J.J. Kelly, ‘Microplastic in an abundant and district microbial habitat in an urban river,’ Environ. Sci. Tech., 48, 11863, 2014.

Free, C. M., O. P. Jensen, S. A. Mason, M. Eriksen, N. J. Williamson, and B. Boldgiv, ‘High-levels of microplastic pollution in a large, remote, mountain lake,’ Marine Pollution Bulletin, 85, 156, 2014.

Eriksen, M., S. A. Mason, S. Wilson, C. Box, A. Zellers, W. Edwards, H. Farley, and S. Amato, ‘Microplastic Pollution in the Surface Waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes,’ Marine Pollution Bulletin, 77, 177, 2013.

Mason, S. A., J. Arey, and R. Atkinson, ‘Kinetics and Products of the OH Radical-Initiated Reaction of 1,4-Butanediol and Rate Constants for the Reactions of OH Radicals with 4-Hydroxybutanal and 3-Hydroxypropanal,’ Environ. Sci. Tech., 44, 707, 2010.

Mason, S. A., J. Arey, and R. Atkinson, ‘Rate Constants for the Gas-Phase Reactions of NO3 Radicals and O3 with C6-C14 1-Alkenes and 2-Methyl-1-alkenes at 296 ± 2 K,’ J. Phys. Chem. A, 113, 5649, 2009.

Mason, S. A., J. Trentmann, T. Winterrath, R. J. Yokelson, T. J. Christian, L. J. Carlson, T. R. Warner, L. C. Wolfe, and M. O. Andreae, ‘Intercomparison of Two Box Models of the Chemical Evolution in Biomass-Burning Smoke Plumes,’ J. Atmos. Chem., 55, 273, 2006.

Trentmann, J., R. J. Yokelson, P. V. Hobbs, T. Winterrath, T. J. Christian, M. O. Andreae, and S. A. Mason, ‘An Analysis of the Chemical Processes in the Smoke Plume from a Savanna Fire,’ J. Geophys. Res., 110, D12301, 2005.

Mason, S. A., R. J. Field, R. J. Yokelson, M. A. Kochivar, M. R. Tinsley, D. E. Ward, and

W.-M. Hao, ‘Complex Effects Arising in Smoke Plume Simulations due to Inclusion of Direct Emissions of Oxygenated Organic Species from Biomass Combustion,’ J. Geophys. Res., 106, D12527, 2001.