Chelsea Rochman
Associate Professor and Co-Founder of the U of T Trash Team
I am currently on the faculty in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of Toronto. I am also a scientific advisor to the Ocean Conservancy and a National Geographic Explorer.
Previously, I was a David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellow at the Aquatic Health Program at the University of California, Davis. I received my PhD in a joint program with San Diego State University and UC Davis in Ecology and was advised primarily by Drs. Swee Teh and Eunha Hoh. For more about me, please download my CV.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Garth Covernton (he/him)
Garth is postdoctoral fellow working in the Rochman lab and the McMeans lab at U of T Mississauga as part of the pELAstics project. He studies how microplastic exposure affects the structure and energy flow within lake food webs using stable isotopes and fatty acids analyses. Garth is broadly interested in how potentially non-lethal contaminant stressors, such as microplastics, interact with aquatic ecology, and the potential for both direct and indirect effects to interact and effect food webs in ways that would be difficult to predict from laboratory experiments alone.
Dr. Zoie Diana (she/her)
Zoie is a Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellow in the Rochman Lab researching paint microplastics, both the extent of contamination in aquatic ecosystems and ecological effects on resident animals. This research is conducted with partners Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, and the Ocean Conservancy. Zoie is an interdisciplinary scholar interested in understanding the ecological consequences of plastic pollution and societal responses to this global issue. She earned her Ph.D. from Duke University in the Marine Science and Conservation Division and Environmental Health and Toxicology Program in 2023.
PhD Students
Jacob Haney (he/him)
Jacob received his Honours BSc in Environmental Science from Carleton University and is currently a PhD student in the Rochman Lab at the University of Toronto. He is studying the transport and fate of micro-and macro-plastics in urban stream environments in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire and Loyola University Chicago. Additionally, he will be conducting manipulative experiments to study the effects of micro- and macroplastics on freshwater benthic invertebrates and fish.
Francis Nuamah (he/him)
Francis holds a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, and a master’s degree in Oceanography and Limnology from the University of Cape Coast. At the University of Cape Coast, he investigated the link between urbanization and microplastics pollution in the Ghanaian sea surface waters. Currently, Francis is a PhD student in the Rochman Lab at the University of Toronto, as well as the Hoffman and Tyler labs at RIT, focusing his research on the physical fate of microplastics within whole lake ecosystems.
Meredith Omer (she/her)
Meredith earned her undergraduate degree at Mount Holyoke College with a major in environmental studies, a minor in chemistry, and an honors thesis in biology. She is studying the fate and effects of microplastic in freshwater fish, with a particular focus on particle translocation. Meredith will be conducting her PhD research as part of the pELAstic Project.
Ungku Zoë Anysa Ungku Fa’iz (she/her)
Zoë recently completed her HBSc at U of T in Materials Science with a double minor in Chemistry and Forest Biomaterials. Her eagerness to learn more about the harmful materials in our environment has led to an internship with Ocean Uprise by Parley for the Oceans and a position as a field researcher with the U of T Trash Team’s Fighting Floatables Project. Previously, her undergraduate thesis in this lab looked at microplastics in landfill leachate. Continued interest in this field has transitioned to a master’s project that focuses on the automation of microplastics analysis using Raman spectroscopy. When not in the lab, or rowing on Lake Ontario, you can find Zoë working on Life of a Pellet, a stop-motion short film funded by Ocean Wise on plastic pollution.
Simran Hansra (she/her)
Simran’s research in the lab focuses on ecotoxicological testing to inform risk assessments for microplastics. She graduated with an HBSc from the University of Toronto, double majoring in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity & Conservation (with a minor in English!) She worked as a research assistant in the Rochman lab on pSIREN. Recently, she was a Pollution Prevention Fellow of the UofT Trash Team, exploring the fate and transformation of plastic wet wipes in aquatic environments.
MSc Students
Brenda Li (she / her)
Brenda graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours BSc, in Biodiversity & Conservation Biology and Environmental Sciences, and a minor in Psychology. During her time in the lab, she has been involved in different projects such as the pELAstics project, the MIMIC project (Microplastics Impact on Macrobenthic Invertebrate Communites) and the ELA Garbage Patch, exploring the impact of plastic pollution on fish behavior. For her master’s research, she is conducting an ecological risk assessment of microplastics in Peru’s marine and freshwater ecosystems, focusing on the northern and central coast and Lake Titicaca.
Lab Manager
Madeleine Milne (she/her)
Madeleine graduated from the University of Manitoba before starting as a Lab Manager with the Rochman Lab. Her MSc. research focused on the effects of microplastics on the planktonic food web as part of the pELAstics project. Her current research in the lab focuses on assessing microplastic contamination in sport fish caught in California. She is also conducting research with the U of T Trash Team as a Pollution Prevention Project Fellow to assess the Federal single-use plastic straws ban.
Undergraduate Students
Vedant Gattani
Vedant is a third-year undergraduate at the University of Toronto, majoring in Biodiversity & Conservation Biology with a minor in Environmental Biology and Anthropology. He’s currently working on a third-year research project where he will look at microplastics in the GI tract of songbirds and how they vary across different feeding and foraging guilds.
Nola Roberts
Nola is currently a 3rd year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto studying Conservation and Environmental Biology with a minor in Physiology. She previously worked as a research assistant with the U of T Trash Team, and is now a work study student assisting in microplastic characterization for the pELAstic project.
Maura McGregor
Maura is a fifth-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, pursuing a double major in Animal Physiology and Biodiversity & Conservation. She is currently working on a NSERC USRA research project with PhD student Meredith to study the toxicokinetics of microplastics in the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas).
Kasturi Bhatt
Kasturi is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, studying Biodiversity & Conservation, Environmental Biology, and Forest Conservation Science, while also pursuing a Certificate in Sustainability. She is currently working on a research project with the pELAstics project, examining the biomagnification of microplastics in freshwater fish.
Camryn Trapp
Camryn is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto studying Biodiversity & Conservation, and Earth & Environmental systems, while also pursuing a Certificate in Business Fundamentals. She is currently assisting with fish diet characterization as a part of the pELAstic project.
Past Lab Members
Eden Hataley – PhD
Ashlyn Nance – Lab Manager and Undergraduate Researcher
May Jagodkin – Undergraduate Researcher
Emily Boersema – Undergraduate Researcher
Madeline Ho – Undergraduate Researcher
Naveen David – Undergraduate Researcher
Mira Ghosh – Research Assistant
Katie Monat – Research Assistant
Rachel Giles – PhD
Wilson Ramirez-Duarte – Postdoctoral Fellow
Erin Murphy – Postdoctoral Fellow
Elli Hung – Undergraduate Researcher
Xia (Alice) Zhu – PhD
Keenan Munno – Lab Manager and Research Assistant
Katie Wang – Undergraduate Researcher
Ludovic Hermabessiere – Postdoctoral Fellow
Bonnie Hamilton – PhD
Madeleine Milne – Research Assistant
Alishba Afaq – Undergraduate Researcher
River Sung – Undergraduate Researcher
Ariba Afaq – Undergraduate Researcher
Kate Patton – Undergraduate Researcher
Emilie Nero – Undergraduate Researcher
Johny Wang – Undergraduate Researcher
Dr. Leah Chibwe – Visiting Research Fellow
Sam Athey – PhD
Lisa Erdle – PhD
Kennedy Bucci – PhD
Dr. Anna O’Brien – Postdoctoral Fellow
Hannah De Frond – Research Assistant (Currently with the U of T Trash Team!)
Hayley McIlwraith – Undergraduate Researcher and Research Assistant
Cassandra Sherlock – Undergraduate Researcher
Lauren Ead – Undergraduate Researcher
Arielle Earn – Undergraduate Researcher
Dorsa Nora-Parto – Undergraduate Researcher
Anthony Carrozzi – Undergraduate Researcher
Dr. Stephanie Borrelle – Postdoctoral Fellow
Lingyun Li – Visiting PhD Student
Clara Thaysen – MSc Student
Jan Bikker – Undergraduate Research Student
Cole Brookson – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Antonino Calarco – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Monina Cepeda – 299 Undergraduate Student
Miguel Felismino – NSERC Undergraduate Research Fellow
Gloria Gao – Research Assistant
Jelena Grbic – Research Assistant
Aimee Huntington – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Joel Kim – MSc Student
Natasha Klasios – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Dr. Anna Kolomijeca – Postdoc (Rochman and Sinton Group)
Anna Lisa – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Nicholas Tsui – MSc Student at UTM
Matthew Tulio – work study student
Lara Werbowski – NSERC Undergraduate Research Fellow
Tina Wu – Undergraduate Researcher
Rochman Lab 