Kevin L. Armbrust

Position: Chair, Dept. of Environmental Sciences and Claiborne Gasoline Company Chair in Air Quality/Environmental Toxicology and Professor

Phone: 225-578-3030

Fax: 225-578-4286

E-mail: armbrust@lsu.edu 

Office: 1279 Energy, Coast and Environment

Bachelor's Degree(s): B.S. Environmental Toxicology, University of California at Davis, 1987

Ph.D.(s): Ph.D. Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry, University of California at Davis, 1992

CV: Curriculum Vita of Kevin L. Armbrust

 

Research Interests

My overall research programs cover the movement, disposition and ultimate degradation/fate and toxicity of chemicals in environmental matrices (water, sediment and biota) with a focus on Louisiana watersheds, wetlands and coastal areas.  We develop laboratory and field methods to assess important biological and physical dissipation processes in surface soils/sediments as well as near surface water and measuring contributions of chemical loads by different use patterns to non-target freshwater and marine watersheds.  We have programs assessing the transport of pesticides, petrochemicals, and human health pharmaceuticals and their degradation products in soil and water, the influence of sunlight on their degradation and toxicity in soil and water, environmental and biological processes influencing pesticide and pharmaceutical degradation, and the environmental impact of pesticides and pharmaceutical products.  We also have projects assessing amounts of chemical contamination in manufactured and retail food and animal feed and the impacts on human health.  There is a strong emphasis on research as it impacts regulatory science in ecological and human health risk assessment such that the best available science is incorporated into regulatory and policy decisions at the state, national and international levels.

Courses Taught

ENVS 4101 – Environmental Chemistry

ENVS 7950 – Pesticide Chemistry 

Awards & Honors

Fellow - American Chemical Society (2022)

Co-Director – Center of Excellence for Regulatory Science in Agriculture (2018-present)

US FDA Food Advisory Committee (term expires 6/30/2016) – Appointed.

President Elect – Association of American Feed Control Officials – AAFCO. (2011)

Editorial Advisory Board Member (appointed). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2012 – present).

Alternate Councilor (Elected) – Division of Agrochemicals, American Chemical Society (2012 – present).

Elected Chair-USDA Western Regional Research Group W1045 (2008 – 2009; 2017 – present).

Elected Chair, Division of Agrochemicals, American Chemical Society. (2009 – 2010)

Program Chair, Division of Agrochemicals, American Chemical Society. (2008 – 2009)

Vice-Chair, Division of Agrochemicals, American Chemical Society. (2007 – 2008)

Association of American Feed Control Officials Board of Directors (2007 – 2010).

AAFCO Board Liaison to the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) Board of Directors (2007 – present).

Co-Chairman, Feed Contaminants Committee, American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) (2009 – 2011).

State FIFRA Research and Evaluation Group (SFIREG) Environmental Quality Issues Working Committee Member (2006 – 2009) Ad-hoc member to date.

First-Place Poster Award Winner – 2006 USEPA Science Forum.

Secretary- USDA Western Regional Research Group W1045 (2006 – 2007).

State FIFRA Research and Evaluation Group (SFIREG) AAPCO Lab Committee Liaison (2005 – present).

Commissioned Officer U.S Food and Drug Administration (2002 – present)

Chairman, Peer Review panel for EPA’s 2006 Report on the Environment: Land Chemicals Indicators (2005).

Peer-review panelist – USEPA STAR grant and fellowship (both STAR and GRO) programs (1-2 panels/yr since 1999).

State of Mississippi Plant Advisory Board (2002 – present)

State of Mississippi Fish Advisory Board (2002 – present)

State of Mississippi Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Advisory Board (2002 – present).

Executive Committee, Division of Agrochemicals, American Chemical Society (2003 – 2006)

Editorial board member: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (1999 – 2006).

Board of Directors, Georgia Turfgrass Association (1998-2002)

1995 – DuPont Agricultural Products Accomplishment Award for Outstanding Conduct and Support of Methomyl Aquatic Dissipation Studies

1991 – Donald Crosby Graduate Fellowship

1991 – Jastro-Shields Graduate Research Scholarship – $2500

1990 – Jastro-Shields Graduate Research Scholarship – $1500

1989 – ICI America Fellowship

Professional Affiliations and Service Activities

American Chemical Society (ACS) – Divisions of Agrochemicals (AGRO) and Environmental Chemistry (ENVR).
Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC)
Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL)
Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)
Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO)
Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)
Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO)
Association of American Pesticide Control Officials (AAPCO)
American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS)
USDA Western Regional Research Group (USDA Hatch W2045)

Invited Presentations or Testimony (last 10 years)

US Environmental Protection Agency – Gulf Breeze Laboratory (Gulf Ecology Division) (September 2017):  Assessing Chemical Persistence, Fate and Toxicity in Coastal and Estuarine Marine Ecosystems

Association of Food and Drug Officials panelist (June 2017).   Topic:  Cannabis: New Horizons in Food and Drug Regulations.

Bodega Marine Laboratory (July 2016):  Topic: The Fate of Pesticides and Other Contaminants in Marine Ecosystems.

Georgia Environmental Health Association:  (June 2016) Topic:  Arsenic in Food and the Environment:  History, Sources and Perspectives.

US Department of Agriculture (Dec. 2015):  Topic: Arsenic in Food and the Environment:  History, Sources and Perspectives.

Association of Food and Drug Officials of Southern States (AFDOSS) Fall Meeting (Sept. 2015).  Topic:  The Gulf Oil Spill:   5 years later.

Fort Johnson Seminar Series (February 2015), Charleston, SC.  Topic:  New Processes to Evaluate the Fate of Contaminants in Marine Ecosystems.

Association of Food and Drug Officials of Southern States (AFDOSS) Fall Meeting (Sept. 2014).  Topic:  Arsenic in Food and the Environment:  History, Sources and Perspectives.

Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.  Gulf Oil Spill Focused Topic Meeting (April 2011). Invited Panelist Representing the Gulf Coast States:  Topic:  The Mississippi State Chemist’s Office Perspective on the Response to the Gulf Oil Spill.

Association of Food and Drug Officials of Southern States (AFDOSS) Fall Meeting (Sept. 2010).  Topic:  Risk Assessment used in the Development of the Reopening Protocol for Gulf Waters Following the Oil Spill from the Deep Water Horizon Disaster.

Association of Food and Drug Officials Annual Meeting (June, 2010).  Invited Panelist representing gulf coast states.  Topic:  Federal and State Response to assess seafood safety following the Deepwater Horizon Disaster.

American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), Administrative Seminar (April, 2010).  Topic:  Congressional legislation impacting accreditation of state laboratories.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PREP Course.  (April, 2010) Davis, CA.  Topic:  The Food Safety Enhancement Act and Implications for FIFRA laboratories.

Southeastern Feed, Fertilizer and Pesticide Control Officials.  (June, 2008).  New Orleans, LA.  Topic:  Activities of the AAFCO Board of Directors.

Recent Publications

Xu, W., Armbrust, K. L., Vebrosky, (2020) E. Potential Toxic Effects of 4-OH-Chlorothalonil Degradation Product on Human Skin Health. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 394(122575), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122575

Vebrosky, E., Basirico, L., Armbrust, K. L. (2019). Degradation of Dicloran in Irradiated Water-Sediment Systems. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 67(27), 7609-7615.

Fairbrother, A., Muir, D., Solomon, K., Ankley, G., Ar, M., Boxall, A., Apell, J., Armbrust, K. L., Et. Al. (30+ authors) (2019). Towards Sustainable Environmental Quality: Priority Research Questions for North America. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 38(8), 1604-1622.

Xu, W., Vebrosky, E. N., Richards, M., Armbrust, K. L. (2018). Evaluation of dicloran phototoxicity using primary cardiomyocyte culture from Crassostrea virginica. Science of the Total Environment.

Vebrosky, E., Saranjampour, P., Crosby, D. G., Armbrust, K. L. (2018). Photodegradation of Dicloran in Freshwater and Seawater. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 66(11), 2654-2659.

Xu, W., Vebrosky, E., Armbrust, K. L. (2018). Potential Risk of Human Skin with an Exposure to Dicloran Photodegradation Products in Water. Environment International, 121, 861-870.

Saranjampour, P., Armbrust, K. L. (2018). Repeatability of n-octanol/water partition coefficient values between liquid chromatography measurement methods. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25, 15111-15119.

Saranjampour, P., Armbrust, K. L., Marx, B. D. (2017). Assessing the hydroxyl radical and volatilization roles in the aquatic fate of polycyclic aromatic sulfur-containing hydrocarbons. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 36(8), 1998-2004.

Saranjampour, P., Vebrosky, E., Armbrust, K. L. (2017). Salinity impacts on water solubility and n-octanol/water partition coefficients of selected pesticides and oil constituents. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 36(9), 2274-2280.

Goff, A., Saranjampour, P., Hladik, M., Armbrust, K. L., Brander, S. (2017). The effects of fipronil and its photodegradate fipronil desulfinyl on growth and gene expression in juvenile blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, at different salinities. Aquatic Toxicology, 186, 96-104.

Poulos, J., Griesbach, R. J., Hapeman, C. J., Duke, S. O., Armbrust, K. L. (2016). The Discovery of Phytochrome.  Unlocking the Secrets of Plants and their Connection to the Light. Chemistry International.

Bowling, J. J., Anderson, J., Armbrust, K. L., Harmon, M. (2014). Evaluation of potential biodiesel feedstock production from oleaginous insect Solenopsis sp. Fuel, 117, 5-7.