The Hettiarachchi Soil and Environmental Chemistry Lab

Yesterday (08/17/2026) was a long, but very successful day. Big thanks to this hard working crew. We now have our 4th Kansas City, Kansas, vacant lot study plots installed and amendments applied!!

Harvesting potatoes at Riverside Garden, Wichita! 08/05/2026🥔🌱
Did you know? Potatoes (tubers) and carrots (root crops) differ in how they absorb and translocate soil contaminants due to differences in their anatomy, physiological barriers, and transport mechanisms. Some management practices help to minimize the amount of soil contaminants that trasfer from soil to plant. K-State College of Agriculture K-State Department of Agronomy Riverside Garden

A productive day in the field across three different sites, each with its own objective. Today's work included screening soil for potential contaminants, plant harvesting for testing, and performing essential site maintenance.

Every site presents unique challenges and opportunities to contribute to environmental stewardship. We appreciate everyone's hard work in making a meaningful impact, one site at a time.

Harvesting chard from second test site (Kansas City, MO). How management practices can influence soil-plant-human transfer pathway of soil contaminants? 07/22/2026

Another productive and successful day in the field!
We treated another residential site (KCK 04) and set up soil amendment monitoring (07/22/2026).
Big thanks to our hardworking team for making it happen.

We just wrapped up a very successful five-day data collection campaign across two beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source. While the sheer volume of data is a major milestone for our research, the true success lies in the invaluable training and technical growth each team member experienced firsthand in the facility.

No challenging weather can stop this group; harvesting kale from second test site (Kansas City, MO). How management practices can influence soil-plant-human transfer pathway of soil contaminants? 07/17/2026

Day 3 at APS
Data collection is underway at two beamlines. We are acquiring micro-XRF maps and micro-XANES at GSECARS 13-ID-E while continuing bulk Pb LIII-edge XANES measurements at 5-BM-B. Excited to see what these datasets reveal about lead speciation in household dusts, residential sites and vacant lots.
Janani Peshala

Day 2: Bulk-XAS data collection is going well at Sector 5. Looking forward to get the second study started tomorrow!

Day1: XAS data collection at sector 5 BMB, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
Integrating chemical speciation of with changes in simulated human gastric phase solubility.