Specialty Chief Editor, Prof Oladele Ogunseitan from the University of California Irvine, will lead the new Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment specialty in Frontiers in Environmental Science. He currently co-chair’s Apple Inc.’s Green Chemistry Advisory Board. In 2018, he received a meritorious honor award from the U.S. Department of State for exceptional teamwork and contributions to the successful achievement of U.S. goals at the third United Nations Environment Assembly.

Exceptional leadership

Oladele Ogunseitan

Prof Ogunseitan is a Professor in Public Health and Social Ecology at UC Irvine and is involved in a number of projects related to toxic environmental pollution, microbial diversity, global health impacts and development as well as links between ecology, environment and health. He served for three years on the California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s Green Ribbon Science Panel, and for two years on the California’s Advisory Committee on the Community Protection and Hazardous Waste Reduction Initiative.

Prof. Ogunseitan says Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment will act as “the compass for emerging researchers seeking directions to the best ideas in their quest for creating sustainable solutions”.

Rapid change is the playground for research on toxicology, pollution and the environment

Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment is interdisciplinary. It will help us understand environmental pollutants and explore how they impact climate and environmental systems from academic, government and industry perspectives. A special focus will be given to new methodologies and technologies that challenge and expand our understanding of environmental pollutants and toxins within the context of modern rapid environmental degradation and change.

Working across disciplines starts with intimidation then demystification

On meeting the challenge of working across disciplines, Prof Ogunseitan says: “I am inspired by the fact that grand challenges in my field of research demand collaboration across disciplines. When I first seek out a potential collaborator from a radically different area, I am at first intimidated by the language, style, and often formidable methods used in that discipline. But soon, through the process of collaboration I learn a little bit about the essential features of these areas of inquiry, and the solutions that we jointly derive are deeply satisfying. Henceforth, I feel for myself, that I have successfully ‘demystified’ the scientific question, only to reveal deeper questions.”

Risks of technology for the environment

Prof. Ogunseitan is also keen to create a forum that will enable the community to address the growing risk factors inherent in industry manufacturing and the resulting waste products from the tech, nano-tech and aerospace technology sectors and welcomes submissions from researchers working in this area. For example, major scientific, technological and economic challenges exist in managing toxic components of electronic waste, the fastest growing category of hazardous solid waste in the world [1].

Watch a video of Prof Ogunseitan speaking about his research on the health impacts of toxic e-waste

Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment is now open for submissions and welcomes high-quality articles and topical themed article collection proposals across the breadth of the field. Follow us on Twitter: @FrontEnvSci

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[1] Awasthi, A.K., Li, J., Koh, L. and Ogunseitan, O.A. 2019. Circular Economy and Electronic Waste. Nature Electronics,volume 2, pages 86–89 (2019) DOI: 10.1038/s41928-019-0225-2