Dr. Jaclyn Canas-Carrell News

July 30, 2025

Texas Tech Researcher Digs into Impacts of Microplastics

Ubiquitous small particles are practically everywhere, and they are becoming a huge problem.

In a relatively short amount of time, microplastics have evolved from possible panacea to potential problem as their presence has dramatically increased in everyday life.

Sometimes without our possibly even knowing it.

The call to action first occurred in 2004 when marine toxicologists observed plastic debris in the oceans. Now, microplastics and their link to numerous adverse health impacts has generated significant scrutiny across the scientific community.

Jaclyn Cañas-Carrell, professor and chair in the Department of Environmental Toxicology in the College of Arts & Sciences at Texas Tech University, has been focused on the cascading impacts of microplastics for the past seven years as part of her interest in studying emerging contaminants and the fate of chemicals in the environment.

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September 10, 2020

Texas Tech receives grant to foster equity in faculty

By: Hannah Isom
Staff Writer

Texas Tech was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE program.

Tech’s ADVANCE project, “Advancing Equity through Systemic Strategies to Improve Leadership, Departmental Collegiately, and Data Transparency at Texas Tech University”, addresses gender, race and ethnicity issues that prohibit faculty success at the institution, according to a release from the Office of Research and Innovation.

The grant is designed to foster equity by identifying and removing organizational barriers women and underrepresented minorities in faculty may face, according to the release.

Tech identified three challenges to equity, which are dissatisfaction with department chair leadership, the lack of organized infrastructure and professional development opportunities for faculty and dissatisfaction with STEM department's department collegiality, according to the release.

The proposed solutions to these challenges are to develop leadership in department chairs using intersectional approaches, establish organizational infrastructure and professional development opportunities and enhancing data infrastructure and operating policies that supports data-driven decision making and accountability.

The grant team is comprised of PI Stephanie J. Jones, and Co-PIs Kay Tindle, Kay Millerick, Jaclyn Canas-Carrell, and Michael Galyean.

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