Staci Simonich is an American environmental scientist who is a professor and dean for the College of Agricultural Sciences at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

. Her research considers how chemicals move through the environment. She was appointed Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

in 2021. Family Simonich has two children, Noah a sophomore at Oregon State University, and Grace a senior at Crescent Valley High School. Grace was adopted from South Korea and has been an outstanding student all throughout high school.

Early life and education

Simonich grew up in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

. Her father worked in a

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

. Her house was near the Fox River, which suffered from issues with pollution. These experiences inspired Simonich to work on environmental issues. Simonich was the first in her family to attend college. She studied chemistry at the

University of Wisconsin–Green Bay The University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (UW-Green Bay, UWGB, or Green Bay) is a public university in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with regional campuses in Marinette, Wisconsin, Marinette, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Shebo ...

. As part of her undergraduate research, she studied

polychlorinated biphenyl Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...

s in Green Bay. After graduating she moved to

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

, where she studied the role of vegetation in removing organic pollutants from the atmosphere. During her doctoral research she studied

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. ...

s in the atmospherere. Her research combines lab-based studies with field experiments and computational modelling. Simonich earned a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

at Oregon State University in 2020.

Research and career

Simonich joined

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

, where she spent six years working on consumer food products. She investigated the environmental impacts of P&G ingredients. Simonich joined Oregon State University in 2001 and continued her work on

s (PAHs). Elevated levels of combustion means that emissions of PAHs are high in Asia. Simonich collected PAHs before, during and after the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

and analyzed for various different forms of hydrocarbons. She established a series of remote sites across the Pacific Northwest to monitor atmospheric transport of the PAHs from Beijing to North America. She has shown that PAHs persist over long distances, that they reach with other chemicals, and that they make use of various transport pathways. Simonich has studied several different types of PAH and monitored their environmental impact. She is particularly interested in

environmental remediation Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. Remedial action is generally subject to an array of regulatory requirements, and may al ...

and ways to remove PAHs from soil. Unfortunately, some forms of bioremidation can lead the breakdown products that are more toxic than the original compounds. Simonich was made Executive Associate Dean in 2020.

Awards and honors

*2003

National Science Foundation CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER awards, presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors i ...

*2013

Impact Award for Outstanding Scholarship *2015 Oregon State University Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award *2021 Elected Fellow of the

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonich, Staci Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American scientists 21st-century American women scientists Indiana University Bloomington alumni University of Wisconsin–Green Bay alumni Oregon State University alumni Oregon State University faculty Procter & Gamble people People from Green Bay, Wisconsin Environmental scientists American women scientists