Rate My Professor Ralph Mead

Mead leads the North Carolina PFAS Testing Network (PFAST), directing multidisciplinary, multi-institutional efforts on PFAS toxicology, atmospheric transformations, removal technologies, and source tracing in collaboration with state regulatory agencies. His contributions include securing major grants, such as an NSF Major Research Instrumentation award for a GC-MS/MS system and, in 2024, an Orbitrap Exploris 240 Isotope Solutions system from the North Carolina Collaboratory and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Recognized with the inaugural North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Applied Research Fellowship in 2022 as the Summer 2023 PFAS science fellow, induction into UNCW’s Million Dollar Club in 2023 for over $5 million in external funding, and designation as a Distinguished Faculty Scholar, Mead has published extensively. Key works include “Sediment and soil organic matter source assessment as revealed by the molecular distribution and carbon isotopic composition of n-alkanes” (Organic Geochemistry, 2005), “Origin and transport of sedimentary organic matter in two subtropical estuaries: a comparative, biomarker-based study” (Organic Geochemistry, 2001), “Occurrence of the artificial sweetener sucralose in coastal and marine waters of the United States” (Marine Chemistry, 2009), and recent PFAS studies like “Atmospheric deposition and annual flux of legacy perfluoroalkyl substances...” (Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 2021). His research advances understanding of emerging contaminants and their environmental impact in coastal settings.