Sharing my PFAS sampling research during the undergraduate poster session at CANVAS 2025

Author: Abigael Villeneuve  |  Major: Environmental, Soil, and Water Science  |  Semester: Fall 2025

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called “forever chemicals”, are chemical compounds resistant to breakdown due to their molecular structures and hydrophobic properties. Even though PFAS compounds are hydrophobic, 95% end up in aquatic environments. My research aimed to determine if sampling methods were underestimating PFAS concentrations in the water column. Usually sampling methods analyze a sample from the middle of the water column, but I sampled both the surface and the middle of the water column with the goal of determining if PFAS concentrations can be more accurately quantified. My name is Abigael Villeneuve, and I am majoring in Environmental, Soil, and Water Science with minors in Biology, Natural Resources Management, and Soil Science while on the pre-med track.

I recently traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah to present my research at the CANVAS conference an international conference for students and faculty of agronomy, crop, soil, and environmental sciences. I chose to attend the CANVAS conference because PFAS research is becoming increasingly important in environmental science. Attending CANVAS helped me learn more about other groundbreaking research that is being conducted on PFAS to try and understand more about the behavior of the compounds and remediation of PFAS contamination.

The feedback I received from judges, professors, and graduate students from across the country and Canada was positive. Many found my work interesting, and one graduate student from the University of Delaware was surprised to learn how low the PFAS concentration averages were at my sampling sites, which was attributed to the rural location and lack of surrounding industry.

Networking was one of the most meaningful parts of the CANVAS conference. One interaction I had with a professor from the University of Maine-Orono stands out the most. She came up to my poster, and we had an interesting conversation where I learned about the work she is performing on using plants to bioremediate PFAS contaminated sites. We exchanged contact information, and I plan to reach out to her to learn more about the work she is doing.

I presented my research at the poster symposium, which was a two-hour session. Throughout the session, I had many people stop by my poster, with my audience ranging from people that were working on PFAS projects, to people who had never heard of PFAS. One takeaway I learned from presenting research is to make sure to know every aspect of your project and the details behind everything. I received a lot of questions about how the samples were quantified, something I personally did not do myself, but I made sure prior to presenting to familiarize myself with the LC/MS process. I also learned to gauge my audience on their prior knowledge of my topic, for those who are more knowledgeable, I skipped the basics on what PFAS is, but for those less familiar, I made sure to give plenty of background information.

For students preparing to present at a conference, my biggest pieces of advice are to practice presenting with your advisor and lab group, keep a running document of essential background information, and to present your research with confidence. Practicing helped me refine my timing, as you don’t want to talk too long towards your audience since they have many posters to see. Additionally, practicing with my lab group exposed me to many common questions I might receive. These questions prompted me to make a document with essential background information on several topics of my project to be able to review several times before presenting. Lastly, present yourself and your research with confidence. I actually lost my voice the week leading up to presenting and was struggling to get it back in time for presenting. Despite the setback, presenting confidently worked in my favor and I ended up placing second in the undergraduate poster competition and one judge specifically highlighted the confidence I had while presenting my research. Next, I plan to publish my data and continue moving forward with my medical school journey.