Introducing: Our Toxic Action Team
Jennifer Lee Johnson, M.S., Ph.D
She/Her
Founder and Director of the Toxic Action Lab
Associate Professor
Department of Community Sustainability
Michigan State University
I started the Toxic Action Lab in the Fall of 2023 because residents experiencing emerging contamination and community heath concerns need a place to for go information, inspiration and potential collaboration. As the Founder and Director of the Toxic Action Lab I have two primary goals: 1) to produce and disseminate action-oriented, community-engaged research alongside concerned residents of communities facing emerging contamination and community health concerns; and 2) to help educate and launch the careers of a new generation of community engaged researchers and applied policy professionals. This work would be impossible without the expertise, friendship and support of our community partners.
For more on my research, teaching, and engagement work see:
www.jenniferleejohnson.org
www.canr.msu.edu/people/jennifer-lee-johnson
https://scholar.google.com/
Sherry Roe
She/Her
Environmental Activist, Author of Profits Over People,
Clinical Hospice Professional
TAL Community Partner and Executive Committee
I've lived in Kokomo, Indiana all of my life and have been investigating contamination and community health there for over a decade. As part of the TAL, I hope to bring awareness about contamination and its effects to the communities we live in. I have a degree in Health and Environmental Science and I love to garden!
Bryce Gustafson
He/Him
Organizer with Indiana's Citizen's Action Coalition
TAL Community Partner and Executive Committee
Tyler Dancer
He/Him
Founder and Director of Clean Air for Everyone
Information Professional
TAL Community Partner, Executive Committee and Student Mentor
My goal with the Toxic Action Lab is to assist in educating each other on the dangers of factory generated pollution and generate life extending resources for communities (like in my hometown of Kalamazoo, Mi) that are affected by polluters. I hold a B.A in Psychology with a focus in Gender, Culture, and Immigration from the University of Michigan, and am working towards a Masters of Library & Information Science from Wayne State University. I'm the Founder and Director of Clean Air For Everyone, have worked extensively in music & radio, and also have a cat named Spock!
Creighton Burns
He/Him
TAL Research Associate and Executive Committee
Graduate Student, Brown University
I am dedicated to championing the voices and expertise of local residents in the pursuit of remediation and repair for historical environmental contamination alongside members of the. My advocacy extends to empowering the general public through public-facing educational materials, shedding light on local environmental issues and their associated health effects. This effort aims to foster critical dialogue and meaningful engagement with both public and private remediation officials.
I'm from Connersville, Indiana and hold a B.A. in Anthropology with a focus on environmental toxicity and medical humanities, earned from Purdue University in 2023 and began working with Dr. Johnson in the Spring of 2022. I was honored with the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship and currently serve as a graduate affiliate with Brown University's "Costs of War" think tank and the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.
Beyond my work with the Toxic Action Lab, my dissertation research delves into the social and ecological impacts of so-called "security" projects stemming from the "War on Terror" in the United States and abroad. My scholarship places particular emphasis on toxic exposures and relationships, exploring how the human, non-human, and material worlds converge to produce unique connections that shape living and dying experiences in militarized and toxified environments.
In my free time, I find joy in the meditative art of crochet!
Deborah Corcoran, BSB
Community Partner, IRL Cohort 5 Fellow
Ms. Deborah Corcoran, BSB, is a community partner of an ongoing academic-community partnership between Purdue University and the Martinsville Indiana Superfund Site Association. She is a business owner and runs a thriving flower shop. Ms. Corcoran is a volunteer community member who is actively engaged in efforts to increase awareness of and conduct research on environmental contamination in her community and others like it in Indiana.
Katherine Kling
She/Her
Professorial Assistant
Undergraduate Student at Michigan State University
I hope to raise awareness to the environmental contamination affecting health in Kokomo and Kalamazoo, making information about it more accessible to the people it is impacting. In addition to this research, I am in the James Madison College studying Social Relations & Policy and Comparative Cultures & Politics and hoping to minor in Environmental Economics. I was inspired to be an environmental lawyer because of Marshall's character in How I Met Your Mother!
Cal Kohn
They/Them
Research Assistant
Undergraduate Student at Michigan State University
I am extremely excited to work together with Michigan farmers exploring their experiences with PFAS contamination and ideas for mitigation, including the issue's root in illegal industrial dumping. I am especially excited to explore how dividing compost for different fertilizer uses could simultaneously curb PFAS bioaccumulation through feed-crop soil, give farmers increased job security, and promote a switch to more sustainable farming methods in Michigan. I am a freshman in the Environmental Studies and Sustainability major and am a member of a living-learning community here at MSU called Residential Initiative for the Study of the Environment (RISE). My past work experience is all in organic farming and food systems, but currently, aside from the TAL, I volunteer at the Student Organic Farm as well as head an initiative to reinstate American Sign Language as a course at MSU. I also play cello in the MSU Concert Orchestra!
Karleigh Duffield
She/Her
Research Assistant
Undergraduate Student at Michigan State University
I am looking forward to investigating and gathering data on pollution sources in various cities. My goals throughout this research revolve around making information on various pollutants and their impacts easier to interpret and more accessible. I am currently studying Environmental Studies and Sustainability, minoring in Business and Science Technology Environment and Public Policy (STEPP), and plan on attending law school after the completion of my undergraduate degree. I hope to work in environmental and natural resource policy. I am an active member of ESSU and the Pre-Law Society on campus, and in my free time I love to crochet and downhill ski!