Piper Marshall is originally from Honolulu, Hawaii and earned a B.S. in Civil and Environmental from Washington State University where she was a member of the university’s track team. She stayed at Washington State and earned a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Washington State University under Dr. Beutel. For her graduate research, Piper focused on measuring the effect of lake oxygenation on mercury levels in fish. This work was incorporated into a comprehensive study of mercury cycling in Twin Lakes, Washington published in Science of the Total Environment. Her work confirmed that mercury levels were slighting but significantly higher in fish from the oxygenated lake versus reference (anoxic) lake. This was a surprise since we anticipated that adding oxygen would suppress activity of anaerobic bacteria that produced methylmercury which bioaccumulates in aquatic biota. Piper is now an engineer with the Washington State Department of Transportation working on environmental related issues including enhancing fish passage through roadway culverts and lowering transpiration-related wildlife fatalities.

PUBLICATIONS

Beutel M, Dent S, Reed B, Marshall P, Gebremariam S, Moore B, Cross B. Effects of hypolimnetic oxygen addition on mercury bioaccumulation in Twin Lakes, Washington, USA. Science of the Total Environment. 2014;496 :688-700.