Konrad Krogstad is a research technician at the Waterloo Ecohydrology Research Group in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Waterloo. The research group is led by Philippe Van Cappellen, the Principal Investigator on the Microplastics Fingerprinting project.
The Microplastics Fingerprinting project team consists of over 25 faculty members, masters and Ph.D. students, and support staff from various disciplinary backgrounds. We recognize this diversity as a strength that enables an interdisciplinary and holistic evaluation of the challenges and solutions associated with microplastics. Each issue of our newsletter will feature one of the project's excellent researchers.
Konrad received his MSc in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University of Waterloo. For his master’s research, Konrad designed and conducted several experiments investigating the effects of freeze-thaw cycling on nutrient loss from fertilized soil. This research cultivated his interest in identifying and understanding the impacts of human activity on terrestrial and aquatic environments. Konrad continues to pursue this interest while working to understand sources, transport, and sinks of microplastics in Southern Ontario watersheds as a member of work packages 2 and 3.
Currently, Konrad is investigating the effectiveness of various microplastic field sampling methods. Every microplastic sampling method inherently captures different amounts, sizes, and types of microplastics. Understanding the differences between methods will allow us to more accurately characterize microplastics in the environments we’re studying. Additionally, Konrad is working on comparing water quality to microplastic abundances. By developing relationships between water quality and microplastics, we may be able to use certain water quality parameter concentrations as indicators of microplastic concentrations, which would paint a better picture of the distribution of microplastics in the lower Great Lakes region.