Arthur Situm is a student member of the MS2Discovery Interdisciplinary Research Institute. His research include environmental physical chemistry of geochemical interfaces. He carries out research is in the Institute priority areas under Tecton 1 (Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development), as well as Tecton 5 (Ecology, Climate and Environmental Sciences).
Arthur won a MS2Discovery Undergraduate Student Award that supported his attendance of the Synchrotron Summer School 2015. The Canadian Light Source hosted the event. It is a world-class, state-of-the-art facility, a global centre of excellence in synchrotron science and its applications.
Arthur's research focuses on studying the role organic matter plays in the surface chemistry of arsenic compounds on iron−(oxyhydr)oxides using ATR-FTIR. The binding of arsenicals to geosorbents, such as hematite, in the environment is one of the main factors determining mobility of arsenicals. "Many batch studies have been conducted looking at the thermodynamics of arsenic binding", says Arthur, "but my work aims at analyzing the kinetics of arsenic binding in the presence of adsorbed low molecular weight organics, which are ubiquitous within the environment". The goal of this research is to better understand factors affecting the binding kinetics of arsenicals within the environment.
Thanks to the grant from the MS2Discovery Institute, Mr. Situm attended the Canadian Synchrotron Summer School hosted by the Canadian Light Source located at the University of Saskatchewan. One of the objectives of the summer school was to get participants acquainted with the process of applying for, and using effectively “beamtime” on one of the experimental beamlines located at the Canadian Light Source. Mr. Situm continues: "During the weeklong school we received a detailed tour of the Canadian Light Source, advice for writing beamtime proposals, tutorials on data interpretation and, hands on experience with sample preparation and beamline data collection. Included also during the school was a time for presenting our research to other participants".