Judy Westrick

Judy Westrick

Judy Westrick graduated from Wayne State University in 1985 and earned a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from University of Colorado, Boulder in 1989. Since her Ph.D., she has performed research with several interdisciplinary groups such as the Institute for Behavioral Genetics, U.S. EPA, and American Water Works Association.

In 2001, she joined the faculty at Lake Superior State University. She founded and directed the Lake Superior State University Environmental Analysis Laboratory; a self-supporting laboratory used to fund undergraduate training and research as well as K-12 camps and professional workshops. During her tenure, she mentored 81 senior research projects, advised the Chemistry Club, and was a key player in Lake Superior State University Department of Chemistry becoming ACS accredited.

As a leader in cyanotoxins and harmful algal blooms research, she has managed numerous occurrence studies, determined cyanotoxin susceptibility of drinking water treatment processes, developed analytical methodologies, and validated commercial analytical products such as cyanotoxin ELISAs. Dr. Westrick has organized and served on several expert panels, reviewed grants for numerous federal agencies, written reviews, and edited a special edition of Toxicon. As the new Director of the Lumigen Instrument Center at Wayne State University, her goal is to provide professional and high quality research and instructional support to Wayne State University researchers as well as to the greater Detroit and Michigan communities.

Education

• B.S. Wayne State University
• Ph.D. University Colorado, Boulder

Selected publications

•  X. He, M. Pelaez, J.A. Westrick, K. O'Shea, A. Hiskia, T. Triantis, T. Kaloudis, M. Stefan, A. de la Cruz;, D. D. Dionysoiu. "Efficient Removal of Microcystin-LR by UV-C/H2O2 in Synthetic and Natural Water Samples.", Water Research, 46(5) 1501-1510 (2012).
• J. A. Westrick, B. J. Southwell, D. C. Szlag, N. M. Lenca. "Technologies for Early Warning and Detection of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms Leading to Integrated Source Water Protection." In Water Treatment Processes, Series: Water Resource Planning, Development, and Management; Demadis K. Ed: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2011 (available as ebook)
• B. J. Keller, R. C Back, J. A. Westrick, M. Werner, B. Evans, A. Moerke, G. Zimmerman, D.D. Wright, E. Grenfell, J. Courneya. "Sediment quality at select sites in the St. Marys River Area of Concern.", Journal of Great Lakes Research, 37, 12-20 (2011).
• B.C. Moore, Y. Wang, F. S. Cannon, D.H. Metz, J.A. Westrick. "Relationships between adsorption mechanisms and pore structure for the adsorption of natural organic matter by virgin and reactivated granular activated carbons during water treatment.", Environmental Engineering Science, 27(2), 187-198 (2010).
• J.A. Westrick, D.C. Szlag, B.J. Southwell, J.A. Sinclair. "Review of Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins Removal/Inactivation in Drinking Water Treatment.", Analytical Bioanalytical Chemistry, 397(5), 1705-1714 (2010).
• S.A. Oehrle, J.A. Westrick, B.S. Southwell. "Detection of Various Freshwater Cyanobacterail Toxins using Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectrometry.", Toxicon, 55(5), 965-972 (2010).