Meredith Seeley - SMSP Fall Seminar Series 2026

Meredith Seeley

Abstract: Earth’s current epoch – the Anthropocene – is defined by the significant influence humans have had on the environment. There is perhaps no more fitting hallmark for this than plastic pollution. Plastics are uniquely durable and chemically complex. As such, they been found to disrupt many levels of biological organization and are a candidate ‘planetary boundary threat’, capable of provoking significant and irreversible alterations to key earth systems. The world’s waterways, particularly coastal zones and oceans, are major reservoirs of plastic pollution and therefore vulnerable to plastic-driven impacts. This presentation will dive into the multifaceted challenges to plastic metrology, particularly how ocean processes (e.g., photooxidation, microbial degradation) alter plastics throughout their lifetime. This includes discussion of both the important physical and chemical characteristics of plastics – shape, size, polymer, associated chemical content, crystallinity, etc. Research case studies will be used to demonstrate the critical role that plastic measurement science plays in parameterizing ecotoxicological impact.