Carolinas SETAC Student Representatives (2024-2025)

CSETAC annually elects 2 student representatives to represent student interest on the CSETAC Board of Directors and to serve with the North America Student Advisory Council (NASAC). NASAC is an affinity group for the student members of SETAC North America that provides a voice for student interests and organizes student initiatives. CSETAC student representatives are invited to attend monthly NASAC meetings as voting members to provide input on student interests in the larger SETAC society.

Typically, CSETAC aims to have one student representative from NC and one student from SC. This year, our two nominees were both from SC: Lola Renauer from the University of South Carolina and Gabby Jones from the College of Charleston. Lola and Gabby have both been active members of NASAC and instrumental to planning our CSETAC 2025 annual meeting. From organizing sponsorships to collating abstracts and ordering catering, the meeting could not be possible without their help!

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Lola Renauer

PhD Candidate

Department of Environmental Health Sciences

Arnold School of Public Health

University of South Carolina

"As a student representative, you aim to bridge the gap between students and professionals in environmental science, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange. I took on this role to advocate for student interests and to gain valuable leadership experience within a field and organization that I am passionate about." 

Originally from Maryland, Lola has always had a love and passion for marine life. She received her B.S. degree in Marine Science from Coastal Carolina University (2019) and her M.P.S. degree in Marine Conservation from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science (2020). For the last nine years, her research has focused on photo-identification of free-ranging common bottlenose dolphins (T. truncatus) for distribution and occurrence, as well as assessing natural and anthropogenic impacts and epidermal diseases on this species. 

Lola is currently a third-year doctoral candidate and teaching assistant in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of South Carolina’s (USC) Arnold School of Public Health in Columbia, SC. In her first year at USC, she became President of the Carolina Water Club and a certified volunteer with the Adopt-A-Stream Freshwater Monitoring Program. Currently, her dissertation research with Dr. Geoff Scott focuses on utilizing photo-identification of bottlenose dolphins to explore the relationships between climatic impacts on estuarine environments and marine mammal health, and the impacts and social values of dolphin health on communities. 

In addition to her work at USC, Lola is the Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) Graduate Assistant with the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. She is working with the coastal environmental quality program team to implement an interdisciplinary approach to investigate CEC drivers and identify solutions in the Southeast and is developing an interactive regional network to help foster collaboration and close knowledge gaps within this field.

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Gabby Jones

Master's Candidate

Graduate Program in Marine Biology

Grice Marine Laboratory

College of Charleston

"I believe that the CSETAC annual meeting is one of the best places for students interested in environmental toxicology to present their work and become accustomed to the culture and expectations of conferences. I also believe that as a regional chapter, CSETAC is well-positioned to support students in their academic journeys. Being a student representative gives me the power to contribute meaningfully to making CSETAC a welcoming and productive space for other students."

Originally from the Atlanta area, Gabby obtained a B.S. degree in Biology from Washington and Lee University in 2022. Determined to get as close to marine science as she could in the mountains of Virginia, she completed a thesis project that examined water quality in streams throughout Rockbridge County, VA. This project gave Gabby her first taste of the importance of understanding the impact of contaminants within aquatic systems.

After graduating from Washington and Lee, Gabby enrolled in the College of Charleston's Graduate Program in Marine Biology. Her thesis research is on the impact of seawater temperature on microplastic uptake and elimination in the Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) under the supervision of Dr. John Weinstein. She plans to create toxicokinetic models in order to predict the impact of climate change-induced increasing seawater temperatures on microplastic accumulation in this commercially and ecologically vital species. She has presented this research at the College of Charleston's Annual Colloquium and the SETAC North America 45th Annual Meeting in Fort Worth.

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If you are interested in serving as a CSETAC representative for 2025-2026, please speak to Lola or Gabby at our meeting in Charleston. CSETAC will solicit nominations after the annual meeting.

Also, all students are welcome to join NASAC! The current NASAC Chair (Bonnie Ertel, University of South Carolina) and Vice Chair (Katie Mayer, Virginia Tech) will both be at the meeting in Charleston and would love to talk to any students interested in engaging further with SETAC.

Bonnie Ertel Katie Mayer