The journal Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) recently named its Best Papers for 2024 after a review of nearly 2,000 published papers, and Brown Engineering Professor Kurt Pennell co-authored two of the winning manuscripts.
High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for Human Exposomics: Expanding Chemical Space Coverage was the winner in the Critical Review category. This paper was viewed more than 25,000 times and cited 48 times in the past year. The Need to Include a Fluorine Mass Balance in the Development of Effective Technologies for PFAS Destruction took top honors in the Viewpoint category, with more than 11,000 views and 36 citations from February 2024-November 2025.
The 2024 Best Paper Award recipients from ES&T cover a range of urgent topics: climate change, air and water quality, chemical fate and transport, and sustainable technologies. The awards are not just a celebration of high-quality research, but a reaffirmation of ES&T’s shared purpose, meant to ensure that environmental science continues to serve the public good.
Pennell’s Environmental and Exposure Lab at Brown focuses on protection of the environment and human health, working on the remediation (cleanup) and behavior of environmental contaminants in soil and groundwater. The lab also investigates how environmental toxicants impact human health.