Dirk Wallschläger's Selenium Research Page

Welcome to my selenium research website! This is a work in progress, and I will gradually try to compile all that I have learned about selenium in the last 24 years. Additionally, I intend to disseminate our latest research results as they become available.

As the inaugural Laurier Distinguished Research Chair in Aquatic Sciences, it will be my mission to complete the suite of analytical tools required to characterize the environmental and industrial chemistry of selenium, as well as its ecotoxicology. We will develop and test analytical methods for the determination of total selenium concentrations in water, air, sediment and aquatic organisms, as well as for the determination of specific chemical selenium-containing compounds (“species”) in the same matrices. Related, we will also develop and test suitable methods for the same analytes in industrial process streams, with the goal of optimizing selenium removal in industrial treatment processes, and thereby reducing selenium emissions into the environment.

My ultimate goal is to develop mechanistic and quantitative models that describe the distribution and fate of selenium in freshwater aquatic ecosystems accurately. And finally, I’d like to bring this information to all relevant stakeholders (public, industry and government), in the hopes that we can work towards the development of science-based policy that provides appropriate protection for aquatic wildlife exposed to industrial selenium emissions.

If you have questions regarding the analysis of selenium or its chemical species, or about their environmental chemistry and toxicology, and don’t find the answer on these pages, feel free to contact me. And, if you want me to, I’m happy to put together more comprehensive and focused selenium information sessions for specific audiences.

One of the main goals of this website will be to disseminate the best available analytical methods to interested users in academia, government and the private sector. If you are encountering a particular type of sample, for which you have trouble getting satisfactory analytical results for selenium or its species, we’d love to hear from you. Maybe we can help!

If you’d like to become part of our research team, please send me your application materials, and an indication of your research interests.