New APU lab helps researchers identify microplastics in Alaska’s waterways

A few months into its development, the Alaska and Arctic Waterways Analytics lab at Alaska Pacific University has already found microplastics in water samples taken all over Alaska.

APU received a $5 million grant from NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project Institutional Research Opportunity, which allowed Dee Barker, an associate professor of chemistry and environmental science at APU, to purchase a cutting-edge microscope and spectrometer. This instrument has the ability to identify the chemical composition of plastics in water samples.

Microplastics are plastic particles that are 5 millimeters — the size of a grain of rice — or smaller. Since plastic is not biodegradable, it slowly breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces over time. Microplastics have been found