Elisabeth LaBarbera

Elisabeth LaBarbera (she/her) joined the USGS California Water Science Center team as a hydrologic technician in 2020. Elisabeth earned a BS and MS in Chemistry from California State University, Sacramento. In her university research, Elisabeth developed methods to quantify contaminants of emerging concern, such as artificial sweeteners and pharmaceutical products, in surface and ground water using gas chromatography flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). At the California Water Science Center, Elisabeth first worked in the trace metal lab where she processed and prepared water samples for trace metal analysis. Elisabeth now works as a Physical Scientist in the Organic Chemistry Research Laboratory (OCRL). In the OCRL, Elisabeth extracts pesticides and pesticides degradates from water, sediment, soil, insects, and animal tissue.