Student Spotlight: Environmental Health Sciences PhD Student Deanna Luneau

Deanna Luneau is a 5th year PhD student in UAlbany's Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She studies the exposures people experience throughout their life and how those exposures impact their health. Recently, Luneau presented her research at the 2026 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry in Tucson, Arizona. We sat down with Luneau to learn more about her interest in environmental health sciences. 

Why did you choose Environmental Health Sciences at UAlbany?

When I was looking at graduate programs, I wanted one that combined my interests in analytical chemistry, human health and exposure science. I’m from Louisiana, which has the second-highest cancer rates in the country, and growing up we often passed large petrochemical plants. I always wondered what those exposures meant for the people living nearby. As I learned more about environmental health, I realized there was a real need for scientists in this field. It also gave me a way to pursue questions I’d been asking since I was a child in a way that felt meaningful to the community that raised me. UAlbany’s Environmental Health Sciences program offered the opportunity to combine analytical chemistry and public health to do impactful research and give back to communities.

What areas of environmental health sciences are you most interested in?

I am particularly interested in the human exposome, which refers to the environmental exposures people experience over their lifetime and how those exposures affect health. My work focuses on elements. Some elements are essential for health but become toxic at high levels, while others are harmful even at very low concentrations. Many elements are becoming more mobile in the environment due to mining, climate change and technological use, but methods for measuring them are often limited. Studies that measure elements in human tissues and fluids — known as biomonitoring studies — require extremely sensitive methods. The data generated from these studies are then used by epidemiologists to understand how environmental exposures relate to health outcomes. Improving our understanding of the human exposome depends on scientists generating accurate, high-quality data.

What are you studying for your PhD program?

My research focuses on environmental chemistry, specifically trace element analysis in human tissues and fluids. I work under Patrick J. Parsons. My project involves measuring a large number of essential and non-essential elements in a patient with a unique exposure to potentially toxic elements. On a typical day, my work includes laboratory experiments, data analysis and reading scientific literature.

What do you find most rewarding about this work?

The direct impact of measuring human exposure in real-world tissues. My doctoral project includes analyzing samples from a human patient which is extremely rare to have access to. The measurements I make generate new information about this patient's exposure while helping guide future research and regulation into this patient population and has potential implications of exposure and toxicology of these elements. 

What are your career goals?

I have a deep love of research and hope to continue my career in a research setting after completing my PhD, whether in academia, government or industry. 

What are your hopes for the future of your field? 

I hope environmental health sciences continues to strengthen communication and engagement with the public. When research has a direct impact on people’s lives, it’s important that findings are shared not only in academic settings but also in ways the public can understand. Research that examines people and their environments is deeply personal. When trust exists between scientists and the public, we’re able to learn more and focus on the information that matters most to communities.