Ohio Sea Grant is pleased to announce the addition of Mark Warman as Emerging Contaminants Specialist for the program’s extension team.

Warman, who joined Ohio Sea Grant in December, will focus on Lake Erie ecology and emerging contaminants such as marine debris/microplastics, PFAS, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products to inform sound decision-making across Ohio’s Lake Erie shoreline.

“We’re thrilled to add Mark to our Ohio Sea Grant Extension team,” said Tory Gabriel, extension program leader for Ohio Sea Grant. “He’s a skilled collaborator and has a passion for connecting people with the aquatic environment while helping them solve problems. Emerging contaminants are a significant concern in our waters, and we are excited to have Mark leading our focus in that area.”

Warman has been an active natural resources professional for the past 12 years. Previously, he worked as a program manager for the Cuyahoga River Area of Concern, as a naturalist at the Watershed Stewardship Center at Cleveland Metroparks, and on a grant-funded project to survey and manage aquatic invasive plants in Ohio’s Lake Erie Basin.

With grant funds from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Warman developed an Early Detection and Rapid Response project to aquatic invasive plants in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

His contact information is available at ohioseagrant.osu.edu/about/people.

Ohio Sea Grant is supported by The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University Extension, and NOAA Sea Grant, a network of 34 Sea Grant programs nation-wide dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of marine and Great Lakes resources. Stone Laboratory is Ohio State’s island campus on Lake Erie and is the research, education, and outreach facility of Ohio Sea Grant and part of CFAES School of Environment and Natural Resources.