Maria-Antonia Andrews

Maria Antonia Andrews holds a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Rutgers University and a Master of Science in Engineering Geology from Drexel University. Maria’s professional experience in the environmental field ranges from applications of analytical soil and water chemistry to multiple facets of environmental consulting. As a consultant, she worked in fate and transport models of chemical pollutants in the subsurface. Projects worked on included geochemical analysis, toxicity assessments, groundwater monitoring and hydrogeological investigations for contaminant transport. Her focus of interest has been the behavior and interaction of inorganic and organic pollutants in the environment. Maria has been teaching at University of Pennsylvania as a lecturer since 2002 for the Master of Science in Applied Geosciences (MSAG) program and is currently the Associate Director for Undergraduate Programs in the Earth & Environmental Science Department (EES). Maria teaches graduate level courses for the MSAG program including Aqueous Geochemistry, and Fundamentals of Air Pollution. She is currently the Major Advisor for EES undergraduate programs; Environmental Studies and Earth Science majors.  She teaches Junior Thesis Seminar, which is designed to help juniors prepare for their senior thesis research. She also teaches an undergraduate course titled Air Pollution: Sources and Effects in Urban Environments, which is designed to examine Philadelphia’s air quality. During her time at Penn, she has served as primary and secondary reader for Master of Environmental Studies (MES) and Master of Science in Applied Geosciences (MSAG) Project Design and Capstone projects and conducted Independent Studies with several students. She has focused on her community outreach efforts by serving as a technical advisor to the air quality project at GAMP High School in South Philadelphia to assess toxic impacts to the community. She is a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Board for the Community Outreach and Engagement Core of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) at Penn. She participates as a co-director and advisor in the Short Term Educational Experiences for Research (STEER) program at the Perelman School of Medicine. Currently she is serving as an advisor for Penn Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Chapter. As an advisor and a mentor, she has participated in sanitation and hygiene projects in Guatemala and currently participating in a water access project.