Dr. Ralph Mead is a professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the department of Earth and Ocean Sciences. His interests are in natural and anthropologically derived organic compounds in the environment at the land-ocean continuum. His adventurous spirit inspires him to pursue challenging research questions pertaining to the occurrence, transport and fate of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in a variety of environmental compartments such as the atmosphere and marine sediments. Dr. Mead’s newest project is the development of a novel PFAS forensic model.