Three new employees have joined the outreach team at UGA’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. They will expand the lab’s outreach efforts in the South Carolina and Georgia communities surrounding the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina.
Santanu Mukherjee will conduct research for the lab’s three-year radionuclide, education, monitoring and outreach program in Shell Bluff. He will monitor the air, water and soil for radionuclides, metals and other contaminants. He has experience conducting research in rural agricultural areas and in examining environmental contaminants.
Pacifico Perea will serve as the outreach program manager for SREL’s nine-member outreach team. Perea will supervise outreach and public relations personnel, and he will direct the team’s strategic plan. He previously served as the director of the National Wildlife and Turkey Federation Winchester Museum in Edgefield, South Carolina.
Megan Winzeler will coordinate the outreach program in Shell Bluff. She will work with residents and community leaders to gain their input and respond to their concerns. Winzeler also will work closely with Mukherjee to explain the research monitoring results to the residents of the community. Winzeler returns to SREL from the U.S. Geological Society National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, where she was a wildlife epidemiological technician.