A Young Scientist to Watch

There are many rewards associated with serving as the Editor of the Journal of Environmental Quality ( JEQ), but I have experienced very few that compare with the pleasure associated with writing this Letter from the Editor introducing you to a new young scientist that you should keep an eye on. On 7 September 2010, I received an e-mail from ASA Editorin-Chief Dr. Warren Dick containing a PDF file of a manuscript that he enthusiastically asked me to read. The manuscript had been sent to Warren from an 11-year-old, seventh-grade girl who had conducted experiments concerning pharmaceutical adsorption on resins, prepared a manuscript, and wished to have the manuscript considered for publication in JEQ. In Warren’s words, “The manuscript is quite good, and the amazing thing is that this is a single-author paper.” I was astounded when I read the manuscript. I tried to picture an 11 year old with extremely limited laboratory resources conducting experiments and preparing a manuscript that surpassed the majority of papers that I have read over the years from graduate students and young scientists from universities with state-of-the-art laboratories. I passed the manuscript to one of JEQ’s technical editors, Dr. Baoshan Xing, without indicating the age of the author, and asked for Baoshan’s impression. Baoshan commented that even though the manuscript was not up to JEQ rigorous standards, it had potential for publication A Young Scientist to Watch