ESRAC Lab

Lance Picton

Lance Picton

Graduate Student – Environmental and Occupational Health

jackpicton@arizona.edu

Lance is an MPH student in Environmental and Occupational Health. He has worked for the ESRAC lab for seven years, starting as a high school intern, then as an undergraduate researcher and now, as a graduate research assistant. His research interests include infectious disease, control of environmental pathogens, and environmental microbiology. Lance received his BS in microbiology from the University of Arizona, and plans to pursue a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences.

Nicole Duran

Undergraduate Student – Public Health

durrannicole@arizona.edu

Nicole is an undergraduate student within the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) with an emphasis in Health Systems and Theory. She began working with ESRAC as an intern for the summer of 2023 through the National Institutes of Health’s Place-based Health Informatics Research Education Program (PHIRE). Nicole’s research has been centered around infectious disease and water quality in southern Arizona. Her expected BS in Public Health graduation date is in May 2024 and she plans to pursue graduate education in the future.

Taylor Simmons

Taylor Brooke Simmons

Graduate Student – Environmental Health Sciences

tbwilliams@arizona.edu

Taylor received her BS in Biology from Maryville College in 2019. Following service in the Peace Corps and Americorps, she is pursuing her master's of Environmental Health Science. She is interested in water quality, security, and policy in underserved, arid regions. In her time at the University of Arizona, she has worked on projects with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the Water Quality Research Foundation under Dr. Marc Verhougstraete. 

Alexia Vance

Alexia Vance

Undergraduate Student – Environmental Science

alexiavance@arizona.edu

Lexi is an undergraduate student majoring in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Soil, Water, and Air, and a minor in Microbiology. She has worked in the ESRAC since May 2022 where she started out as an intern with the Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP). Her research interests include soil and water contamination. She plans to graduate with her BS in May 2025 and pursue graduate school shortly after.