ECEC26 is a hybrid conference and will be on April 28-29, 2026, at the I Hotel and Illinois Conference Center in Champaign, IL. The full agenda and virtual attendance and virtual networking will be on Zoom Events.
Condensed Agenda
April 27, 2026
Pre-conference networking happy hour from 5-6 pm at Houlihan’s Restaurant & Bar at the I Hotel and Conference Center. We’ll provide appetizers and water. The bar will be open to purchase a beverage of your choice.
April 28, 2026
| Time (Central Daylight Time) | Session Name | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 7:30 AM | Check in and Networking Breakfast | Check in at the registration table to collect your name badge, upload your presentation, and find out your poster number. Enjoy a hearty breakfast and network with colleagues before the conference starts. There will be emerging contaminants themed discussion tables to prepare for the Fishbowl Panel Discussion on Day 2. |
| 8:30 AM | Open Plenary | Welcome Speaker: Stuart Carlton, Ph.D. – Director of the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and Research Assistant Professor and head of the Coastal and Great Lakes Social Science Lab in the Department of Forestry & Natural Resources at Purdue University. Stuart Carlton will give a warm welcome and set the stage for ECEC26. |
| 9:00 AM | Keynote 1 | Rebecca Klaper, Ph.D. – Dean & Professor, School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee |
| 10:00 AM | Session 1: Roadways | These talks explore the environmental impacts of emerging contaminants associated with modern materials on and in roadways. The presentations highlight how chemicals leaching from these everyday sources can pose risks to water quality, wildlife, and human health. They demonstrate the importance of evaluating both direct toxicity and broader life‑cycle implications. Together, the talks offer new insights into how common materials contribute to environmental stress. |
| 10:30 AM | Networking & Break | Beverages and snacks will be available. |
| 11:00 AM | Session 2: Tracking Plastics Across Various Environmental Samples | Microplastics are now found in nearly every environmental medium and organisms, including water, air, soil, and biological samples. However, sampling methods, separation processes, detection, quantification, and characterization of MPs remain challenging. This session brings together experts who are advancing the science of microplastic analysis across environmental compartments. This session also aims to accelerate progress toward harmonized, scalable, and reliable methods for monitoring microplastics in the environment. |
| 12:30 PM | Lunch | Enjoy lunch and network with colleagues. There will be emerging contaminants themed discussion tables to prepare for the Fishbowl Panel Discussion on Day 2. |
| 1:15 PM | Invited Speaker | Cathy Janasie – Senior Research Counsel for the National Sea Grant Law Center Cathy Janasie will discuss the federal policy landscape for emerging contaminants. |
| 1:45 PM | Session 3: Contaminants, Mixtures & Site Understanding | Contaminant mixtures and their matrices play a big role in detection, transport, and remediation techniques. This session highlights new approaches for detecting and understanding a wide range of environmental contaminants, from emerging chemicals in biosolids to pesticides in sediments and complex mixtures in natural and impacted systems. Speakers will showcase improved analytical tools, field methods, and modeling strategies that reveal how contaminants behave, interact, and move through different environments. Together, these studies demonstrate the importance of evaluating multiple chemicals at once, recognizing site‑specific conditions, and adapting monitoring and management practices to better protect ecosystems and human health. |
| 2:45 PM | Break | Beverages provided. |
| 3:00 PM | Session 4: Chemicals in Context: Bridging Ecology & Toxicology | Synthetic chemicals are now recognized as a defining marker of the Anthropocene, with production outpacing other drivers of global change such as CO2 emissions, fertilizer application, and habitat loss. Yet chemicals are typically not studied in a broad scale way that acknowledges their global impact and instead are focused on lab-controlled dose response studies. While toxicology has long advanced our understanding of chemical effects at organismal and biochemical levels, the ecological consequences of these contaminants remain underexplored. Talks will highlight the context dependency across environmental gradients; indirect and long-term impacts; larger scale endpoints (communities, populations, and/or ecosystems); multiple stressors and/or contaminant mixtures; transdisciplinary methods; or other innovative, interdisciplinary topics. |
| 4:30 PM | Poster Session | Day 1 will wrap up with very short closing remarks and a 1.5-hour poster session with lots of appetizers and treats. |
April 29, 2026
| Time (Central Daylight Time) | Session Name | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 7:30 AM | Check in and Networking Breakfast | Check in at the registration table if you have not already collected your name badge or upload your presentation. Enjoy a hearty breakfast and network with colleagues before the second day starts. There will be emerging contaminants themed discussion tables to prepare for the Fishbowl Panel Discussion later in the day. |
| 8:30 AM | Keynote 2 | John Scott – Associate Director of Center for Identification and Mitigation of Contaminants, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
| 9:30 AM | Session 5: Highlighted Submitted Presentations | These talks focus on understanding and addressing emerging environmental contaminants by combining coordinated research efforts with new scientific insights. The work underscores the importance of interdisciplinary approaches for identifying risks, advancing scientific knowledge, and developing more effective solutions for managing new and evolving environmental challenges. |
| 10:00 AM | Networking & Break | Beverages will be available. |
| 10:30 AM | Session 6: Microplastics: Occurrence, Methods, and Biological Interactions | This session brings together diverse research exploring how microplastics enter, behave within, and impact natural and human‑influenced environments. The presentations examine microplastics across ecological, agricultural, consumer, and biological systems, highlighting new ways to detect their presence, understand their interactions with other contaminants, and evaluate their effects on organisms and ecosystems. Speakers will also introduce emerging analytical tools, experimental approaches, and biological pathways that advance our ability to study microplastic exposure from the landscape scale down to individual cells. Collectively, the session offers an integrated view of microplastic science, emphasizing both the growing complexity of this global pollutant and the innovative strategies being developed to assess risks and identify potential solutions. |
| 12:15 PM | Lunch | Enjoy lunch and network with colleagues. There will be emerging contaminants themed discussion tables to prepare for the Fishbowl Panel Discussion after lunch. |
| 1:15 PM | Fishbowl Discussion | The fishbowl panel discussion is an interactive full audience discussion on emerging contaminants. See more details on the ECEC26 Fishbowl Panel Discussion Page. |
| 2:30 PM | Break | Beverages provided. |
| 2:45 PM | Session 7: All Things PFAS | This session examines the evolving challenges posed by PFAS across environmental systems, highlighting new insights into how these chemicals move through soil, water, waste streams, and treatment infrastructure. Presentations explore patterns of PFAS occurrence, links to landscape and socioeconomic factors, and the microbial and chemical processes that influence their persistence. Speakers will also share advances in analytical methods, data‑driven evaluation of sources and mass flux, and innovative treatment strategies designed to address both legacy and emerging PFAS compounds. Together, the talks provide an integrated view of PFAS behavior, exposure pathways, and mitigation approaches, supporting more informed decision-making for environmental monitoring, risk assessment, and remediation. |
| 4:15 PM | Closing Remarks | Stuart Carlton will give closing remarks about ECEC26. |