Peggy A. O'day is a Professor and Founding Faculty member at the University of California, Merced. She received her BS from the University of California, Davis, her MS from Cornell University, and her PhD from Stanford University. She was a faculty member of Arizona State University before joining UC Merced in 2003. Current research focuses on field, laboratory, and modeling studies of inorganic environmental contaminants and remediation, in particular arsenic, mercury, and uranium, and the application of spectroscopic and microscopic methods to determine speciation, distribution, availability, and reactivity of metal and metalloid elements in natural and impacted environments.