Dr. Cañas has been an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology since fall 2006.  Her research interests include determining the fate of chemicals in the environment as well as developing analytical methods to characterize potential exposure. She teaches portions of the Analytical Toxicology laboratory and lectures as well as a portion of Chemical Sources and Fate in the Environment.  In 2006, Dr. Cañas was awarded doctoral student support from Rio Tinto, Inc.  Dr. Cañas received her B.S. in Zoology in 2001 and Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology in 2005 from Texas Tech University. Her research focused on method development to determine perchlorate in various environmental media. She worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Western Ecology Division in Corvallis, Oregon prior to joining the TIEHH faculty. 

Cañas, JE, MK Long, SL Nations, R Vadan, L Dai, M Luo, R Ambikapathi, EH Lee, and D Olszyk. 2008. Effects of functionalized and non-functionalized single-wall carbon nanotubes on root elongation of select crop species. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 27(9): 157-166. (This article was featured in a special issue: “Nanomaterials in the Environment”)

Rainwater, TR, TH Wu, AG Finger, JE Cañas, L Yu, KD Reynolds, G Coimbatore, B Barr, SG Platt, GP Cobb, TA Anderson, and ST McMurry. 2007. Metals and organochlorine pesticides in caudal scutes of crocodiles from Belize and Costa Rica. Science of the Total Environment 373:146-156.

Yu, L, Q Cheng, JE Cañas, L Valentin-Blasini, BC Blount, and TA Anderson. 2006. Challenges in determining perchlorate in biological tissues and fluids: Implications for characterizing perchlorate exposure. Analytica Chimica Acta 567:66-72.

Zhang, B-H, CM Freitag, JE Cañas, Q Cheng, and TA Anderson. 2006. Effects of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) metabolites on cricket (Acheta domesticus) survival and reproductive success. Environmental Pollution 144: 151-157.

Wu, TH, JE Cañas, TR Rainwater, SG Platt, ST McMurry, and TA Anderson. 2006. Organochlorine contaminants in complete clutches of Morelet’s crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) eggs from Belize. Environmental Pollution 144: 540-544.

Landrum, M, JE Cañas, G Coimbatore, GP Cobb, WA Jackson, B Zhang, and TA Anderson. 2006. Effects of perchlorate on earthworm (Eisenia fetida) survival and reproductive success. Science of the Total Environment 363: 237-244.

Cañas, JE, R Patel, K Tian, and TA Anderson. 2006. Development of an extraction method for perchlorate in soils. Journal of Environmental Monitoring 8(3): 399-405.

Cañas, JE, Q Cheng, K Tian, and TA Anderson. 2006. Optimization of operating conditions for the determination of perchlorate in biological samples using preconcentration/preelution ion chromatography. Journal of Chromatography A 1103: 102-109.

Cheng, Q, F Liu, JE Cañas, and TA Anderson. 2006. A Cleanup method for perchlorate determination in urine. Talanta 68:1457-1462