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Dr. Michael Newman Webpage

Michael C. Newman

Faculty Emeritus

Retired: 2018
Department: Aquatic Health Sciences
Email: [[newman]]
Phone: (804) 684-7725
Interests: Environmental risk assessment; ecological toxicology; pollutant bioaccumulation.
Website: {{http://www.vims.edu/research/departments/eaah/programs/ecotox/index.php,Ecotoxicology}} and {{http://www.vims.edu/research/departments/eaah/programs/risk/index.php,Risk Assessment}}

Education
  • B.A., M.S., University of Connecticut
  • M.S., Ph.D. Rutgers University
Curriculum vitae
Research Interests

Dr. Newman has diverse research interests which include ecotoxicology, general and applied aquatic ecology, contaminant effects on populations, bioaccumulation, factors modifying inorganic contaminant toxicity, fate of inorganic contaminants in aquatic systems, quantitative methods for ecological risk assessment, toxicity models, and water quality.

Announcing June 2013 Quantitative Ecotoxicology Shore Course

Ecotoxicology and Risk Assessment Facilities: A Quick Visual Tour

Current Projects
  • Prof. Newman samples mercury-contaminated biota from the Holston River.Formal methods of identifying the most probable cause of an adverse effect
  • Replacing unsound statistical methods that are widely-accepted by ecotoxicologists and risk assessors with valid statistical methods
  • Stochastic modeling of contaminant exposure from fish consumption
  • Improving prediction of lethal effects with time-to-death methods
  • Mercury bioaccumulation and trophic transfer modeling
  • Although this group addresses a wide range of ecotoxicological and environmental risk issues, its central theme is metal contaminants.Human risk associated with mercury exposure via seafood consumption
Selected Publications

Newman

Newman

Teaching 2007 short course at the

University of Hong Kong

Kangaroo Island sea lion preserve

Australia 2008
Books
  • Walker, J., E., M. Enache, and M.C. Newman. 2013. Fundamental QSARs for Metal Ions. Taylor & Francis/CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
  • Newman, M.C. 2013. Quantitative Ecotoxicology. 2nd Edition. Taylor & Francis/CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Valery Forbes (University of Nebraska – Lincoln) commented on the pre-release book manuscript, “Mike Newman’s Quantitative Ecotoxicology provides a unique and much-needed addition to the ecotoxicological literature. He covers the most important ecotoxicological concepts … and effectively combines these with the appropriate quantitative options and considerations for assessing these proceses. This book is like an ecotoxicology text and statistics text rolled into one.”

Wen-Xiong Wang (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) reviewed the pre-release manuscript, stating "This book provides a very fundamental view of ecotoxicology from the perspective of quantitative analysis. It covers all the ecological aspects of toxicology. Overall, it will be an excellent book for students interested in environmental science.” 

  • Newman, M.C. 2010. Fundamentals of Ecotoxicology, Third Edition. Taylor & Francis/CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

J.T. Oris (Miami University, OH) reviewed this edition for Integ. Env. Assess. Manag. (2010), stating “… the 3rd edition of Fundamentals of Ecotoxicology continues to improve on an outstanding book …one of the best works available in ecotoxicology…fills a needed niche in ecotoxicology and will remain a staple on my bookshelf and in my classroom … a work that Newman should count with pride.”


  • Newman, M.C. and W. Clements. 2008. Ecotoxicology. A Comprehensive Treatment. Taylor and Francis / CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
A. Russell Flegal reviewed this book for the Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin (17(2), June 2008), concluding  “…In summary, it is - in  my opinion - the definitive book to date on the complex and emerging science of ecotoxicology.”  “The book is simply the best I have encountered.”
Glenn Suter concludes in his review of this book, "If you want to explore ecotoxicological issues, paradigms, and concepts yourself or with your students, this is the text for you." (Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 4(4), 2008)

Reviewing for the J. Hazard. Materials (160:688, 2008), G.F. Bennett (Univ. Toledo) concludes, “I have only scratched the surface of this impressive book but suffice it to say, it is well written and to the extent I can evaluate its content is exceedingly well done.”

For Intern. J. Environ., Anal. Chem, (2008, Vol. 88(5)), J. Albaiges (CID-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain) summarized,  “… highly informative, rich in details that are integrated as much as currently possible in the new science of ecotoxicology and, in summary, very pleasant to read. A milestone in the field …”

  • Newman, M.C. and M.A. Unger with contributions and translation by Yuan Zhao and Taiping Wang. 2007. Fundamentals of Ecotoxicology. Second Edition, Taylor & Francis/CRC, Boca Raton, FL, Chinese translation with Chemical Industrial Press, Beijing, China.
  • Newman, M.C. and M.A. Unger. 2003. Fundamentals of Ecotoxicology, Second Ed.  CRC/Lewis Press, Boca Raton, FL 
More than 3000 copies sold by the end of 2007. Reviews of the two editions of this book have been very positive.  In a SETAC Globe book review, Dr. G. Rand states that the first edition was … an organized and highly readable text that fills an important void. "…the only published book to-date that is oriented for use as a basic introductory text … Overall this book will be of value to beginning students and to research investigators as a reference tool." Van Straalen (ES&T, Sept. 2003, page 326A), refers to the second edition as "…the most comprehensive textbook available to date."
  • Clements, W. and  M.C. Newman. 2002. Community Ecotoxicology. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK.
  • Newman, M.C., M. Roberts and R. Hale (Eds). 2002. Coastal and Estuarine Risk Assessment. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.
  • Crane, M., M.C. Newman and P. Chapman (Eds.) 2002. Risk Assessment with Time-to-Event Models. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.  
  • Newman, M.C. 2001. Population Ecotoxicology. Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK. p. 228.
In a SETAC Globe book review, G. Suter commented about this book, ”…like his earlier volumes, Newman’s latest is distinct in tone and content.  A good scientific colleague is someone who stretches your perspective by asking and answering questions that you would not ask yourself.  Through his many books and papers, Mike Newman has been a very good colleague to me and many other ecotoxicologists and risk assessors.”

In a review for the journal, Water and Environment Journal (2002, Vol. 16(2)), J. Hawkins comments that the book is “…packed with theoretical ideas.”
  • Newman, M.C. and C. Strojan (Eds.) 1998.  Environmental Risk Assessment:  Concepts and Measurement.  Ann Arbor Press, Chelsea, MI.
  • Newman, M.C.  1998. Fundamentals of Ecotoxicology.  Ann Arbor Press, Chelsea, MI.
  • Newman, M.C. and C. Jagoe (Eds.). 1996.  Ecotoxicology:  A Hierarchical Treatment. Lewis/CRC Publishers, Boca Raton, FL.
  • Newman, M.C.  1995.  Quantitative Methods in Aquatic Ecotoxicology.  Lewis Publishers,  Chelsea, MI.
Reviewing this book for Trans. Am. Fish. Soc., Clements stated that ”…Newman’s book is a refreshing and highly readable treatment of quantitative aspects of ecotoxicology … Overall, this book will be of tremendous value.”
Dr. G. Suter begins his review column for the SETAC Globe, “Gary Rand reviews [here] Mike Newman’s excellent text on quantitative ecotoxicology. I would like to add the observation that Mike has produced a rara avis, a single-authored book … He is to be commended for mastering this field and presenting it in a more coherent manner than is achieved by edited compilations.”
  • Newman, M.C. and A.W. McIntosh (Eds.). 1991. Metal Ecotoxicology: Concepts and Applications. Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, MI.

China

Prof. Newman currently is a visiting professor at the College of Life

Science, Huazhong Normal University (华中师范大学).

            India

In 2011, Prof Newman participated as the Erudite Lecturer through the Scholar

in Residence Programme - The Erudite of Higher Education Council, Government

of Kerala. He presented lectures at Cochin University of Science and Technology,

Cochin University, visiting several other universities in Kerala, India.
Newman

Newman

Prof. Newman at Hubia Provincial Museum during 2008 William & Mary/Central China Normal University exchange

Signing mandarin translation of Fundamentals of Ecotoxicology textbook in Wuhan, P.R. China
Former Students
  • Erica Holloman
  • Xu Xiaoyu
  • Jincheng Wang
  • John Carriger
  • David Ownby
  • Kyle Tom
  • Yuan Zhao
Courses Taught / Teaching
  • MS504 Fundamental Statistical Methods and Data Analysis (FALL, 4 credit). An introduction to statistical methods.
  • MS560 Fundamentals of Ecotoxicology (SPRING, 3 credit). Prerequisite Basic Ecology. This course is an introduction to ecotoxicology, the science of contaminants in the biosphere and their effects on constituents of the  biosphere, including humans. The course provides a general survey of environmental toxicology and risk assessment from an ecological vantage.
  • EHS863 Quantitative Ecological Toxicology (SUMMER, ODD YEARS, 4 credits). University of Georgia Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program. 
  • MS640: Quantitative Ecotoxicology (SPRING, 4 credits). Essential ecotoxicological principles and quantitative methods for the analysis of ecotoxicological data.  Laboratory exercises will include method applications with PC-based software.  Emphasis will be placed on the scientific and statistical soundness of techniques.
  • MS641: Environmental Risk Assessment (FALL, 3 credits). The NAS risk assessment paradigm will be developed and applied to both human and ecological risk assessments.  Basic concepts and techniques will be presented for risk assessment.
  • MS642: Practical Environmental Statistics (SPRING, 3 credits). This course explores practical statistics for sampling, measuring, and making sound inferences from environmental data. The course is intentionally a broad survey of methods applicable to physical, chemical and biological studies, drawing examples from each of these areas.

Mercury as a Global Pollutant Project

William & Mary/Central China normal University 2007 exchange. From left to right: Environmental Toxicology PhD student Erica Holloman, Environmental Chemistry PhD student Chen Da, incoming Environmental Toxicology PhD student Xu Xiaoyu, and visiting Dr. Xiong Li. Sampling mercury contaminated biota from South River. From left to right: Summer undergraduate student, Ashley Nance, from Hampton University, PhD student, Erica Holloman, and MS student, Kyle Tom.
Awards
  • 2011-2014     Visiting Scholar. Huazhong Normal University, Wuhan, P.R. China
  • 2011     Scholar in Residence Erudite Scholar, Government of Kerala. Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin University, Kerala,    India.
  • 2009     Fulbright Senior Scholar. University of Koblenz- Landau, Germany.
  • 2008     Named Professor. A. Marshall Acuff, Jr. Professor of Marine Science.
  • 2006     Recognition of Valued Service to EPA.
  • 2006     Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Service, U.S. National Academy of Science.       
  • 2003     Founder's Award of The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). "Given annually to a person with an outstanding career who has made clearly identifiable contributions in the environmental sciences consistent with the goals of SETAC".
  • 2002     Special Recognition by VIMS Advisory Council for exceptional service as Dean of Graduate Studies.
Professional Memberships
  • Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Collaborative / Interdisciplinary Efforts
  • Under contract with CRC/Lewis Press, editing Environmental and Ecological Risk Assessment book series.  First book in the series is Coastal and Estuarine Risk Assessment.
  • Trophic movement of mercury in South River biota. A collaborative study with Dupont and College of William & Mary faculty.