UNITY — A Unity College professor who formerly taught at  Oak Hill High School in Wales and Bates College in Lewiston has been recognized for her volunteer efforts to aid the developing world.

Chemists Without Borders, a global network of individuals who are helping to alleviate problems in the Third World, has recognized the work of Unity College professor of geochemistry Lois Ongley.

Last year, Ongley and Unity College student Timothy Godaire travelled to Boron, Calif., in the Mojave Desert, to participate in an arsenic field event that was designed to test the capabilities of low tech arsenic analytical equipment, and to validate the performance of arsenic remediation technologies. They also held an arsenic field event in Boron on International Water Day. The low cost filter that Ongley and Godaire helped to test will be widely distributed in Bangladesh and across the world.

This ties in with her research on arsenic contaminated drinking water supplies and ways to assess and mitigate such contamination.

Ongley has served as secretary for Chemists Without Borders. Her service included a trip to the University of Bangladesh to help initiate the development of an environmental science major.

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