McMartin, Dena
Vice-President Research
Office of the Vice-President Research
- Phone
- (403) 329-2431
- dena.mcmartin@uleth.ca
About Me
Holding both professional engineer (PEng) and professional agrologist (PAg) credentials, Dr McMartin has served on the national executives and committees of Engineers Canada, Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada, and the Canadian Coalition for Women in Engineering, Science, Trades and Technology, as well as more regionally focused boards such as Innovation Saskatchewan, Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence, and SaskWater Corporation. She has been honoured with a YWCA Women of Distinction Award and Fellowships from Engineers Canada (FEC) and the Canadian Society of Senior Engineers (FCSSE). Dena also served on the bilateral working group for integrating diversity into science and engineering research and technology development hosted jointly by NSERC and the NSF and was the SSHRC Leader at USask.
Dr McMartin holds Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in environmental engineering and a B.Sc. degree in agricultural and bioresource engineering from USask. She is an NSERC and SSHRC funded researcher, also holding funding from federal and provincial agencies and industry partners. She maintains supervision of several graduate students and operation of laboratory facilities with research partners in SK with whom she regularly co-authors peer-reviewed papers and presentations. For more than 20 years, she has contributed to a world-leading team working on active solutions to characterize and remediate Athabasca Oilsands process water.
Dena was raised in Saskatchewan, has worked in Germany and Barbados, and conducted part of her sabbatical research with colleagues in Australia. She enjoys playing golf and camping. She is an enthusiastic research leader and diversity advocate.
Publications
Vander Meulen I, DW McMartin*, JV Headley. 2025. On the Occurrence, Behaviour, and Fate of Naphthenic Acids and Acid Fraction Compounds in Aquatic Environments. Science of the Total Environment 960: 178383. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.178383
Vander Meulen I, DW McMartin*, JV Headley. 2025. Corrigendum to: On the Occurrence, Behaviour, and Fate of Naphthenic Acids and Acid Fraction Compounds in Aquatic Environments. Science of the Total Environment: 178576. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.178576
Ajaero C, I Vander Meulen, N Heshka, Q Xin, DW McMartin*, KM Peru, H Chen, AM McKenna, K Jemmott, JV Headley. 2024. Evaluations of Weathering of Polar and Non-Polar Petroleum Components in a Simulated Freshwater Spill by Orbitrap and Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry. Energy & Fuels 38(8): 6753-6763. DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.3c04994
Alberts ME*, IJ Vander Meulen*, D Degenhardt, KM Peru, DW McMartin, JV Headley. 024.Chemical succession of naphthenic acid fraction compounds in reclamation landscape mesocosms established on centrifuged and co-mixed fluid fine tailings from the Athabasca oil sands. Science of the Total Environment 957: 177856. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177856
Boegelsack N*, C Sandau, DW McMartin, J Withey, G O’Sullivan. 2024. Cross-contamination of ignitable liquid residues on wildfire debris - Effects of packaging and storage on detection and characterization. Separations 11(2): 58. DOI: 10.3390/ separations11020058
Heshka NE*, I Vander Meulen, M Baltazar, C Ajaero, DW McMartin, JV Headley. 2024. Analysis of naphthenic acid-salt interactions in simulated oil sands process water. Energy & Fuels 38: 16713-16721. doi: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.4c02544
McMartin DW*, AJ Sammel, LM Watson. 2024. Shifting Formal Education Toward Hydrosocial and Hydrorelational Learning. PLOS Water 3(1): e0000218. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pwat.0000218 (Invited).
Vander Meulen I*, B Steiger, M Asadi, KM Peru, D Degenhardt, DW McMartin, KN McPhedran, LD Wilson, JV Headley. 2024. Low adsorption affinity of Athabasca oil sands naphthenic acid fraction compounds to a peat-mineral mixture. Chemosphere 142076. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142076
2023:
Boegelsack N*, J Walker, C Sandau, J Withey, DW McMartin, G O'Sullivan. (2023). Cross-contamination of ignitable liquid residues in fire debris samples - detection and characterization in matrices commonly encountered at wildfire scenes. Separations 10(9): 491. DOI: 10.3390/separations1009049
Sammel AJ, LM Watson*, DW McMartin. (2023). Three female academics discuss gender issues and sustainability: A water engineer, a consumer psychologist and a science educator walk into a bar… Chapter 12 In: Ronksley-Pavia, Neumann, Manakil & Pickard-Smith (eds.), Academic Women: Voicing Narratives of Gendered Experiences. Bloomsbury.
Vander Meulen I, DM Schock, F Akhter, LJ Mundy, KM Eccles, C Soos, KM Peru, DW McMartin, JV Headley, BD Pauli*. (2023). Site-specific spatiotemporal occurrence and molecular congener distributions of naphthenic acids in Athabasca oil sands wetlands of Alberta, Canada. Environmental Pollution 333: 122061. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122061
2022:
Bui VT, A Abdelrasoul*, DW McMartin. (2022). A computational study on impacts of zwitterionic structure on mixed matrix membrane stability, hydrophilicity, and oil-fouling resistance. Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling 114: 108187. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmgm.2022.108187
Bui VT, U Eduok, A Abdelrasoul*, DW McMartin. (2022). Development of Novel Mixed Matrix Membranes (MMMs) for Oil Sands Wastewater Treatment: A Critical Review. Water and Environment Journal. DOI: 10.1111/wej.12811
Sammel AJ, LM Watson*, DW McMartin. (2022). Extreme freshwater events, scientific realities, curriculum inclusions, and perpetuation of cultural beliefs. PLOS Climate. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000020
Vander Meulen I, DM Schock, JL Parrott, M Simair, LJ Mundy, C Ajaero, BD Pauli, KM Peru, DW McMartin, JV Headley*. (2022). Transformation of bitumen-derived naphthenic acid fraction compounds across surface waters of wetlands in the Athabasca Oil Sands region. Science of the Total Environment 806: 150619. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150619
Zanacic E*, DW McMartin. (2022). Analogue Application of Behaviour and Transport of Naturally Occurring Strontium in Cold Region Aquatic Environments to 90Sr. Environments 9: 72. DOI: 10.3390/environments9060072
Zanacic E*, DW McMartin. (2022). Calibration and Validation of Calcium Carbonate Precipitation Potential (CCPP) Model for Strontium Quantification in Cold Climate Aquatic Environments. Environments 9: 74. DOI: 10.3390/environments9060074
2021:
Boegelsack N*, K Hayes, C Sandau, JM Withey, DW McMartin, G O'Sullivan. (2021). Method development for optimizing analysis of ignitable liquid residues using flow-modulated comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography. Journal of Chromatography A 1656: 462495. DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2021.462495
Boegelsack N*, C Sandau, DW McMartin, J Withey, G O'Sullivan. (2021). Universal retention time indices for comprehensive multidimensional gas chromatography with application to ignitable liquid residue mapping. Journal of Chromatography A 1635: 461717. DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2020.461717
Bui VT, A Abdelrasoul*, DW McMartin. (2021). Investigation on the stability and performance of Mixed Matrix Membrane with oily wastewater using Molecular Dynamics Simulation. Computational Materials Science 187: 110079. DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2020.110079
Chegounian P, S Flibotte, KM Peru, JV Headley, DW McMartin, B Gramlich, VG Yadav. (2021). Transcriptome analysis of environmental Pseudomonas isolates reveals mechanisms of biodegradation of naphthenic acid fraction compounds (NAFCs) in oil sands tailings. Microorganisms 9(10): 2124. DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9102124
Simair MC, JL Parrott*, M le Roux, V Gupta, RA Frank, SA Hughes, KM Peru, C Ajaero, DW McMartin, JV Headley. (2021). Treatment of oil sands process affected waters by constructed wetlands: evaluation of designs and plant types by multiple lines of evidence. Science of the Total Environment 772: 145508. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145508
Vander Meulen I*, DM Schock, JL Parrott, M Simair, LJ Mundy, BD Pauli, KM Peru, DW McMartin, JV Headley. (2021). Characterization of naphthenic acid fraction compounds in water from Athabasca oil sands wetlands by Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry. Science of the Total Environment 146342. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146342
Research Interests
-tImpacts of and Vulnerabilities to Climate Extremes on Rural Water Quality and Quantity
-tOilsands Impacts on Water Quality: Characterization and Treatment
-tWater Scarcity and Access Challenges
-tAgricultural Impacts on Water Quality and Quantity
-tChemical-Free and Biological Potable Water Treatment Solutions
-tDrought and Flood Planning for Municipalities (Source Water Protection and Planning)