Because I’m a microplastics researcher, my friends sometimes jokingly ask me, “How many microplastics do you think I consumed this week?”

I can’t give an exact answer. Unfortunately, it’s not zero.

Microplastics—the tiny plastic particles that break down from plastic products—are everywhere. And they are on a lot of people’s minds, which is why people ask me about them.

If we want to address microplastics, we must understand them and be able to measure them properly. That’s what I’m doing as a Ph.D. student researcher at NIST and the University of Maryland.

There is increasing concern about microplastics’ effect on the environment and our health. NIST student researcher George Caceres is working to develop instruments that can help measure tiny microplastics so we can better understand the risks. Credit: M. King/NIST.

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