The five selected best studies were chosen from Environmental Science & Technology Letters (ES&T Letters) publications in 2014 that spanned a variety of important topics ranging from green energy to pollutants in water and air, with important implications for scientists and engineers.

Andrew Nelson, PhD student in the University of Iowa Human Toxicology Program, is the lead author of one of the five best papers, "Matrix Complications in the Determination of Radium Levels in Hydraulic Fracturing Flowback Water from Marcellus Shale." ES&T Letters editors noted that this study reinforced the challenges of working with highly saline solutions produced by gas and oil production systems.

The article was published in ES&T Letters in volume 1, 2014:204-8, DOI: 10.1021/ez500379.