Dr. Mary Looney grew up in Tennessee and earned her bachelor’s in biology with a minor in chemistry at Middle Tennessee State University. While there, she conducted research on riparian spiders collected from a river system contaminated with coal mining by-products. This research combined her knowledge of biology with chemistry to study the extent of contamination of the site based on metals levels in a particular species of spider. From there, she completed her Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology at Texas Tech University. Her Ph.D. work focused on studying the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on bottlenose dolphins. She also worked heavily on conducting health assessments of the critically endangered Western gray whales using novel analytical chemistry techniques. Additionally, she conducted health assessments on the endangered beluga whales of the St. Lawrence Estuary. In addition to her marine mammal work, she participated in sea turtle conservation efforts and research while at Texas Tech. After graduation, she joined a research sailing company focused on assessing plastic contamination in the marine environment. For this work, she lived on a sailboat and traveled throughout the Pacific Ocean, collecting microplastic samples and delivering supplies to remote research groups. She now works remotely for an environmental consulting firm where she conducts ecological and human health risk assessments at various contaminated sites. She enjoys teaching chemistry, biology, and marine sciences at the collegiate level. She lives in Lubbock, Texas, where she completed her Ph.D., with her husband and two dogs.