The meeting will take place in Buffalo on Thursday, March 21.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, fluids used for embalming commonlycontained mixtures of arsenic, zinc, mercury and lead. Hayden's researchincluded sampling and analyzing groundwater and soil samples from a cemeterylocated at Hamilton College, which contains at least 68 graves from before1910. Hayden, a geology major at Hamilton, also installed upgradient anddowngradient wells near the cemetery and periodically sampled for metals.
An independent, highly selective, liberal arts college, Hamilton was foundedin 1812 and is today among the oldest colleges in the U.S. It is named forAlexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, and features a strongcurriculum in the humanities, the arts, the natural sciences and the socialsciences.