Martha Noblitt Jones . . . An Environment of Efficiency
This article describes Martha Jones and her contributions to ECU's Central Environmental Laboratory. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.Citation for this article is: "Martha Noblitt Jones . . . an environment of efficiency" Pieces of Eight, October 1, 1983.
Her quiet smile and soft-spoken manner can mislead a newcomer to ECU's Central Environmental Laboratory. Behind Martha Jones' gentle demeanor is a highly-efficient scientific mind and sharp powers of observation that once earned her the nickname "Watchdog" among some ECU biologists.
As research assistant in the lab, which occupies a large area in the south wing of the Science Complex, she supervises several technicians and students and works with faculty researchers in analyzer, digestion and distillation units, a carbon analyzer-and hundreds of odd-shaped pieces of glassware intimidate the uninitiated.
On a typical day, several projects are in progress. At the fume hood, a student is busy acid-washing glassware; by the door, a technician fits a dozen test tubes of natural water samples into a centrifuge, while another prepares the labs atomic absorption spectrometer for an intense investigation of more samples. Martha Jones is in close touch with all this activity and the people she works with.
"I do enjoy the contact with our faculty members and with other staff research personnel," she says. "A laboratory career was not really what I set out for as a college biology major; I just fell into it, but I have come to enjoy this, working with science and scientists.
Long-term Contact
Tennessee born and bred, Jones received her AB degree from Milligan College and taught briefly in Bristol, Tennessee. She came to Greenville in 1961 when her husband Ray joined the East Carolina business faculty and almost immediately afterward began graduate studies in biology here. After receiving her MA, she taught freshman biology courses part-time and became a full-time laboratory technician in 1971.
"This suits me much better than teaching," she confided. "I still have contact with students, but it's the one-to-one, long-term contact that I find most rewarding."
Since becoming a staff member, she has been involved in several major funded research projects on campus, some continuing for several years. These have included investigations of environmentally-sound ways to combat the spread of the aquatic pest plant Eurasian milfoil, studies of nitrogen cycling in riverine wetland forests and many analyses of coastal North Carolina waters-rivers and streams, estuaries and wetlands.
Water Research
"Our laboratory is not really intended for just water research; we deal with all kinds of ecology studies," she explained. "Perhaps because of our geographical location and the projects we carry out in collaboration with the Institute of Coastal and Marine Resources, it does seem that most of our projects relate to coastal water studies."
Jones' involvement with testing and re-testing water samples for a recent investigation, Biogeochemistry of the Sediments of the Pamlico and Neuse River Estuaries (Brinson and Matson), led her to develop her own scientific discovery-a quick and efficient way to conduct nitrate analysis of small water samples.
Her procedure was greeted with praise from her colleagues and from the editorial staff of the British-based international journal which has accepted her report for future publication. One of the journal's reviewers said he has already adopted her procedure for his own lab.
But Martha Jones modestly disclaims personal credit. "It's not revolutionary," she said. "It is practical and useful for scientists in the field, but it's really a modification of techniques that have been in use for many years. The chief benefits are that it is accurate and efficient, and requires small volumes of water."
More Efficient Method
The commonly-used manual method of nitrate analysis calls for the time-consuming packing of slender glass columns with cadmium grandules. Flow rate of water through the columns must be individually controlled and regulated. The Jones method use spongy cadmium (formed onto zinc sticks soaked overnight in a cadmium sulfate solution) in multiple samples. A small amount of spongy cadmium is placed in each sample to be analyed and a large number of these samples can be sealed and shaken together on a mechanical shaker for 90 minutes, freeing the technician from the need to monitor the process.
"Development of this method required careful testing of pH, reagent formulation, ratio of sample to reagent and shaking time," she said. "The result is that accurate tests can be made, with many samples being processed at one time."
"Fortunately, it doesn't call for the 100 milliliters of water needed for the usual process. Tests can be made with only a quarter of that amount. A good deal of our research focuses on pore water from sediments, and when sediment settles, there ofter isn't a lot of water to work with. We really needed a sensitive procedure that required a much smaller amount of water."
Always Something New
In conducting her laboratory analyses and perfecting her own procedure, Jones brings to her work a high degree of efficiency, some of which may be inborn, but a good deal of which must have been cultivated during the past three decades, when she balanced graduate studies and career with raising four active daughters. All are now on their own, or in law school or college, and there is a nine-month old grandson in Williamsburg, Virginia. "It's not very far away, but too far for us to see him as often as we'd like," she says ruefully.
"The exactness, the precise nature of science is appealing, but I find the unknown factors especially interesting. In environmental research, especially, there is so much that is not yet known; there are a good many mysteries still.
"As soon as I believe I understand one environmental factor, I discover a new one to learn about."
