Superfund Research Program

Research Translation Core

Project Leader: Monica Ramirez-Andreotta
Co-Investigators: Mark L. Brusseau, Janick F. Artiola, Raina M. Maier
Grant Number: P42ES004940
Funding Period: 2005-2020

Project-Specific Links

Final Progress Reports

Year:   2019  2016  2014  2009 

Through dedicated interactions with their stakeholders, the UA SRP Research Translation Core (RTC) ensures that the key strengths and accomplishments, and the research results and implications, of the UA SRP are appreciated and applied. The Research Translation Core website acts as one of their main engines for sharing information, and was redesigned in late 2014 for more user-friendly navigation and a streamlined look. Since April, 2014, 47 "News and Highlights" have been added to the UA SRP website and distributed via email newsletter to hundreds of diverse stakeholders. Many of these news items were subsequently featured in SRP/NIEHS internet and email publications. The core coordinated a number of partnership-building activities to continue cultivating transdisciplinary relationships with their key stakeholders. In April 2014, the UA SRP participated in the Center for Environmentally Sustainable Mining (CESM) Profile Event held in Phoenix, AZ. The event brought together a statewide audience, including industry and legislature, and was sponsored by the Arizona Rock Products Association and the Arizona Mining Association. The CESM technical advisory committee is composed of experts from the mining industry who help to evaluate and direct the activities of the CESM. In September 2014, the UA SRP co-hosted the Latin American Conference on Compatible Mining in San Luis Potosí, México. The goal was to assemble an international working group to build a framework for "compatible mining," a term coined at the conference and defined as: the empowerment of communities, civilians, governments, and the private sector to collaborate in a way that minimizes and prevents the environmental and social impacts of mining. This year continued the core's long-running "Live at EPA Region 9" seminar series to bring SRP research products to EPA Remedial Project Managers via a live presentation and a reprised webinar via the CLU-IN network, collaborating with UC Davis SRP to highlight four SRP researchers in two joint seminars. The RTC has also continued efforts to facilitate technology and information transfer through established relationships with state and federal stakeholders at established Superfund sites. This includes participation in technical exchange and community engagement meetings for the TIAA, Phoenix-Goodyear, Motorola/52nd St, Hassayampa Landfill, and Broadway/Pantano chlorinated solvent-contaminated groundwater federal/state Superfund sites. In addition, the core began a pilot field test of an innovative vadose-zone characterization technology at the Hassayampa Landfill site. The RTC's working group with EPA, ATSDR, and their state agency partners at the Iron King Mine and Humboldt Smelter Superfund Site continued throughout 2014 with a series of regularly-scheduled teleconferences to plan educational activities and information related to drinking water at the 2014 Agua Fria Festival, as well as develop related information for the town website. In addition, the RTC's relationship with their regional ATSDR partners is expanding; in January 2014 they have been invited to join ATSDR in community and stakeholder meetings related to the Cyprus Tohono Superfund Alternative Site which impacts the Tohono O'odham Nation, to explore whether the community is interested in partnering with the core to further investigate questions of mining on tribal lands.