Superfund Research Program
Research Experience and Training Coordination Core
Project Leader: James Zach Hilt
Co-Investigator: Kevin J. Pearson
Grant Number: P42ES007380
Funding Period: 2000-2025
Project-Specific Links
Datasets
Final Progress Reports
PublicationsConnect with the Grant Recipients
Final Progress Reports
Studies and Results
The UK-SRC trainees participated in monthly bioethics seminars with lectures from faculty members across campus in which ethical issues from both scientific and medical realms are discussed and science, engineering, and medical doctoral students interact to analyze real-life ethical issues. The Training Core also organized a UK-SRC center-wide meeting to highlight the work being performed within the center and to foster collaborations and interdisciplinary research opportunities between the biomedical and environmental science research branches.
Interdisciplinary collaborations have been heavily encouraged across the biomedical and environmental science projects by the Training Core. Some examples include specialized instrumental analysis by trainees in the environmental science fields for biomedical project-related publications and projects that heavily involve work in both materials engineering and toxicology that bridge the environmental science and biomedical projects.
Li Xiao, Minghui Gui, Sebastian Hernandez, Angela Gutierrez, Maggie Murphy, and Brad Newsome received travel support from the Training Core to present their work at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Superfund Research Program, while Cetewayo Rashid and Michael Petriello received Superfund travel awards to give oral presentations. At the Annual SRP Meeting, Minghui Gui received a poster award for his environmental science-related research. Additionally, all students gained valuable networking opportunities through attending and presenting their research at field-specific meetings such as AIChE, SETAC, and SOT. Trainees have been actively involved in grant writing, both in conjunction with their advisors as well as individually for student-initiated funding. Core leaders have been active mentors during grant writing and two student grants were recently funded for trainees Michael Petriello and Katryn Eske through the American Heart Association and the American Society of Nutrition, respectively.
Three of the Core's trainees, Cetewayo Rashid, Katryn Eske, and Nicki Baker successfully defended their dissertations in Fall 2013, each focusing on biomedical intervention strategies for environmental pollutant-induced disease. Sung Gu Han, a former UK-SRC postdoctoral scholar, and Nicki Baker also recently accepted faculty positions at Konkuk University and Baker College, respectively. During the current funding cycle, UK-SRC trainees published 8 peer-reviewed scientific papers (with 3 papers in revision), published 1 book chapter, and made 25 oral and poster presentations.
Significance
The goal of the Training Core is to educate and prepare the next generation of leaders in the field of environmental sciences. Interdisciplinary training that allows students and scholars to gain knowledge in different areas, such as sciences, law, and economics, is of high importance in preparing future investigators that can successfully tackle environmental problems. Toward this goal, the Training Core provided full or partial funding to graduate students aiding in their training in environmental sciences.