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Final Progress Reports: Brown University: Research Translation Core

Superfund Research Program

Research Translation Core

Project Leader: Eric M. Suuberg
Grant Number: P42ES013660
Funding Period: 2005-2021

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Final Progress Reports

Year:   2020  2014  2008 

Activities and Results

The Research Translation Core (RTC) has remained responsive to numerous requests for assistance in information gathering and dissemination. Below are just a few examples of RTC activities in 2014.

Assistance in Support of Brownfields Redevelopment

The RTC has continued its partnership with individuals involved in cleanup of a contaminated site on the Blackstone River in the town of Grafton, Massachusetts. While not in Rhode Island, the site is only a short distance upstream of the Rhode Island state line, and the Blackstone is arguably the most important river in Rhode Island history. Thanks to the efforts of a developer who wishes to create a "living laboratory" at this site, the RTC has partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), John Todd Ecological, and Clark University to explore experimental cleanup methods at this, the Fisherville Mill Brownfield site.

Former State Agencies Liaison (SAL) James Rice received the 2013 KC Donnelly Externship Award, which he used in 2014 to examine the efficacy of polyethylene passive samplers for quantifying the availability of petroleum hydrocarbons accidentally released onsite many years ago. This multidisciplinary project has as a goal sustainable redevelopment and remediation of the site, reducing the threat to public health, and encouraging community involvement and support. The vision of a "living laboratory" foresees the site being studied and used by students and researchers from many disciplines.

In an unrelated activity, in June 2014, the EPA awarded $2.7 million in Brownfields Assessment grants to Rhode Island nonprofits, municipalities, and agencies, including the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM). The Brown SRP served as a "community-based organization" in the RI DEM Brownfields Assessment grant.

Communication with Federal Officials

In addition to its formal ties to the Rhode Island state and federal agencies directly involved with issues of environmental health, the RTC is in regular communication with Rhode Island's congressional delegation and with other federal officials. In September 2014, the SRP participated in Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's Energy and Environmental Leadership Conference, where there was an opportunity to introduce the Senator to the many activities of the Brown SRP. In December 2014, the RTC organized a seminar by EPA Region 1 Administrator Curt Spalding, at which he spoke to the SRP and Brown community about his visions for the Superfund Program in the 21st Century and the special challenges that climate change will pose to management of contaminated sites. During the remainder of the day, the Brown SRP Project leaders were able to introduce Administrator Spalding to the activities of Brown's SRP Program and to share ideas regarding future collaborations.

Workshop on Vapor Intrusion

The RTC has remained active in offering specialist workshops and webinars. It co-sponsored a "Vapor Intrusion Workshop" with the Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association (NEWMOA) at the headquarters of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation in May 2014. There were roughly 60 participants representing regulatory agencies and regional environmental consultants. RTC Leader Eric Suuberg presented a general overview of vapor intrusion and progress in advanced mathematical modeling of this complex phenomenon that has been made in Low Concentration Vapor Exposures in Complex Systems and the Problem of Vapor Intrusion.

Workshop on Risk Communication

The RTC also co-organized with NEWMOA a workshop in March 2014 on "Communicating Risk to the Public." This activity grew out of the May 2012 workshop, "Social, Psychological, and Economic Impacts of Superfund and Other Contaminated Sites," which had been organized with NIEHS under the aegis of a supplemental grant to the Brown SRP. This earlier activity showed the value of exposing environmental practitioners to the different viewpoints of social and physical scientists, regulators, developers, lawyers, and community activists in discussing the processes at contaminated sites. The 2014 workshop drew upon speakers from three northeast SRPs (Brown University, Dartmouth College, and Boston University). Brown SAL James Rice opened with lessons learned from the social scientists who participated in the earlier workshop, and Brown SRP Director Kim Boekelheide discussed the issues surrounding communicating about toxicity. Laurie Rardin of Dartmouth offered insights on controlling and managing the message in environmental contamination situations (related to the Dartmouth experience with the arsenic-in-rice issue). Sunshine Menezes of the Metcalfe Institute offered insights into how environmental reporters practice their craft and how to effectively communicate with them. Lenny Siegel of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight offered the perspective of a community organizer, discussing issues ranging from gaining site access to what happens at public meetings. Brown's (and RI DOH's) Robert Vanderslice offered an example of risk communication at a complicated local site. Madeleine Scammell of Boston University closed with suggestions on risk communication planning. The same program was actually offered twice (once at Brown and once in Massachusetts) to full capacity auditoriums, reaching well over 100 environmental professionals from government and environmental consulting firms.

Organizing Scientific Meetings and Conferences

A scientific session, "Transport of Environmental Contaminants Related to Energy Processes," was held at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia in November 2014. The session was co-organized by the RTC's James Rice and SRP trainee Megan Creighton.

In October 2014, Brown SRP Project and Training Core Leader Agnes Kane chaired a meeting of 21 experts from ten countries at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC; Lyon, France) to assess the carcinogenicity of fluoro-edenite, silicon carbide (SiC) fibres and whiskers, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), including single-walled (SWCNTs) and multi-walled (MWCNTs) types. These assessments will be published as Volume 111 of the IARC Monographs.

In May 2014, project leader Agnes Kane participated in a Workshop on "Categorization Strategies for Engineered Nanomaterials in a Regulatory Context" that was held at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. This workshop was sponsored by the University of California's Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology.

Project leaders Agnes Kane and Robert Hurt participated in and presented at "Preventing and Treating Biological Exposures: An Occupational Health Colloquium" on June 9, 2014 in Providence, Rhode Island. The event was presented by the Eagleson Institute and the Elizabeth R. Griffin Research Foundation.

The RTC partnered with the Rhode Island Society of Environmental Professionals to serve as the Rhode Island host location for the Society for Risk Assessment webinar series, "Scientific Studies on Impacts of Natural Gas Extraction from Marcellus Shale on Water Resources." This was a series of six webinars that ran through the spring of 2014.

Other similar activities are highlighted in the updates of the Community Outreach Core.

Significance

There is a broad reach in the activities of the RTC. It should be emphasized that this reach is even greater when considering that the RTC works in close partnership with the Community Outreach Core, which has a similarly extensive scope of contacts (that are in most cases different from the RTC's) and activities. The RTC truly strives to reach the full range of stakeholders of the Brown SRP, from local to international.

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