Superfund Research Program
Administrative Core
Project Leader: Robyn L. Tanguay
Co-Investigator: Katrina M. Waters (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Grant Number: P42ES016465
Funding Period: 2009-2025
Project-Specific Links
Final Progress Reports
Year: 2019 2012
Studies and Results
Organize, conduct and evaluate meetings and other activities: Key personnel remain the same. Responsibilities for Core A include organizing monthly meetings of project and core leaders and other key personnel and internal advisors (when available). Monthly meetings of all investigators utilize two-way audio (visual when possible) with investigators at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, WA. Agendas for these 90-minute monthly meetings include progress reports from individual projects and cores as well as short- and long-term planning. The focus in year 04 was leading the planning and construction of the competing renewal, submitted in April, 2012.
The administrative core organized and conducted the OSU SRP External Advisory Committee (EAC) at the Benson Hotel, Portland, November 28-29, 2012. EAC members in attendance were: Drs. Ronald Hines, Scott Burchiel, Marc Greenberg, Moiz Mumtaz, Bruce Duncan and A. Jay Gandolfi (Chair). The internal advisors, Associate Vice President for Research at Oregon State University and representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) were also in attendance. The agenda focused on new directions in research and technology development, along with strategies to strengthen ties with various stakeholders and develop new stakeholders. In January of 2013, the EAC provided a 12 page comprehensive analysis that included a number of important recommendations as OSU SRP moves forward.
Promote infrastructure and research enhancement: The core team continues to analyze the most efficient use of discretionary monies to enhance infrastructure and training. OSU SRP was pleased to obtain a KC Donnelly award and the core was also instrumental in putting together and submitting two (unfortunately unsuccessful) Karen Wetterhahn award applications. The core staff assists with the preparation and submission grants related to the NIEHS SRP mission.
Conduct fiscal management: Ms. Goodenough manages budgets for all projects and cores, including the subcontracts with PNNL, Penn State, University of Peking and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Ms. Goodenough provides regular summaries of project and core expenditures and balances for all.
Communicating results to peers, stakeholders and the general public: The Research Translation Core has worked closely this past year bringing together investigators with stakeholders. For example, Staci Simonich, Ph.D., has employed personal PAH monitoring devices, and in collaboration with the Analytical Chemistry Research Support Core and the Community Engagement Core determined what the exposure was for Native Americans judged likely to represent high risk populations due to cultural practices of smoking and eating salmon. Daniel Sudakin, Ph.D, the Director of the RTC helped Simonich translate her work into risk assessment for highly exposed populations and this was published both in EHP and the Chinese edition of EHP. The Community Engagement Core's (CEC) work with the CTUIR has become a model for successful conduct of joint collaborative research in a culturally appropriate manner with true two-way participation and communication. OSU SRP's website (http://superfund.oregonstate.edu/) has developed a number of new features including social communication (e.g., facebook and twitter) which enhances communication with the general public, peers, and stakeholders. The RTC has been very active in working with SRP investigators as they determine and communicate risk from environmental PAH exposure. A great deal of OSU SRP effort this past year has been in building relationships with scientists in EPA region 10 and OSU SRP now has a member on the EAC. OSU SRP has initiated a joint effort employing passive samplers to determine PAH exposures in the Puget Sound, particularly at the Duwamish superfund site which also impacts tribal communities.
Significance
The administrative core has communicated many times with the personnel at NIEHS-SRP and participated in webinars, newsletters, etc. They continue to enjoy strong institutional support which they believe will help OSU SRP maintain its competitive standing. OSU recognizes the SRP as one of only 8 research centers on campus. Research Centers fall under the umbrella of the Research Office and this allows them to take advantage of many of their programs for enhancing research infrastructure and training as well as for David Williams, Ph.D., to have a direct line to the Vice President for Research.