Superfund Research Program

Research Translation Core

Project Leader: Justin Teeguarden (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Grant Number: P42ES016465
Funding Period: 2009-2020

Project-Specific Links

Final Progress Reports

Year:   2019  2012 

Partnerships with Governmental Agencies:

In January, 2012, RTC leaders met with Region 10 U.S. EPA Officials to discuss current activities of the OSU SRP, including the development of educational materials and outreach to diverse audiences. In attendance at this meeting were Kira Lynch (Region 10 Superfund Technical Liaison), Chip Humphrey (EPA Project Manager, Portland Harbor Superfund Site), and several members from the Region 10 Risk Evaluation Unit (Elizabeth Allen, Kristine Koch, Sheila Fleming). The RTC also helped facilitate the inclusion of Kim Anderson's, Ph.D., presentation of a Clu-In Webinar on January 30, 2012 (entitled "Innovative Technologies Used to Quantify Environmental Contaminant Bioavailability and Characterize Environmental Exposure.") This was followed by a site visit to the Lower Duwamish Superfund Site with Region 10 EPA Officials (Kira Lynch) and a member of the US Army Corp of Engineers (Mandy Michaelsen). As a result of that site visit, Anderson's SRP Project has deployed passive sampling devices at the Lower Duwamish Superfund Site and has plans for sampling and future interactions with Region 10 EPA officials involved in the assessment and management of the site.

In February, 2012, RTC Leaders engaged with Lara Autry from the US EPA Office of the Science Advisor. A series of telephone conferences were held in subsequent months, including Anderson of the OSU SRP (Analytical Chemistry Research Support Core), to discuss current EPA and Department of Defense initiatives to strengthen a list of analytical methods for high-profile chemicals that are included in the IRIS database, including PAHs.

In March, 2012, RTC Leaders facilitated a series of telephone conferences with public health officials at the Minnesota Department of Public Health (including Carl Herbrandson and Paul Swedenborg). These phone conferences included discussions relating to their efforts to study human health risks from PAHs in urban air pollution. RTC Leaders were asked to provide comments on a draft guidance document that was being prepared by the Department, utilizing relative potency factors to assess risk from PAH mixtures. As an outcome of these phone conferences, SRP Leaders within the Chemistry Core (Simonich and Anderson) have provided technical assistance to environmental chemists at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency regarding sampling and analysis (Kristie Ellickson).

Technology Transfer:

In April, 2012, RTC Leaders (Sudakin and Stone) traveled to Pendleton, Oregon, to meet with leaders of the SRP Community Engagement Core and collaborators at the Confederated Tribe of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. At this meeting, the results of research conducted on Tribal lands were discussed with stakeholders, including members of the Tribal community. The discussion included results of air sampling from traditional smokehouse activities, as well as levels of PAHs in traditionally smoked fish. As a result of these interactions, the RTC collaborated with the Community Engagement Core, members of Anderson's SRP Project, and Tribal members in the publication of a manuscript published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry ("Effect of Native American Fish Smoking Methods on Dietary Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Possible Risks to Human Health.")

RTC Leader (Sudakin) also collaborated with Anna Harding, Ph.D. of the SRP Community Engagement Core in the development of a manuscript analyzing the NHANES dataset for biomarkers of human exposure to naphthalene and their association with hemoglobin and hematocrit values in the U.S. population. The development of this manuscript enabled the SRP investigators to better understand current methods of assessing human exposure to PAHs using biomarkers, and will facilitate future translation of OSU SRP activities involving urinary biomonitoring. The results of this research were published in 2012, in the Journal of Medical Toxicology ("Naphthalene biomarkers and relationship with hemoglobin and hematocrit in White, Black, and Hispanic adults: Results from the 2003-4 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.")

Communicating to Broad Audiences:

In January, 2012, the RTC also participated in a conference call with NIEHS SRP Program officials regarding the Research to Risk Assessment Program. The R2RA program was considering including Anderson's SRP research activities for inclusion as an example of how the SRP program is impacting stakeholders at EPA and ATSDR. The RTC participated in a discussion that highlighted Anderson's current sampling activities in the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund Site.

Beginning in January 2012, RTC Coordinator Naomi Hirsch was asked to be the Communications Chair on the planning committee for the PEPH Conference, March 2012 in Bethesda. At the conference she facilitated sessions on web communications and social media with Ed Kang from NIEHS. Recently, she was asked to facilitate discussions around social media on the new PEPH listserv. The OSU SRP web site maintains a page that includes extensive web and emerging technology resources for scientists. This is regularly updated and one of the top pages on the SRP site. See http://superfund.oregonstate.edu/web-and-emerging-technology-resources-scientists-and-partners.

Hirsch spearheaded a Tweetfest for NIEHS PEPH from April 30-May 4, 2012 in support of World Asthma Day and EPA's Air Awareness Week. This was the first time a Twitter event was promoted. This week brought together a community on air quality and human health. There were slightly more than 116. Besides NIEHS and three NIEHS-centers, tweeters included non-profits, individuals, industry and related govt and universities such as NLM, NIH, EHP, and Oregon Health and Science University, and NPIC and the College of Public Health at OSU. OSU SRP Twitter followers increased during the event. This will be repeated this spring. A paper will compare the differences between the first and second event.

In July 2012, Hirsch presented a webinar on the RTC/CEC monthly conference call entitled, "Utilizing Social Media in SRP". Hirsch adapted that presentation and gave an internal presentation to OSU SRP Leaders in September. In October, Hirsch gave a presentation to the Administrators at the SRP Annual Conference in Raleigh. All presentations were well received.

In August of 2012, RTC Co-Leader Dave Stone gave an invited presentation in the city of Portland. The event was sponsored by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and was entitled "Probability, Perception, and the Portland Harbor Superfund Site." The event was attended by over 300 people from a variety of backgrounds.

Additional accomplishments of the RTC in 2012 include:

1. SRP Trainee Elevator Speech Videos: In September 2012, Hirsch worked with two SRP trainees with videotaping elevator speeches as requested by NIEHS. Hirsch produced and edited the videos of Britton Goodale and Andy Larkin. Both videos were worthwhile to share internally and the trainees appreciated the experience of communicating their research clearly and succinctly for the public. More videos are planned for this next year.
2. Stakeholder eNewsletter: SRP RTC produced an eNewsletter in fall 2012 that went to 213 stakeholders. These stakeholders included individuals from NIEHS, EPA, CDC, Oregon DEQ, Oregon Health Authority, as well as those supporting the research at Oregon State University. RTC keeps a database of those interested in research and plans to expand the stakeholder list.
3. Web site and Social Media Management: The SRP web site stays up to date with Center highlights and news, and informs diverse individuals about PAHs, research, and shared resources. The past year there has been 15,000 pageviews, 3,300 individuals from 100 countries (US, India, Canada, UK and China are the top 5). Top content includes the Gulf Oil Spill page, Web and Emerging Technology Resources for Scientists, and a page About PAHs.

OSU SRP continues to use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest to share resources and keep diverse stakeholders informed of research and activities. The social media sites continue to grow, especially Twitter and YouTube. Pinterest has effectively provided K-12 environmental health curriculum resources to teachers.

This past year videos were produced with Dr. Kim Anderson in collaboration with EHSC to inform the public about PAH exposure after the Gulf Oil Spill.

• How Do Scientists Study Contaminants in the Environment?
• Contaminants in the Environment: How Can I Be Exposed?

The videos demonstrate exposure scenarios through inhalation of volatile compounds from sediment or water, dermal exposure from direct contact with contaminated water, sand or sediment, and ingestion of fish from contaminated waters. Animations share how the uptake of contaminants into aquatic organisms, such as fish, is paralleled by the adsorption of contaminants into the PSDs.

Interestingly, the "How Can I Be Exposed?" video in Vietnamese is the most popular video on the SRP YouTube page with 384 views this past year. Second most popular is the "How Do Scientists Student Contaminants" video in Spanish with 196 views. It shows the importance of producing videos in various languages and thinking about the communities impacted and their needs. Both videos in the three languages totaled about 1000 views.