Superfund Research Program
Grant Recipient Spotlights - May 14, 2025
Meichen Wang, Ph.D., former Texas A&M University (TAMU) Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center trainee was recently featured in an NIEHS Grantee Highlight. As a doctoral student TAMU SRP, Wang collaborated with Tim Phillips, Ph.D., to develop edible, clay-based sorbents that bind to contaminants like PFAS that may be hidden in food, thus preventing dietary exposure.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - May 14, 2025
At the Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award Lecture in March, Rollie Mills, Ph.D., formerly a trainee at the University of Kentucky Superfund Research Center, presented a new alternative to conventional strategies for removing PFAS from water, which can be expensive or unsustainable. Mills developed a specialized membrane coated with a polymer that responds to different temperatures.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - April 8, 2025
After two decades, Norbert Kaminski, Ph.D., announced he is stepping down as the Director of the Michigan State University (MSU) Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center. During his tenure, the center became a leader in research on the health effects of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - April 8, 2025
Matthew Campen, Ph.D., a scientist at the University of New Mexico Superfund Research Program Center, is at the forefront of research on micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs). NIEHS Director Rick Woychik, Ph.D., interviewed Campen about MNPs and his groundbreaking publication on MNP accumulation in humans.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - October 16, 2024
Rebecca Fry, Ph.D., has dedicated her career to understanding how environmental exposures affect children s health. Now a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), Fry directs the UNC Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center, which focuses on the health effects of metals, especially arsenic, in drinking water.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - October 16, 2024
Toxicologist Jennifer Kay, Ph.D., of the Silent Spring Institute is studying how chemicals known to both damage DNA and change how the hormones estrogen and progesterone send signals in the body may pose greater threat of causing breast cancer than chemicals that only do one or the other.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - October 8, 2024
As director of the NIEHS-funded Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center at Louisiana State University (LSU), Stephania Cormier, Ph.D., has prioritized research on the health effects of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFR), a type of air pollutant.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - September 17, 2024
The NIEHS director, Rick Woychik, Ph.D., spoke with Superfund Research Program-funded researcher, Upal Ghosh, Ph.D., about his work to clean up polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, contamination and protect public health.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - September 17, 2024
Superfund Research Program trainee, Amanda Armijo, winner of the 2022 Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award, delivered an award lecture about her research on the genetic effects of exposure to carcinogenic n-nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, through drinking water.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - July 22, 2024
Scientists across the country, including many funded by the Superfund Research Program (SRP), gathered with community groups, public officials, and others to share experiences and research related to PFAS. Through several recent events, they aimed to understand challenges and discuss strategies to protect the health of communities affected by the toxic and persistent chemicals.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - June 20, 2024
New approaches to address the occupational health and safety risks found in various workplaces were the focus of a Superfund Research Program (SRP) Progress in Research webinar series.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - April 17, 2024
Jamie Donatuto, Ph.D., is in a unique position as both the environmental health analyst for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and as the co-leader of the Community Engagement Core at the Oregon State University Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center. She has spent decades researching the intersections of environmental contaminant exposures, Indigenous practices, and community health, and she regularly advocates for and educates others about ethical research collaborations that benefit Tribal health.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - April 11, 2024
As head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and a member of the NIEHS-funded Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center at Texas A&M University, Galen Newman, Ph.D., focuses on improving urban resilience against hurricanes and flooding. His work shapes community resilience plans that use environmentally conscious landscape design to improve health outcomes.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - March 7, 2024
As the community engagement coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Chapell Hill (UNC) Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center, Andrew George, Ph.D., is educating rural communities about the health risks of drinking well water contaminated with metals. He also relies on partnerships with community organizations across North Carolina to help under-resourced communities test their wells for free.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - February 14, 2024
Superfund Research Program (SRP) grant recipient Robyn Tanguay, Ph.D., was recently interviewed by NIEHS Director Rick Woychik, Ph.D. Tanguay, who serves as the director of the Oregon State University SRP Center, discussed her research using zebrafish and why she thinks they represent a paradigm shift in toxicological research.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - February 14, 2024
Ana Navas-Acien, M.D., Ph.D., grew up in a desert-like area of Spain called Almeria where drinking water was scarce. For years, her parents relied on a rainwater collection system called an aljibe for drinking and cooking. These early experiences planted a seed.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - January 22, 2024
While Jennifer Richmond-Bryant, Ph.D., was studying for a degree in civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University, she heard that workers in nearby municipal offices were experiencing "sick building syndrome." This experience highlighted for her that environmental issues were really health issues.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - January 22, 2024
The NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) selected Rollie Mills, from the University of Kentucky (UK) SRP Center, as the 26th recipient of the Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - January 22, 2024
Prior to joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2005 as a community engagement and education specialist, Kathleen Vandiver, Ph.D., taught middle school science for 16 years.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - January 3, 2024
The NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) recently brought together several grant recipients and experts from other federal agencies to discuss new strategies and continuing challenges for PFAS site characterization. The three-session event, Tools for PFAS Site Characterization, included presentations on research efforts and tool development for sampling, monitoring, detecting, and characterizing PFAS. The widespread commercial use and the variety of risks of PFAS make site characterization important to researchers, who need to know which PFAS chemicals are where.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - October 20, 2023
Longtime NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) grant recipient Philippe Grandjean describes what kickstarted his career and where his research is headed, as well as the health effects of PFAS and how people can limit their exposure. Grandjean is an investigator at the University of Rhode Island SRP Center and works with communities in the Faroe Islands, an archipelago between Iceland and Norway.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - September 7, 2023
Johnnye Lewis, director of the University of New Mexico Superfund Research Center, researches the Tribal health implications of exposures to environmental pollutants, particularly those from hardrock mining activity.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - September 7, 2023
As a high schooler, Kelly Pennell, Ph.D., was inspired by environmental and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa to help people affected by environmental exposures. Now, as director of the University of Kentucky (UK) Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center, she is working to protect public health from exposures to toxic substances like PFAS, trichloroethylene (TCE), and tetrachloroethene (PCE).
Grant Recipient Spotlights - September 1, 2023
Led by Northeastern University and funded by the NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP), the Puerto Rico Test Site to Explore Contamination Threats (PROTECT) SRP Center brings together researchers from many institutions to explore the connection between environmental exposures and preterm birth in Puerto Rico.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - August 7, 2023
Seven NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) trainees won K.C. Donnelly Externship Award Supplements to conduct research outside of their host centers. The three-month-long externships provide current SRP-funded graduate students and postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to learn new methods and techniques, while working in other SRP-funded institutions and government labs.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - July 1, 2023
Exploring how chemical contaminants move through the environment and affect aquatic food webs, Upal Ghosh, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), aims to develop and implement technologies to help ecosystems recover from pollution.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - March 29, 2023
Artist Mallery Quetawki combines her visual art skills, biology and healthcare background, and Indigenous knowledge to improve environmental health literacy among American Indian Tribes. A member of the Pueblo of Zuni Tribe in New Mexico, Quetawki has collaborated on environmental health outreach projects using art with the University of New Mexico (UNM) SRP Center. She currently serves as the artist-in-residence for the UNM College of Pharmacy s Community Environmental Health Program (CEHP).
Grant Recipient Spotlights - March 23, 2023
Upal Ghosh, Ph.D., explores how chemical contaminants move through the environment and affect aquatic food webs, with the goal of developing and implementing technologies to help ecosystems recover from pollution.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - February 6, 2023
Joseph Hamm, Ph.D., strives to contribute to a deeper, fuller understanding of trust, one that crosses disciplines and helps different groups to work collaboratively toward better outcomes for community health and safety.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - January 1, 2023
Amanda Armijo, D.V.M., Ph.D., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology SRP Center, was selected as the 25th recipient of the Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award. Armijo received the award December 15 at the SRP Annual Meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she was recognized for her work on tracing how the toxin NDMA damages genes, and how the DNA might repair itself.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - November 1, 2022
During an NIEHS lecture Oct. 6, Elana Elkin, Ph.D., a former NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) trainee and recipient of the 2019 Karen Wetterhahn Award, described how a chemical called trichloroethylene (TCE) can interfere with fetal development in the womb.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - October 1, 2022
Seven trainees with the NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) have earned K.C. Donnelly Externship Award Supplements. Named for longtime SRP grantee Kirby K.C. Donnelly, the funding enables graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to learn techniques relevant to their work from experts at outside institutions.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - September 27, 2022
The NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) welcomes 11 new and returning multiproject centers.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - September 20, 2022
SRP summer interns Anna Kremer and Kirsten Reid presented their summer research projects in a virtual poster showcase along with interns and trainees from across NIEHS on July 28.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - September 9, 2022
Andres Cardenas, Ph.D., of the University of California (UC), Berkeley SRP Center explained how is applying his epigenetics expertise to investigate how environmental exposures contribute to the development of diseases, and how to prevent them.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - September 5, 2022
For nearly three decades, Johnnye Lewis, Ph.D., has advanced Native American health by combining basic research, population-level studies, clear science communication, and robust partnerships with tribes.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - August 10, 2022
Joel Meyer, Ph.D., of the Duke University SRP Center, discussed his research into how early-life mitochondrial toxicity can affect later-life health, during his NIEHS Keystone Science Lecture.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - July 1, 2022
Karletta Chief, Ph.D., of the University of Arizona SRP Center, explained how her interest in water stemmed from growing up within Navajo nation.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - May 19, 2022
Kathleen Gray, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) SRP Center talked about her passion for increasing understanding of environmental exposures in communities affected by contamination.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - May 13, 2022
Environmental toxicologist Michael (Mike) Denison, Ph.D., of the University of California (UC), Davis, who was internationally known for his fundamental research on persistent organic pollutants and for developing a widely used test for detecting toxic substances in samples, died March 22 of brain cancer. A longtime grantee of the NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP), Denison served as a project leader for more than 25 years.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - April 19, 2022
Tiffany Sanchez, Ph.D., a former trainee at the Columbia University SRP Center, reflected on her experience as a trainee working with large cohorts, or groups of participants, to understand the connections between metal exposures and disease.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - April 19, 2022
Stefano Monti, Ph.D., explained how he is developing computational models for environmental contaminants to predict their long-term health effects, such as cancer and metabolic disorders. Since 2012, Monti led the Bioinformatics and Molecular Modeling Core at the Boston University SRP Center.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - April 14, 2022
NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) grantees from across the country gathered in person and virtually for the 2022 Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting, held March 27-31 in San Diego. The meeting highlighted cutting-edge research.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - March 1, 2022
Approaches for studying airborne exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, and helping communities reduce such exposure, were discussed by University of Iowa Superfund Research Program Director Keri Hornbuckle, Ph.D., during her February 4 Keystone Science Lecture.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - February 18, 2022
A feature on Dartmouth College SRP Center Director Celia Chen, Ph.D., explains how she is leveraging decades of research on Mercury to better understand how people are exposed to per and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - February 17, 2022
Monica Ramirez-Andreotta, Ph.D., from the University of Arizona SRP Center, shared her experience engaging communities in science and her journey from SRP trainee to SRP researcher.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - February 1, 2022
Complexities of studying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were shared by SRP grantees and other experts during a congressional hearing. Witnesses discussed how increased research and development can better inform regulation and strengthen methods for cleaning up PFAS in the environment.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - February 1, 2022
Cherie De Vore, Ph.D., a former trainee with the University of New Mexico SRP Center, explained how her mechanistic research on metal contaminants in the environment is grounded in her Dine identity.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - January 5, 2022
The annual meeting to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) was held as an abbreviated virtual event December 16, 2021. Drawing over 400 attendees from across the U.S., the meeting highlighted how SRP's dedication to innovation and collaboration across scientific fields can tackle emerging challenges.
Grant Recipient Spotlights - January 1, 2022
The NIEHS Superfund Research Program bestowed the honor on Molly Frazar, from the University of Kentucky.