Superfund Research Program

Research Translation Core (ARRA funded)

Project Leader: Maud Walsh
Grant Number: P42ES013648
Funding Period: 2009-2011

Project-Specific Links

Final Progress Reports

Year:   2010 

The Research Translation Core is responsible for communicating research findings to a variety of audiences, including the general public, health and environmental professionals, regulatory agencies, businesses, and other researchers.

In the past year, great strides have been made to communicate research plans and results in several ways. The LSU SRP website provides information on the research projects and support cores, the investigators, news and events associated with the Program, a list of related publications, and links to other sites with environmental and health information.

Research Translation Core researchers have communicated with environmental professionals through presentations and publications. Drs. Dellinger and Walsh gave a presentation in November at a conference co-sponsored by the Louisiana chapter of the Air & Waste Management Association and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. Drs. Walsh, Cormier, Varner and Dellinger published an article on toxic combustion by-products and their health effects in the April, 2010 issue of Environmental Management, the A&WMA magazine for environmental professionals. Researchers are planning for the 12th Congress at Zhejiang in the Peoples Republic of China, in June, 2011. The website for the Congress is maintained by LSU, and the 12th Congress will be the first major meeting organized by the LSU ARRA-funded Center. Core members have interacted with NIEHS personnel and other Superfund researchers at the SRP annual meetings and at LSU. Dr. Staci Simonich of the Oregon State University Superfund Research Program gave a presentation that was attended by program scientists, graduate students, industry representatives, and environmental scientists from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. Dr. Walsh visited EPA headquarters and had a teleconference with EPA staff members from the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, part of EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, and the Technology Innovation Program of the Superfund Program.

Air quality and human health activities were incorporated into professional development programs for teachers in public schools in southeast Louisiana—an area that is greatly affected by urban pollutants and/or hazardous waste sites. The Program’s research was recently highlighted in Chem Matters, an American Chemical Society magazine for high school students. The research translation efforts will result in an increased understanding of the risk to the community from incineration and other treatments of Superfund wastes to ensure that the program’s research is appropriately applied to current environmental and health issues and, in particular, to the effective management of thermal treatment of Superfund wastes to minimize and control exposure and risk.