Superfund Research Program
Training Core
Project Leader: Angela L. Slitt
Grant Number: P42ES027706
Funding Period: 2017-2022
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Progress Reports
The Training Core completed its second semester long per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) Colloquium at the University of Rhode Island (URI) in Spring 2019, completing the first two-year cycle. The second Colloquium blended professional development and ethical research workshops with expert guest speakers and trainee presentations on their own research, providing them with opportunities to hone their presentation skills. The Colloquium was established as a two-credit course at URI in the colleges of Pharmacy, Engineering, and the Graduate School of Oceanography. Arlene Blum (Green Science Policy Institute), Ronald Hines (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), and Rose Forbes (Air Force Remediation Program) were invited and hosted by trainees and gave talks both as part of the Colloquium and to the greater URI and Rhode Island communities. Trainees coordinated the visits from the invitation to day-of logistics as part of their training. The next cycle of the Colloquium will run in Spring 2020 and will feature Sources, Transport, Exposure and Effects of PFASs (STEEP) Center faculty presentations, guest speakers from academia and regulatory agencies, and Research Translation Core workshops on communicating with community members including improvisation with actors. Throughout the year, trainees participated in community engagement activities including staffing STEEP tables at parent resource fairs, Hyannis open streets events, participating in private well water sampling, and presenting at STEEP Science Day on Cape Cod. Trainees presented at the Northeast Regional and National Superfund Research Program meetings, as well as other national meetings including the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and Society of Toxicology. Trainees have facilitated and participated in independent interdisciplinary lab meetings to discuss collaborations between projects. Finally, Anna Robuck completed her lab rotation award with Mark Strynar of the EPA’s National Exposure Research Lab and is now assisting the coordination of Strynar’s visit to URI for the Spring 2020 Colloquium.