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March 13, 2019

This past week, 18 Science and Technology Liaisons (STL) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) came to a 2-hour training offered by our Superfund Center. Dr. Stacey Harper (Co-coordinator, Research Translation) welcomed the participants to Oregon State University. She and Michael Barton (Research Translation) previewed the new visualization tool being developed in our Superfund; a network analysis tool that can visualize connectivity between SRP projects.

Dr. Diana Rohlman (Co-coordinator, Research Translation) provided an overview of the SRP report-back and dissemination tools, to include multiple infographics.

Dr. Molly Kile (Leader, Community Engagement Core) discussed a potential project with the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). This organization provides research ethics and compliance training for researchers. Working with CITI, Dr. Kile would develop a training module specific to working with Indigenous communities.

Dr. Robyn Tanguay (Director, Superfund Research Center; Leader, Systems Approach to Define Toxicity of Complex PAH Mixtures) spoke about the innovative use of zebrafish to evaluate toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, amongst many other chemical classes.

Lisandra Trine (Lab manager, Simonich lab, Formation of Hazardous PAH Breakdown Products in Complex Environmental Mixtures at Superfund Sites) discussed the ongoing research to predict and measure hazardous PAH breakdown products following remediation of Superfund sites.

The second hour of the training was devoted to laboratory tours of Dr. Kim Anderson’s laboratory (PAH Fate and Exposure) and Dr. Staci Simonich’s laboratory. The STLs learned about the passive sampling technology and tools used by Dr. Anderson, and the partnership between Dr. Simonich and Pacific Northwest tribes to evaluate ambient air quality.