Who We Are and What We Do

Our Research and Partnerships

Our research is focused on Integrated Biomedical & Engineering Solutions to Regulatory Uncertainty, pursued by four projects tackling complex issues of past, present, and future environmental degradation resulting from legacy chemicals, current discharges, and emerging contaminants. This state-of-the-art research effort addresses key scientific uncertainties facing the Superfund program using the latest research tools, approaches, and technologies in Biomedical-Engineering Project Collaborations (Vapor Intrusion Modeling and Health Monitoring; Nanotechnology Applications and Safety), and within-discipline integration (Biomarkers & Toxicity Testing; Nanomaterial Vapor Barriers).

As part of our partnership effort, we have state agency liaisons in engineering and environmental health. These positions have enabled the Research Translation Core and Community Engagement Core to develop academic-government-community partnerships addressing hazardous waste sites contaminated with mixtures of toxicants, both Superfund sites and Brownfields sites. The Administrative Core, Training Core, and Molecular Pathology Core support interdisciplinary research and training involving these sites and their contaminants.

Working with our partners, we have identified mixed toxicant exposures from contaminated sites as a major concern both for people living in the surrounding neighborhoods and for government regulators. We have responded to this concern with an interdisciplinary research agenda that is focused, responsive, and high impact. We use health research, technology development, and stakeholder outreach to resolve complex issues of exposure to environmental contaminants, while our academic-government-community partnership model transforms into practice the aphorism “think globally, act locally.”