"Moving Discoveries and Research Tools into Practice"
Because natural and man-made disasters may occur anywhere across the country, a broad-based communication, dissemination, and technology transfer strategy is needed to help communities affected by an environmental emergency. The Texas A&M Superfund Research Center’s Research Translation Core will expand the center’s reach and impact by communicating key discoveries from the four research projects with partners in government, industry, local communities, researchers, and the general public to facilitate the application of new environmental and biological measurement methods, the commercialization of key technologies, and the dissemination of key data and predictions on the impacts of chemical contamination after an environmental disaster. Directed by Thomas McDonald and Weihsueh Chiu, at Texas A&M, this core will facilitate these interactions through a comprehensive suite of activities that target the greatest opportunities for improving environmental health decision-making and a broad-based communication strategy that will include a “passive” (web-based) dissemination of research findings, as well as “active” communication through partnerships with multiple stakeholders.
Specific aims:
- Communicate and coordinate research translation efforts within the center and with NIEHS and other Superfund Research Program Centers. The core will provide NIEHS with regular reports of research translation activity and will communicate with SRP centers from other institutions on research translation activities.
- Establish partnerships with federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies involved in responding to chemical contamination events to facilitate timely and effective research translation.
- Advance the practical application of center research through a technology transfer of innovative decision-support tools and environmental assessment technologies for responding to chemical contamination events.
- Expand the impact of center research through information dissemination to other end-users, including researchers, non-governmental organizations, and individuals and communities potentially effected by environmental emergency contamination events. Communication to the communities most impacted by environmental issues is important to build and maintain trust among regulatory officials, community leaders, and scientists, as well as to facilitate decision-making to reduce the human health impact of environmental contamination events.