EPA Science Matters: Partnerships, sharing scientific expertise, and more

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development sent this bulletin at 06/23/2020 11:00 AM EDT

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EPA Science Matters

June 23, 2020


EPA's Science Matters newsletter delivers the latest from EPA's Office of Research and Development straight to your inbox. Keep scrolling to read about recent news and upcoming events.

Embassy fellow

EPA researcher Anand Mudambi worked with the Republic of the Marshall Islands Environmental Protection Authority during an Embassy Science Fellowship. Learn more about this program below.

EPA Research Updates

This month, EPA is recognizing partnerships in honor of our 50th anniversary. EPA has a long history of partnering with countries around the world to share scientific expertise and resources. Over the years, EPA has sent more than 100 EPA staff to U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world through the Department of State’s Embassy Science Fellows program. Read a few of their stories. 

In Harrison, New Jersey, an industrial complex known as the Vo-Toys site was found to be contaminated with elevated levels of mercury. EPA scientists helped the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection determine what risk the facility posed to the community, especially in the case of a fire. EPA provided education to first responders about environmental and health dangers the site may pose and helped create an evacuation plan for the surrounding community in the case of a fire.

Cleaning up contaminated sites improves environmental and public health conditions, but cleanup activities also use energy, water, and other resources. EPA scientists developed 14 greener cleanup metrics that may be used to quantify specific portions of the environmental footprint of cleanup activities. Tracking these metrics will help create best management practices for greener cleanups.

EPA scientists have updated the High-Throughput Toxicokinetics (HTTK) R Package. The tool allows users to determine where chemicals go in the body much faster than traditional methods. The new update includes more inhalation models which will fill an important gap in the understanding of how chemicals interact with the body.

Protecting and maintaining drinking water distribution systems is crucial to ensuring high quality drinking water. EPA is releasing EPANET 2.2.0, a new version of the user-friendly software application for modeling the hydraulic and water quality behavior of distribution systems. It represents a new, community-based open source software approach to maintaining and advancing EPANET.

Meet Our Researchers

emily

Meet EPA Biological Science Technician Emily Wheaton

Emily Wheaton is a lab technician working primarily on microbial genomics in various water matrices. Recently, she has been dedicated to detecting SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Learn more about her work. 

Events

Science Matters is produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development. All content is copyright free and can be reprinted without permission.

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