More than 30 PROTECT researchers, trainees, and staff attended the 2020 Annual Superfund Research Program Meeting, which was held virtually on December 14th and 15th. The meeting was hosted by Texas A&M SRP Center, and embraced the themes “Addressing Hazardous Substance Exposures at the Community Level” and “Meeting the Challenges of Environmental Protection with 21st Century Science.”
On the first day of the meeting, Project 3 Trainee Jill Riddell gave a talk on her 2019 KC Donnelly Externship research. Her presentation, “Assessing the chemical reactions between polystyrene microspheres and karst sediments,” focuses on work she performed with Dr. Chorover at the University of Arizona SRP Center.
Trainees and staff also presented on research during the meeting’s two poster sessions. A total of 13 PROTECT posters were presented, of which 11 were by trainees: Irene Lafarga Previdi (CEC), Elana Elkin (Project 2), Yuwei Zhao (Project 4), Autum Downey (Project 3), Kyle Campbell (Project 2), Sean Harris (Project 2), Patrick Compton (Project 4), Amber Cathey (Project 1), Amailie Santos Rivera (CEC), Jarrod Eaton (Project 1), Nancy Cardona (CEC). Prof. Dave Kaeli of the DMAC presented on the External Use Case with the University of New Mexico and Dartmouth SRP Centers, which focuses on harmonizing data across the three cohorts to assess environmental factors on preterm birth outcomes. Research Translation Coordinator Prof. Phil Brown also presented on his collaboration with URI STEEP SRP Center, which focuses on social and scientific action on the PFAS chemical class in recent years.
The PROTECT team is pleased to have been part of such a successful meeting, and we look forward to hopefully meeting in person for the 2021 SRP Annual Meeting.