Research Experience and Training Coordination Core

PROTECT has over 30 trainees distributed across all our partner institutions, and all are integral to the center’s research.

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We provide training, education, and mentoring to develop technical and professional skills that orient and prepare trainees for successful careers in their fields, and promote a culture of transdisciplinarity and community engagement that complex problems such as environmental health demand.

Each PROTECT trainee works with their mentor to develop an Individual Development Plan that extends their experiences beyond their disciplinary research. We promote team activities that connect institutions, project/cores, and disciplines. We collaborate with the Data Management and Analysis Core to introduce trainees to foundational and applied aspects of data analytics. Working with the Community Engagement, Human Subjects and Sampling, and Administrative Cores, we develop collaborative sessions that involve trainees in presentations to professional student organizations, community members and research participants.

Twenty-one trainees stand outside in Puerto Rico, in front of a backdrop of water, palm trees, and distant urban buildings

PROTECT Trainees at the 2020 Annual Retreat in San Juan, Puerto Rico

We must engage a diverse student population in a multicultural environment to properly develop our nation’s workforce and prepare future science and engineering leaders. PROTECT is uniquely positioned for this effort since the program study site is in a developing part of Puerto Rico with a traditionally underserved population, and partner institutions are located in areas where various other underserved populations experience environmental health and justice challenges.

Kelsey Pieper

Kelsey Pieper

Northeastern University
Core Leader
k.pieper@northeastern.edu

Aidsa Santiago Román

Aidsa Santiago Román

University of Puerto Rico
Research Translation
aidsa.santiago@upr.edu

Adrienne Banko

Adrienne Banko

Northeastern University
Training Coordinator
a.banko@northeastern.edu 

Virginia Casey

Virginia Casey

Northeastern University
Research Scientist
v.casey@northeastern.edu

Lura Slowinski

Lura Slowinski

Northeastern University
Project Manager and Center Administrator
l.slowinski@northeastern.edu

Natalie Gold

Natalie Gold

Northeastern University
Administrative Coordinator
n.gold@northeastern.edu

Tom Sheahan

Tom Sheahan

Northeastern University
Geotechnical Engineering
t.sheahan@northeastern.edu