Outreach Core

Function . The Outreach Core will be responsible for communicating the results from the SBRP to industrial, regulatory, and public sectors. The major goals of the Outreach Core are to assist regulators in risk management, and to provide community groups (with a focus on K – 12 students) information to encourage disease prevention. To facilitate these relationships, the Outreach Core will be focused on three areas including Regulatory Outreach, Technology Transfer and Community Outreach. The primary objectives of the Outreach Core are: 1. To facilitate communication of research results to regulators through frequent meetings with Region VI EPA, and an annual Risk Assessment Symposium; 2. To transfer research results through the use of a newsletter, technical publications, and other means of technology development; and, 3. To continue development of a relationship with communities within and outside of the state of Texas through seminars and collaborations with community groups in the Channelview and lower Rio Grande Valley areas.

Facilities. The preparation of seminars and newsletters will utilize facilities in the Center for Environmental and Rural Health at Texas A&M. Computer hardware and software for preparation of documents is presently housed in the Center and will be upgraded as necessary. The existing Web Site for the Texas A&M SBRP will be upgraded extensively to include copies of seminars, announcements of upcoming meetings and symposia, and points of contact with project investigators. A major focus of facility upgrades for the present submission will be to expand access of students in grades VII – XII to Superfund information on the Web page. Initially, slides and handout material used in seminar presentations to students will be provided on the SBRP Web page. These will also include, as appropriate, links to other SBRPs and additional sources of information pertinent to environmental toxicology.

Techniques. Outreach activities supported by the SBRP will focus on the rapid communication of research results to the regulatory community, as well as transfer of information to industry and communities within and outside of the State of Texas. Dr. K.C. Donnelly will continue to serve as the Regulatory Liason (Figure 1). A Science Advisory Board (SAB) has been established with the Region VI EPA. The SAB follows a strong and lasting relationship with USEPA Region VI regulators. The SAB consists of 12 regional staff members including 5 toxicologists, 4 engineers, and 3 scientists (a letter of commitment is attached in Appendix -). The SAB has reviewed the SBRP renewal submission; and, if funded will serve as an advisory board to the program. Periodic meetings will continue with Region VI EPA, as will annual presentations in Dallas by a Texas A&M SBRP investigator. In addition, a Regional Risk Assessment Symposium will be coordinated between the Texas A&M and Colorado State University (CSU) SBRPs. This Symposium will be held annually alternating between Regional EPA offices in Dallas and Denver. The objective of this meeting will be to provide regional engineers and toxicologists an opportunity to interact with SBRP investigators and students. Presentations at the symposium will be evenly distributed between Regional EPA staff (primarily Regions VI and VIII) and SBRP investigators from TAMU and CSU.

Research collaborations with USEPA will continue with Drs. F. Kremer and S. George. Dr. Kremer of the Office of Solid Waste in Cincinatti has used the TAMU SBRP to provide biological testing of contaminated samples before and after various types of remedial treatment. It is anticipated that samples from four to six sites undergoing remediation will be provided from OSW to the Field Services Core for extraction. These samples will be analyzed through the Analytical Services and/or Image Analysis and Bioassay Cores. In addition, Dr. S. George (USEPA NHEERL) will work with investigators in Project 2 on studies involving expression of tumor suppressor proteins and bioavailability . The TAMU SBRP will continue to support a graduate student working directly under the supervision of Dr. George.

Technology Transfer will take place through the Regional Risk Assessment Symposium, as well as a newsletter, technical publications, and transfer of industrial applications. Ms. K. Daniel will act as the Staff Liason and will be responsible for technology transfer (Figure 1). A semiannual newsletter, TOXNotes, will continue to be published by the Texas A&M SBRP. A copy of previous publications is attached in Appendix OU. The contents of TOXNotes will include a summary of the current literature on a specific class of chemicals, a review of a promising remedial technology, a response to Superfund related questions posed by regional regulators, and an update on the Texas A&M SBRP. The TAMU SBRP has published over 100 technical publications and book chapters during the last five years. It is anticipated that this level of productivity will continue should the current SBRP be funded. Project 5 has developed two patents for clay-based sorbents for remediation of contaminated groundwater (Phillips et al., 1995; Phillips et al., 1999; cited in Project 5). One objective of the current Project 5 is to develop new materials which will also be subject to patent applications.

Outreach to communities will be coordinated through the SBRP Community Liason, Dr. R. Autenrieth, and the Outreach Coordinator for the TAMU Center for Environmental and Rural Health (CERH), Dr. I. Ramos. Through the CERH, Texas A&M has already established numerous contacts with health care providers in the lower Rio Grande Valley. In collaboration with Dr. I. Ramos and the CERH, a community health center has been established near the colonias in Progresso, TX. A Health Education and Rural Outreach (HERO) van is maintained at this center to provide contact with health care providers to the rural areas of the lower Rio Grande Valley. The HERO van provides a mobile doctors or dentists office which can be transported to colonias which presently have minimal access to medical or dental care. In addition, through a televideo connection, health care providers can refer difficult cases to physicians or dentists at hospitals in Corpus Christi or Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas. These activities will continue and be expanded.

Figure 1:

A series of seminars have been prepared by SBRP personnel and have been made available to students in Texas in grades VII through XII. Copies of the handouts for the “Careers in Environmental Toxicology” and “Drug Toxicology” seminars are attached in Appendix OU. During the previous year, these seminars have been presented to over 1,000 students. Reviews of the seminar from the students have been quite favorable, and a sample of the comments is also included in the Appendix OU. One goal of the Outreach Core for this renewal application is to increase the involvement of graduate students in the delivery of these seminars. At the present time, Dr. Donnelly has provided the majority of presentations; it is anticipated that the use of graduate students will both increase the number of seminar presentations to high schools, and provide a presenter to which the students can more closely relate.

Dr. Autenrieth will also expand contact with students through a collaborative effort with the Texas Rural Systemic Initiative (RSI) funded through the National Science Foundation. The RSI is designed to improve and accelerate the performance of all students in mathmatics and science. RSI staff have already developed contacts with 21 rural county school districts with plans to work with all 86 rural counties in Texas. In these rural counties, there are 227 districts which enroll 200,000 students in grades K – 12. These include 60% of whom are minority: 50% Hispanic and 10% African American. The RSI provides an infrastructure from which community liasons can be developed. This portion of the Community Outreach program will have three major objectives: (1) develop educational links between SBRP investigators and students through the Science, Technology and YOUth Symposium conducted during the summer months at Texas A&M; (2) develop workshops for teachers in grades 9 – 12 to assist in developing curriculum to train students in methods of environmental toxicology; and (3) conduct a two week summer teaching program (in conjunction with the RSI) to bring four to six science teachers to College Station to work with SBRP researchers to develop an educational unit for the teachers to deliver in the classroom.

Staffing (Professional and Support) . The Outreach Core will be staffed by Ms. Nancy White and Ms. Annika Parr.

Administration. The Field Studies Core will be directly administered by Drs. Autenrieth and Donnelly for the Superfund Program. Dr. Donnelly will coordinate Regulatory Outreach and Technology Transfer, while Dr. Autenrieth will be responsible for Community Outreach and outreach activities to grades K through 12. Dr. Donnelly has a history of collaborations with state and federal regulators. Dr. Donnelly will also continue to serve as editor for the TOXNotes publication. Dr. Autenrieth is presently housed in the Environmental Engineering Department at Texas A&M and will work with the RSI program to strenghthen collaborations with students and teachers in rural school disctricts in Texas.