US EPA-SRP West Coast Seminar Series is an Outstanding Accomplishment

May 19, 2010

The “EPA-SRP Seminar Series” is the result of ongoing collaborative and communicative efforts between U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 9, Office of Research and Development’s Superfund and Technology Liaison Mike Gill and former UA SRP Research Translation Coordinator, Monica Ramirez. Together in 2007, they created this seminar series by aligning the research strengths of the University of Arizona SRP with the scientific needs of the Regional 9 Project Managers (RPMs).

This unique seminar series, consisted of two parts:

  1. “Live” at Region 9: UA SRP investigators traveled to San Francisco and presented an in-person/"live" seminar for RPMs. This face-to-face interaction initiated a dialogue and two-way communication conduit that has lead to the exchange of ideas, ongoing research needs, and collaborative work at Superfund sites.
  2. Web Seminar: Utilizing the comments and feedback from the Region 9 RPMs, the UA SBRP Investigator modified the original presentation and conducted an international web seminar via Clu-In, sponsored by NIEHS.

Due to the high volume of interest and number of collaborations that have been established as a result of the 2007 - 2008 seminar series, in 2009 Gill and Ramirez launched the US EPA West Coast SRP seminar series to connect US EPA R9 with all the Superfund Research Program’s on the west coast. Below is a summary of the 2009-2010 EPA-West Coast SRP Seminar Series.

Topic

SRP Investigator

“Live at Region 9”

Web seminar

Collaborative Research on Environmental Toxicants in Rapidly Developing Settlements of the U.S.-Mexico Border

Hiram Sarabia,
UC-San Diego

July 22, 2009
14 participants

September 16, 2009
33 participants

Perchlorate: Concern About Environmental Exposures,
Thyroid Homeostasis, and Developmental Impacts

Mark Miller, University of California, San Francisco

Craig Steinmaus,
California Environmental Protection Agency

December 16, 2009
12 participants

December 16, 2009
139 participants

Can We Avoid Another Generation of Superfund Sites? Improved process for identifying, prioritizing and addressing emerging pollutants

Wendell Ela,
The University of Arizona

February 18, 2010
15 participants

March 25, 2010
281 participants

MTBE and TBA Cleanup-New Research Perspectives

Krassimira Hristova,
UC-Davis

April 26, 2010
6 participants

June 24, 2010
172 participants

 

This has been an extremely productive partnership that has led to further collaborations between the EPA and SRP. Gill and Ramirez are delighted to continue the tradition, and will be announcing the next seminar series shortly.

Previous highlights written about the seminar series:

UCSD Kicks Off the West Coast EPA-SRP Seminar Series
Off to a Great Start: 2008 EPA-UA SBRP Seminar Series
A Great Success: the 2007 US EPA-UA SBRP Seminar series
Connecting Remediation Stakeholders: 2nd EPA-University of Arizona SBRP Seminar Series Cultivates Collaboration
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 Hazardous Substances Technical Liaison and UA SBRP Research Translation Coordinator Launch Seminar Series