By Dustin Renwick
Among the ways the Internet has affected scientific endeavors, creating more scientists stands as an interesting result. Thanks to the budding “citizen science” movement, you don’t need a doctorate to take part in high-quality research.
Citizen science refers to projects where non-specialists – maybe you, your neighbor, your child – can add their energies to the pursuit of specialized knowledge. Examples include efforts to:
- Count bees or fireflies.
- Transcribe historical ship logs.
- Report weather events.
EPA has tapped volunteer water monitors for decades. Now, developments in low-cost, portable air sensor technologies have created the opportunity for citizen scientists to contribute to air monitoring.
“It’s an opportunity for these groups to leverage some kind of response to poor air quality,” said EPA’s Patricia Sheridan, who coordinates citizen science for the Agency’s regional office that serves New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight Tribal Nations (EPA Region 2). She has helped the Region lead several efforts to educate and engage citizens and community groups who are interested in assisting researchers by collecting air quality data.
EPA scientist Marie O’Shea, the Region 2 science liaison, said even low-tech methods, such as counting the number of diesel trucks driving past a neighborhood playground, can empower citizens and give them quantitative evidence to share with community leaders.
But the biggest challenges for EPA citizen science projects involve the data those projects generate, from volume to accuracy to relevancy for different applications.
“The monitoring itself has become easier,” said Thomas Baugh, science liaison for EPA’s southeast regional office (Region 4). “The other steps that are always surrounding the use of data – what it means, how to assess it, who needs to be involved with it – become more important when it’s coming from many different people and many different sources.”
For example, a network of only 10 sensors that report readings each minute for one year will yield more than 5.25 million data points in that time. With additional factors like device calibration or end uses of the data, the sensor picture starts to take the form of a Jackson Pollack painting.
“The need is for EPA to have some way to make meaningful use of that data, to evaluate it and assess it,” Baugh said.
First steps toward clarifying the role of citizen science at EPA include defining what a good data set looks like for different EPA needs and sharing how citizens can meet those standards.
Another Agency scientist, Patti Tyler, who serves as the science liaison in the regional office for the mountain and plains states (Region 8), points out that communication about data collection, standards and use remains important. She distilled the citizen science process into three C’s: coordinate, collaborate, communicate.
Air sensor technologies continue to progress toward smaller, cheaper designs, and with EPA’s guidance, citizens themselves can potentially research their own air quality.
About the author: Dustin Renwick works as part of the innovation team in the EPA Office of Research and Development.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
My Air, My Health Challenge Winner Announced!
Today, EPA and the National Institutes of Health announced the winner of the My Air, My Health Challenge. The Challenge called upon innovators nationwide to design a small, low-cost sensor that integrates air quality measurements with related health data, such as heart rate and breathing.
From a collection of proposals, four finalists were selected in November 2012 to move to the second phase of the competition that involved the development of working prototypes. Three finalists successfully designed prototypes, and the winner was announced this morning at Health Datapalooza IV.
Check out the press release or the @EPAresearch Twitter feed using #MyAir. Please also share any thoughts or comments you have in the comments section below.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Team Dioxin – an Award Winning Group!
By Elizabeth Erwin
“Team Dioxin”
About three years ago, I came to EPA and joined the communications team in the organization that manages EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program (a human health assessment program that evaluates the health effects of exposure to environmental chemicals). I heard various chemical names mentioned all the time, but it seemed as if one in particular was mentioned more often than others—dioxin.
I quickly learned that EPA has a long history with dioxin, a highly toxic, persistent environmental chemical known to cause a number of adverse health effects. For years, EPA and other federal agencies worked together to reduce known and measurable dioxin emissions in the United States.
In February 2012, EPA reached an enormous milestone by completing the long-awaited IRIS assessment for dioxin (focused on health effects other than cancer). The assessment provides much needed information on the potential noncancer health effects resulting from exposure to dioxin and, for the first time, an estimate of the amount of dioxin that one can ingest daily over a lifetime that is not likely to cause harmful health effects (the “oral reference dose”).
The assessment is an essential component of the Agency’s dioxin science plan as risk assessors, health professionals, and state, local, and international governments rely on its findings to guide decisions to protect public health.
This month, the team responsible for completing the dioxin assessment received some well-deserved recognition. On May 8 EPA’s “Team Dioxin” received a Federal Service Excellence Project Team Award. Team Dioxin includes Hisham El-Masri, Belinda Hawkins, Glenn Rice, Jeffrey Swartout, Linda Teuschler, Scott Wesselkamper, Michael Wright, and Bette Zwayer.
In 2009, this team of scientists was tasked with completing the dioxin assessment on an expedited schedule. Meeting this challenge placed them under intense pressure and required countless sacrifices, but at every turn they met the challenge.
“In order to meet the aggressive schedule outlined by [former] EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, the team sacrificed time with family because they understood the significance of their work to the American people” explains Annette Gatchett, Director of NCEA’s Cincinnati branch where the dioxin team is headquartered.
Indeed, the team spent months pouring over the extensive, complex, and controversial science that exists on dioxin, evaluating over 1,000 published epidemiology and toxicology studies and analyzing numerous data sets on a variety of adverse health outcomes attributed to dioxin exposures.
Despite the sacrifices, the team’s effort was worth it. “Working on EPA’s dioxin report was extremely interesting and rewarding,” says Glenn Rice, one of the lead authors of the assessment. “Over the many nights and weekends of working on the project, I developed a sincere and deep appreciation for the expertise, dedication and senses of humor of my collaborators.”
Completing the IRIS assessment for dioxin (non-cancer) is an incredible achievement, one that I am grateful to have been at EPA to witness. Without a doubt, achievements such as Team Dioxin’s embody the Agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment and make me proud to come to work each day.
About the author: Elizabeth Erwin is a member of EPA’s science communication team where she helps make IRIS and other EPA science programs and assessments available and accessible.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
By Aaron Ferster
Crews work to fix DC’s aging water infrastructure.
As if Washington, DC commuters didn’t face enough challenges navigating to and from work, those who travel by car were confronted with a new one late last week: a giant sinkhole began to consume 14th Street, a key route connecting downtown with bridges and major highways just beyond.
Located only a few blocks from the White House, the crevasse grew to some 15-feet across, leading authorities to close the road in both directions for days. (As I write this, only the south-bound lanes had re-opened.)
Since its appearance, the sinkhole and its aftermath have dominated traffic reports and drawn a steady stream of curious onlookers from nearby office buildings and surrounding neighborhood tourist spots. The ever expanding meme has even sparked a Twitter account (@14thStSinkhole), ripe with parody. (As a frequent bike commuter, my favorite interaction: “I am the stuff of dreams!! RT @hellbucci: Had a dream that as I biked to work, I fell into the @14thStSinkhole. Not cool sinkhole.”)
But all joking aside, sinkholes and other symptoms of our aging water infrastructure are serious business. This particular incident apparently evolved from an ill-placed storm drain, which clogged and sent rainwater free-flowing under the street where it eroded the underlying ground and destroyed a 54-inch brick sewer line built in the 1800s.
According to a D.C. Sewer and Water Authority news release, the already complex repairs were made more difficult due to a number of utility lines and old, buried trolley tracks under the street. A hidden hole for entry from the street, identified on DC Water records, was eventually located eight feet below the surface of the road, paved over many times through the years.
Such challenges related to the nation’s aging water infrastructure are nothing new to EPA engineers and scientists who are working to identify critical research needs and develop, test, and demonstrate innovative technologies to reduce the cost and increase the effectiveness of existing or new water infrastructure.
As reported by fellow blogger Sarah Blau (see Is Your Toilet Leaking), “EPA researchers are looking at ways to assess water infrastructure for leaks without disrupting water supply for consumers (i.e. avoiding water shut-offs or pipe excavations). Other research is focused on preventing leaks from occurring, specifically by examining the relationship between water chemistry and plumbing life expectancy.”
To learn more, visit EPA’s Aging Water Infrastructure Research webpage. You can also read about a specific research project exploring pinhole leaks in copper pipes (“Problems with Pinhole Leaks in Your Copper Water Pipes”) in our Science Matters newsletter. It’s all part of our effort to share how EPA researchers are working to solve all sorts of problems—and I can guarantee that you’ll find the reading a lot cooler than riding your bicycle into a sinkhole!
About the Author: Aaron Ferster dodges sinkholes and other obstacles to and from his job as an EPA science writer, where he edits the It All Starts with Science blog.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Celebrating Rachel Carson’s Life and Legacy
By Kathy Sykes
“…spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of bird song.”
—Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
Rachel Carson. Image courtesy of the Rachel Carson Council.
Flapping wings of osprey and eagles wish Rachel Carson a happy 106th birthday. They have much to celebrate this May 27th. Just 50 years ago, the bald eagle seemed headed for extinction. DDT, an organochlorine insecticide, broke the hearts of mother ospreys who unintentionally crushed the thinned eggshells of their unhatched chicks. Eagles were also disappearing. “By 1963, only 417 pairs were still raising young in the lower 48 states.” [i]
Fortunately, Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was released and described how DDT was poisoning birds and wildlife and endangering human health. Silent Spring planted the seeds of the environmental movement and captured the attention of President John F. Kennedy.
A decade later, two seminal events changed the course of history, saving birds and other wildlife from the brink of extinction. First, EPA banned DDT. Next, the Endangered Species Act was passed. By 2006, the nation was home to nearly 10,000 successful breeding pairs of bald eagles. [ii]
Ospreys, a “close cousin” of eagles and other birds of prey, live close to waterways such as estuaries, reservoirs, rivers, salt marshes and ponds because their diet consists primarily of fish. A pair, Steve and Rachel, is nesting on Hog Island in Maine. You can become an indoor birder and watch for the chicks to hatch on a live web cam.
Appropriately named after Rachel Carson, Rachel will sit on three healthy eggs incubating them until they hatch. I have become addicted and peek in daily. So far, I have seen brown-and-white-speckled eggs and both parents-in-waiting. I can see the wind fluff Rachel’s feathers and feel her comfort on rainy days as raindrops are repelled, sliding off or balling up on her back of oily feathers. Longing to hear her call, I found recordings on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site. (I love the internet!)
Mother osprey and chick. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service image
The National Audubon Society’s 10 tips show what we can all do to help the billions of birds migrating north. I plan to join the Hummingbirds at Home project and become a citizen scientist, pledge to curb my cats, drink coffee made from shade-grown beans, and forgo pesticides.
If Emily Dickinson were alive today, she surely would be a citizen scientist. I’d like to think she would have entered a poem and picture of feathers into the 7th Annual Rachel Carson contest.
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all. —Emily Dickinson
Your intergenerational team has until June 10, 2013 to jointly submit an original song, poem, essay, photo, or dance. Happy bird-day, Rachel. We thank you for your dedicated work, your creativity, and leaving with us a “sense of wonder.”
About the Author: Kathy Sykes has been working for the EPA since 1998 where she focuses on older adults and the built environment and healthy communities. In 2012, she joined the Office of Research and Development and serves as Senior Advisor for Aging and Sustainability.
[i] Science 22 June 2007: Vol. 316 no. 5832 pp. 1689-1690 DOI: 10.1126/science.316.5832.1689 Can the Bald Eagle Still Soar After It Is Delisted? Erik Stokstad
[ii] http://www.fws.gov/midwest/eagle/population/chtofprs.html Retrieved on May 20, 2013
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Helping to Protect Wild Salmon
To expand the conversation on climate change, we are highlighting EPA climate change research with Science Matters articles. Below, we share an article about how EPA researchers and partners are working to help protect wild salmon from warming water.
Helping to Protect Wild Salmon read more…
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
#swimsafe: Let’s Chat about Healthy Waters
It’s Recreational Water Illness & Injury Prevention Week! So let’s chat about how we’re using science to keep our water ways healthy. We’re thrilled to be joining The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s twitter chat #swimsafe on Wednesday May 22 at 2pm EDT.
We’ll be joining CDC experts Michele Hlavsa and Michael Beach to talk about how to keep yourself and your family healthy and safe this summer swim season and beyond. Our own EPA expert Tim Wade, a health scientist with our Epidemiology Branch will be fielding your questions about our research.
Learn more about his research investigating human health effects of waterborne exposures and new water quality methods at: http://www.epa.gov/neear/ and http://www.ehjournal.net/content/9/1/66.
Be sure to hop onto twitter, follow @CDC_NCEZID and @EPAresearch and ask questions using #swimsafe . Not on twitter? No problem! Post your questions for Dr. Wade in the comments section below.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Ebb and Flow: Feeling Like a Yo-yo
By Sean Sheldrake
My previous blog posts have featured how EPA diving scientists support cleanups in the nation’s waterways. In this post, I talk about how our divers study the connection between groundwater and our waterways to support EPA cleanups. (Hint: it’s not a one way street!) Understanding which way groundwater is flowing is critical to implementing a successful cleanup—and protecting our nation’s waterways and oceans.
Groundwater: coming or going?
We all know storm drains connect to our waterways, but how about groundwater? In a given stretch of a stream, lake, river, or the seafloor, groundwater may be feeding the waterway—or the opposite—that stream, lake, river, or ocean could be losing water into groundwater in that location. The direction of the flow can change by the hour, day, season, and conditions (such as drought)—a reality of the interconnectedness of water in the environment.
Gaining or losing? Mapping out the flow to get the cleanup right
Determining whether a river loses or gains water from the ground is a big deal when devising the best course of action to take during cleanup activities, as we need to follow the contaminated water to wherever it goes. With this information, we can decide on important details, such as where to install caps in a riverbed to stop the flow of contaminated discharge, or how many and how fast pumping wells should be employed to move contaminated groundwater to a treatment plant.
Seepage meter installed by an EPA scientific diver near a Superfund Site in Lake Washington. Photo: Rob Pedersen, USEPA.
Making such a determination is an ongoing process. For example, in an estuarine river (the part of a river that is near the sea), this may take a lot of monitoring locations over time to know we’re choosing the right kind of cleanup. A lot of factors also need to be considered, including the location, direction, and volume of local ship traffic. EPA divers often must check various locations in the sediment near an active cleanup to determine where groundwater is discharging into the river—and vice versa.
Low-tech goes underwater
At some sites near marine environments, we use conductivity mapping to determine where groundwater discharge is occurring. Because salt water conducts electricity better than fresh water, we tow an array of electrical cables that measure electrical fields to produce a map of where fresh ground water is discharging into salt water. In other sites, we can use a more low-tech approach.
The photo above shows one such technique. Here, we use a five-gallon bucket, cut in half, stuck into the lake bottom. We then outfitted it with a sampling bag filled half way with water. We use this simple device to determine the direction of the water flow by noting what happens to the sampling bag. If it begins to empty we know the direction of water is OUT of the lake (and bag) and into the ground, and if it fills up, we know the water is flowing in the other direction: from the ground into the river. We can also seal the bag and bring it to our lab for analysis, getting and even better understanding of the rate of contaminant discharge into a lake or stream. Over time, divers come back to visit the site to map the wonderful complexity of water’s connections. The map allows us to understand the movement of historical pollution and to determine how to best conduct a clean up.
Read more about the latest in EPA scientific diving at facebook.com/EPADivers.
About the author: Sean Sheldrake is part of the Seattle EPA Dive unit and is also a project manager working on the Portland Harbor cleanup in Oregon. Sean Sheldrake serves on the EPA diving safety board, responsible for setting EPA diving policy requirements.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Jacquel Caron Rivers and Arne Joi Saguni Nipales win the Patrick H. Hurd Sustainability Award, and will showcase their winning project at the National Sustainable Design Expo in 2014.
Today, EPA recognized the winners of this year’s EPA Patrick H. Hurd Sustainability award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona. Named in honor of EPA employee Patrick H. Hurd who helped establish the award, it recognizes students who demonstrate a commitment to environmental sustainability and stewardship.
Jacquel Caron Rivers and Arne Joi Saguni Nipales, both seniors at Baboquivari High School, Sells, Arizona were named the recipients of the award. Their project, “Total Solar Strategy for the Tohono O’Odham Nation,” uses solar oven technology for storing energy and heating the traditional adobe constructed homes used on the reservation. Rivers and Nipales were picked out of 1,611 student scientists and engineers competing in the fair this week.
“The student finalists of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair are finding innovative approaches to the world’s complex problems,” said Lek Kadeli, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “EPA is proud to recognize a project that is addressing environmental challenges in a more sustainable way.”
The EPA Patrick H. Hurd award funds the winning students (and a chaperone) to participate in and display their project at EPA’s 2014 National Sustainable Design Expo. The Expo features EPA’s P3: People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) Student Design Competition for Sustainability. Held each spring in Washington, DC, the National Sustainable Design Expo brings together P3 students, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and businesses that are working to create a sustainable future.
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is the world’s largest pre-college science competition, hosting more than 1,500 high school students from over 70 countries, regions, and territories. Students advance to it from several levels of local and school-sponsored, regional, and state fairs showcasing their independent research. The Society for Science & the Public, a non-profit organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education, founded and runs the fair.
- More information about EPA’s participation in the Intel ISEF: http://www.epa.gov/ord/scievents/isef/
- More information about the Intel ISEF: http://www.societyforscience.org/ISEF/
- More information about EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet Student Design Competition for Sustainability:http://www.epa.gov/ncer/p3/
Forget about the blue ribbon and $20 gift certificate for the homemade volcano. These kids were bringing some serious science: biochemistry, electrical and mechanical engineering, environmental management, nuclear and particle physics, cellular and molecular biology, and medicine and health sciences—just to name a few.
–Patrick Hurd wrote in his 2009 blog entry about attending the ISEF, Science is Cool
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
#Biketowork: Who’s in?
My morning commute
This evening I’ll be inflating my tires, stashing a spare tube or two in my saddle bag, and laying out my EPA cycling jersey by the dresser in preparation for my favorite commute of the year. After waiting patiently and not-so-patiently for 364 long days, Bike to Work Day is finally upon us!
Whether you are using the organized event to join a commuter convoy and give riding to work a try for the first time, or if you are already a champion—like EPA scientist Mostafa (Safa) Shirazi who has ridden some 132,000 miles getting to work and back over the last 45 years(!)—Bike to Work Day is a great excuse to join in on the fun.
I’ll be rolling out for my own commute from suburban Maryland to EPA’s headquarters in downtown Washington, DC around 6:30 a.m. Like I did last year, I’ll stop periodically to “Tweet” highlights from my ride, and invite you to follow via @EPALive.
For those following or adding their own “Tweets” to the mix, I’ll be using #Biketowork.
The weather report for the morning is perfect, so if you have ever been tempted to join the rolling party that is Bike to Work Day, this should be the year.
In just a few more hours the ride will be on! Who’s in?
About the Author: EPA science writer-editor Aaron Ferster is the editor of It All Starts with Science. While he has a long way to go before matching the number of miles ridden by his colleague Safa Shirazi, he’s looking forward to the chase.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
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