Wayne State wins $11.3 million NIH Superfund award to address environmental health issues caused by VOCs
Wayne State leading a multi-institutional team investigating volatile organic compounds and vapor intrusion.
Wayne State University has received a five-year, approximately $11.3 million award from the National Institutes of Health to create a new Superfund Research Program, the “Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR).” The Center will be dedicated to understanding and mitigating adverse birth outcomes and serious developmental health problems that have been associated with urban environmental exposure to volatile organic chemcials (VOCs), a special class of pollutant found in the subsurface of post-industrial cities like Detroit.
VOCs are a group of aromatic or chlorinated organic compounds that transition to a vapor or gas. They are a source of indoor air contamination in the urban built environment. Commonly encountered VOCs include benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene. Nationwide, VOCs pose a potential threat to human health through a process known as “vapor intrusion.” Vapor intrusion occurs when man-made chemicals in the subsurface vaporize, rise through the subsurface, and ultimately migrate into overlying homes and buildings through structural cracks in walls, floors and building foundations. CLEAR will provide new methods for assessment, testing and mitigation to help reduce toxic exposures and improve health outcomes. It will also offer an important training component for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows, providing them with an opportunity for hands-on field and laboratory research, microinternships, and a graduate certificate in urban environmental health.