EPA awards nearly $6M to IU

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Indiana University is using a nearly $6 million grant to support long-term measurements of airborne pollutants near the Great Lakes. The funding is part of an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The funding will be distributed over the next five years and will be managed by Marta Venier and Amina Salamova, scientists in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Officials say the funding will support the project’s goals to impact the environment, including:

Analyzing the impact and trends of toxic airborne chemicals

Understanding emerging chemical concerns

Strategizing to reduce the presence of toxic chemicals in the air, water, sediment, fish and other wildlife.

The partnership will support the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network, in agreement with the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan.

“IADN is one of the longest and most successful monitoring programs in the world, and we are pleased that the EPA has once again awarded this grant to us so we can continue our work for another five years,” Venier said. “Long-term monitoring networks like IADN are essential in understanding the behavior of pollutants in the atmosphere and making the link between policy and science.”