The Technology Transfer and outreach Core will promote communication among the residents of the Akwesasne, the industries responsible for local pollution and the governmental agencies responsible for ongoing remediation activities. Results of both biological and technology research will be disseminated to these involved parties as soon as they have been presented before learned peers or published in peer reviewed journals. A professional journalist will be employed for press liaison, but several other information channels will be used as well. The Mohawk staff employed by the project will be briefed frequently on novel findings in the health studies, the biomedical studies and the PCB degradation studies, so that they may interest and motivate participants. The widest dissemination of understandable information to the Mohawks will be via local radio with a project being organized separately by Katsi Cook. Major trials of clean-up technology by supercritical fluid extraction, photolysis and anaerobic microbial PCB degradation are planned, and information on these technologies will be shared with the local industries. The mission of this Core will be to try to gain the enthusiastic support of the Mohawk Nation for these trials, so that other native American nations continent-wide may benefit from them and also gain the support and collaboration of government and industries for which PCBs are a continuing problem. The Core personnel will be involved in the design and fabrication of pilot scale plants for use in on-site trials of at least two of these technologies. Outreach to government and industry will be initiated at presentations before peers special sessions held at the Akwesasne. The objectives are to 1) improve the understanding and participation of the Akwesasne nation in the remedial process; 2) share information, particularly on remedial technology developments, with local industries and 3) expand the exchange of information between project scientists and federal and state regulatory representatives. This Core will follow up on such meetings, providing written accounts from the PI and communicating them to interested parties, emphasizing the opportunities new remediation technologies present, and indicating where biomedical results impinge on the assessment of human health risk.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 97 publications
