The project's aim is the development of a new technical curriculum in environmental monitoring using state-of-the-art methods and technologies. Included in the equipment provided through this award are a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS), a separate GC, a high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC), an atomic absorption spectrometer (AA), and a modern, computer-linked weather station. With the help of this equipment, students learn the procedures and principles involved in analyzing indoor and outdoor air, water, soil, and animal and human tissue for the presence of environmental contaminants resulting from agricultural and forestry pesticides, hazardous wastes, and industrial emissions. The resulting new curriculum, backed by the institution's excellent computer facilities, gives a technical focus to the existing B.S. in Environmental Studies Program and makes possible the institution of a new A.A. degree program in Environmental Monitoring Technology. The project addresses the nation's growing need for competent pollution and hazardous substances control technicians, provides skilled manpower for Northern Maine's environmental laboratories, and affords opportunities for upward mobility to the economically depressed predominantly French-American (Acadian) people of the St. John Valley in Northern Maine which the institution serves. The grantee institution is matching the NSF award with an equal sum obtained from non-Federal sources.
