9508781 Hills This award supports a 24-month Science and Technology Agency of Japan Postdoctoral Fellowship for Dr. Ward Hills of the Department of Chemistry at Washington State University. Dr. Hills will work with Dr. Yoko Youchi of the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Japan. The investigators propose to collect and concentrate organic compounds on selective adsorbents. The adsorbent will be charged with analyte compounds by flowing samples of air or water through the sorbents. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate that sorbent trapping, followed by quantitative transferring of analytes with fluid carbon dioxide to a portable gas chromatograph, is a practical and rapid field analysis technique for detecting organic compounds in air, water, and soil. The Department of Energy's Hanford site, with its many types of contamination, offers an excellent environment to test a field portable instrument. After the instrument is developed in Japan, it will be brought to and tested at Hanford. As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Hills will have the opportunity to become familiar with research techniques and equipment at the National Institute for Environmental Studies while contributing to the overall research effort. Therefore, this proposal fulfills the objectives of the Program in its exchange and transfer of scientific knowledge through an international collaboration. ***
