Dr. Kathy Vandiver (Center for Environmental Health Sciences), Professor Harry Hemond (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering), and their team had their work on testing water quality for the Passamaquoddy Tribe featured by the NIEHS! This was a participatory project that looked at drinking water quality in rural Maine, which included a focus on the environmental health literacy topic of water quality standards. This was a huge endeavor for which Abigail Harvey and Tchelet Segev, two MIT master’s students, did much of the work. The work was published in Environmental Research.

More of Dr. Kathy Vandiver’s work has been featured by the MIT News! Dr. Vandiver, MIT’s Director of the Community Outreach Education and Engagement Core at CEHS, has been the leader of a project to recover a brownfield and turn it into a park. Greenspaces are known to have a positive impact on wellbeing and health. As such, this is a great example of how outreach efforts can have a substantial impact on public health.