News & Views

MIT SRP External Advisory Committee

EAC Meeting

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On October 4th and 5th, MIT SRP welcomed its External Advisory Committee and shared updates on trainee research and leadership activities. Prof. Akram Alshawabkeh of Northeastern, Prof. Ian Blair of UPenn, Prof. Rebecca Fry of UNC, Prof. John Durant of Tufts, Dr. Ljiljane Pasa-Tolic of PNNL, and Captain Michael Stover of the EPA formed the expert team to help guide ongoing development of the MIT SRP. Current research efforts were showcased at a trainee poster session, and Project PIs provided a summary of each Research Project to the team. Each Core leader also presented an overview of the activities undertaken to support interconnectedness within the MIT SRP as well as with other SRPs, the government, and community members. The EAC team provided valuable insight regarding ways to strengthen connections between research projects, to address future expectations for SRPs, and to guide future directions of the MIT SRP.

CEHS Poster Winners

Trainee Spotlight | Hélène Angot

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Dr. Hélène Angot is a postdoctoral associate at MIT in Professor Noelle Selin’s group. She investigates the atmospheric sources and fate of toxic global pollutants through observational and modeling tools. Toxic pollutants are emitted into air worldwide by multiple natural and anthropogenic sources. The atmosphere provides both a route of exposure (via inhalation) and a means for the long-range transport and transformation (e.g., oxidation) of pollutants in the environment. Through a modeling approach, Dr. Angot aims to draw the link between global emissions and local impact on Maine tribal areas.

Currently, Dr. Angot contributes to Project 2 of the MIT Superfund Research Program, aimed at modeling the atmospheric transport and fate of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their degradation products (oxy- and nitro-PAHs). These compounds are present in Superfund and other contaminated sites, such as the Loring Air Force Base near Limestone, ME, making an understanding of their lifecycle especially relevant to the MIT SRP Center. While degradation products can be more toxic and harmful than their primary precursors, their atmospheric reactivity and fate is poorly understood. A fully coupled scheme is currently under development within the global chemical transport model GEOS-Chem. The ultimate outputs are model estimates of PAHs and degradation products’ atmospheric levels, which are crucial for improving estimates of potential exposures and public health impact. This work is done in close collaboration with Prof. Mathew Evans’ group at the University of York’s Chemistry Department (UK) and Prof. Jesse Kroll’s group at MIT.

In addition to PAHs, Dr. Angot also studies atmospheric mercury (Hg) transport and transformation. Upon deposition to ecosystems, Hg converts to highly toxic methylmercury (MeHg) and bioaccumulates in aquatic systems. Tribal communities are therefore particularly affected by Hg contamination due to their traditional dependence on subsistence fishing. The United Nations Minamata Convention on Hg entered into force last summer. Under this Convention and as a co-benefit on greenhouse gases mitigation policies, global Hg emissions are expected to decrease. Dr. Angot is investigating benefits attributable to this policy in terms of future local Hg deposition and fish contamination. In a scenario of delayed global action, benefits will decrease due to increasing legacy emissions (i.e., recycling of previously deposited Hg). These results underline the importance of near-term action for limiting the Hg burden of future generations.

Superfund Friday Forum Seminar

MIT Superfund Friday Forum

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Three Superfund Friday Forum Seminars have been held since the MIT SRP began. The inaugural Superfund Friday Forum, on October 6, 2017, began with an introduction by Director Prof. Bevin Engelward, who provided an overview of the program, as well as descriptions of the relevant Superfund sites and contaminants of interest. Program Co-Director Prof. John Essigmann then presented the main research seminar. He discussed the history of industrial activity in the Mystic River Watershed in Massachusetts and described the former Loring Air Force Base in Maine. His presentation provided new members of the MIT SRP with a concise description of our community partners and the motivation for our research. Prof. Essigmann also presented the foundational work upon which Project 3 is based, which is focused on identification of high-resolution mutational signatures induced by chemical exposure.

The second Superfund Friday Forum was presented on November 17, 2017 by Prof. Akram Alshawabkeh, Director of the Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT) Superfund Research Center based at Northeastern University. Prof. Alshawabkeh presented an overview of the PROTECT program, providing an inspirational model of effective environmental research. This seminar helped contextualize the goals of their environmental and toxicological research with examples of research progress and implementation in Puerto Rico.

At the most recent Superfund Friday Forum, Prof. Benjamin Kocar of MIT’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department presented an overview soil research being done in his laboratory. The Kocar group integrates geology, chemistry, and biology to study the transport of contaminants, nutrients and gases in aqueous and soil systems.

Taken together, the MIT Superfund Friday Forum Series is off to a great start with talks providing valuable context and inspiration.

CEHS Poster Winners

Inaugural MIT Superfund Research Program Poster Session

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The MIT Superfund Research Program teamed up with the MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS) to offer their first joint poster session on April 10th. Nine SRP trainees showcased their research. For the SRP awards, James Rowe won first place, Maggie He and Lennon Luo shared second place, and Ishwar Kohale won third place. The first place winner was given the opportunity to attend either the National or the Northeast Annual Superfund Meeting. For the CEHS awards, Superfund trainee Dr. Hélène Angot won first place in the postdoctoral category for her poster, “Toxic Pollutants: from Worldwide Atmospheric Emissions to Impacts on Maine Tribal Areas.”

Superfund trainees’ posters and coauthors are listed below (trainees’ names are underlined).

Hélène Angot, Noelle E. Selin, Peter Ivatt, Nicholas Hoffman, Amanda Giang, Mat Evans. “Toxic Pollutants: From Worldwide Atmospheric Emissions To Impacts On Maine Tribal Areas.”

Jessica C. Beard, Timothy M. Swager. “Fluorescence-Based Detection of NDMA and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.”

Christy Chao, Stephen Slocum, Harold Hemond, John M. Essigmann, Bevin P. Engelward. “Genotoxicity Testing For Airborne Environmental Contaminants.”

Maggie He, Shao-Xiong Luo, Timothy M. Swager. “Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes Sensors For Detecting Harmful Chemicals.”

Jennifer Kay, Joshua Corrigan, Bevin P. Engelward. “Evaluating Genetic Susceptibility To Cancer Following Exposures to Superfund Contaminants.”

Ishwar Kohale, Forest White. “Characterizing Signaling Dynamics in Response to Environmental Pollutants.”


James C. Rowe, Chris Lim, Martin Breitenlechner, Alexander Zaytsev, Jesse Kroll. “Characterization of Heterogeneous Oxidation Products of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Using Online Mass Spectrometry.”Le Ngo, John Winters, Carol Swartz, Yang Su, Jing Ge, Aoli Xiong, Jongyoon Han, Leslie Recio, Leona Samson, Bevin P. Engelward. “High-Throughput Platform For Detection of DNA Adducts Induced By Metabolic Activation of Xenobiotics.”

MIT Masters of Engineering students, Ms. Abby Harvey and Ms. Tchelet Segev

MIT SRP Supports Citizen Science in Collaboration with Native Americans in Maine

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Five years ago, Drs. Kathy Vandiver and Robert Croy, along with Prof. John Essigmann, reached out to Passamaquoddy Tribe located in the vicinity of Eastport Maine, who had asked for advice regarding news stories and publications warning of high arsenic levels in drinking water. The MIT group represented the Community Outreach, Education and Engagement Core of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS). This initial contact led to a robust bi-directional interaction that serves as a platform upon which some of the Superfund community programs are based. Indeed, Superfund and CEHS now work closely together with the Sipayik Environmental Department of the Passamaquoddy Nation to address an ever widening suite of environmental questions and problems.

Throughout the past year, Dr. Kathy Vandiver (CEC Director), Prof. Harold Hemond (Project 1 Lead), Prof. John Essigmann (Program Co-Director and Project 3 Lead), have overseen and mentored two MIT Masters of Engineering students, Ms. Abby Harvey and Ms. Tchelet Segev (pictured). Their project is focused on testing drinking water for communities in Maine through Citizen Science participation, one of MIT SRP CEC’s specific aims. Specifically, residents of Eastport, Perry, and Pleasant Point, including many members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, had expressed concern about their water quality, including variable color and taste. The municipal water supply for these towns is the Passamaquoddy Water District (PWD), which treats and distributes water from the Boyden Lake, a shallow nearby water body that is often used for recreational purposes.

Ms. Harvey and Ms. Segev had aimed to identify a project for their Masters thesis that would be of benefit to a community. Under the supervision of of Drs. Vandiver, Hemond, and Essigmann, Ms. Harvey and Segev launched a Citizen Science project in collaboration with the local Sipayik Environmental Department that serves the Passamaquoddy Tribe. This project provided an exciting opportunity for the MIT SRP to contribute and to learn from the experience, making this an effective pilot for future citizen science activities.

Ms. Harvey and Ms. Segev collected and analyzed the concentration of metals in household water samples. With guidance from Dr. Vandiver, the team held community meetings in Perry, Pleasant Point, and Eastport, ME (pictured) to listen to residents’ concerns, to describe the water-testing project, and to distribute Citizen Science sampling kits. Residents collected both standing and flushed water samples at their homes, with representation from both private well and municipal water supplies. The number of private wells tested was nearly double the participation of a US Geological Survey analysis between 2005-2009. Over 300 households submitted samples, an exceptional participation rate of more than 20% of homes in the area.

Approximately 1,000 samples were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for the concentrations of more than 10 different metals, including arsenic and lead. Select samples were shared with the Maine State Laboratory for parallel screening, and results showed excellent agreement. Additionally, household samples that scored high for metal content were re-analyzed for confirmation. Members of the Sipayik Environmental Department, Chris Johnson, Asha Ajmani (left), and Billy Longfellow (right) joined researchers at MIT for the ICP-MS analyses. The experience provided them with a professional development opportunity and enabled them to communicate the results more effectively with the local community. The MIT SRP benefitted greatly from participation by the Sipayik Environmental Department. Mr. Johnson, Ms. Ajmani, and Mr. Longfellow played key roles in organizing the program and engaging the communities in rural Maine.

Results from the sample analyses revealed that several households supplied by private wells had levels of arsenic exceeding EPA guidelines of 10 parts per billion (ppb). None of the households supplied by municipal water were found to have high levels of arsenic. For lead, several households’ standing water samples exceeded the EPA guideline (15 ppb). However, flushing the tap for at least two minutes lowered lead content to acceptable levels, indicating that the lead was introduced from household piping rather than the municipal water mains. Importantly, participants learned that running water before use could reduce their risk of lead exposure. All residents who had submitted samples were mailed a letter describing their household’s individual results, guidance for interpreting the results, and recommendations for reducing risk of exposure. The template of this letter can be found at the PEPH Resource Center.

In May, Ms. Harvey and Ms. Segev returned to Maine with Dr. Vandiver to present their findings at community meetings, which were reported on by the local Quoddy Tides newspaper. After learning about metal concentrations in their own household water via mail, participants attended meetings where town results were discussed. At the report back, presenters reviewed the purpose of the study and analyses performed and offered suggestions for reducing risk of exposure to metals in water. In addition, participants had the opportunity to confirm their understanding of their individual results.

For her Masters thesis, Ms. Harvey conducted a source analysis to determine the likely sources of metals in drinking water. Her study confirmed that arsenic comes from geologic sources whereas lead leaches into water from household piping. Ms. Segev’s Masters thesis included a health risk analysis. Her analysis gave rise to the prediction that 0.11 additional cancer cases in these towns could be attributed to arsenic in private well water.

This project served as an immensely informative pilot for launching future MIT SRP Citizen Science efforts. MIT SRP members gained invaluable experience working with federal, state, local, and tribal agencies to conduct testing of individuals’ drinking water. Collaborations with EPA Region 1 were particularly valuable. This project also fostered meaningful relationships between MIT SRP members and Native Americans in Maine, enabling future collaborations. With the skills, strategies, and relationships established in this project, the MIT SRP group continues to strengthen Citizen Science and community engagement projects.

Malden High School STEM class

MIT SRP Visits Malden High School STEM Classes

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Malden is an Environmental Justice community located on the historically industrialized Malden River. The Malden River is part of the Mystic River Watershed, within which three Superfund sites are located. Despite recent remediation efforts along the Malden River, many Malden residents are unaware or skeptical of their river’s accessibility for recreation.

In recent years, Malden High School teachers teamed up with the MIT App Inventor Program to start classes in computing and engineering. Working together, they designed these classes to engage students in developing real solutions to problems that affect their local community. This year, the classes were asked to design apps and sensors that could be used along the Malden River. This project allowed students in both classes to engage in the same kinds of creative work that real computer scientists and engineers do in the workforce, and provided the opportunity for them to have to have a real impact in their community. As inspiration for the students’ projects, the App Inventor team invited members of the MIT Superfund Research Program to Malden High School to discuss their innovative research in sensor design and technology development to promote environmental health. MIT SRP community partner Friends of the Malden River also supported interactions with the high school students.

On April 5th, CEC leader Kathy Vandiver and RTC leader Jenny Kay brought trainees Irene Hu and Tchelet Segev to visit classes at Malden High School. Ms. Hu is a graduate student in Prof. Harry Hemond’s laboratory, and Ms. Segev is a Masters student working under the guidance of Drs. Harry Hemond, Kathy Vandiver and John Essigmann. To provide inspiration for the students’ final projects, Dr. Vandiver first presented a brief history of industry on the Malden River. In addition, Dr. Kay provided an overview of MIT SRP’s research program, which includes studying the presence, transport, and health effects of chemicals in waterways potentially contaminated with chemicals from previous industrial activities. Ms. Hu then described her research project, which is to design a sensor to measure flux of chemicals from sediment to water. Finally, Ms. Segev discussed her work in testing household water supplies for contamination. By sharing current, cutting-edge MIT research with direct relevance to the classes, the SRP team aimed to inspire the students to design useful apps and sensors for application along their local river.

In just a few weeks, the students designed a variety of apps and sensors to make the Malden River more welcoming, raise awareness, and get the community excited about their local river. The students shared their final projects with the public on May 22nd, where members of the MIT SRP and Friends of the Malden River were able to view and appreciate the students’ excellent products.

Scouting Sampling Sites in Wilmington

Scouting Out Sampling Locations Near Olin Chemical Superfund Site

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The Olin Chemical Superfund site in Wilmington, MA is heavily contaminated with N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), an emerging contaminant that is carcinogenic in animal models. As a first step, Program Director Prof. Bevin Engelward, Co-Director Prof. John Essigmann, RTC director Dr. Jenny Kay, and NDMA expert Prof. John Durant of Tufts University joined MIT Masters students Abby Harvey and Tchelet Segev to visit the Olin site in Wilmington and collect initial samples in the area.

While NDMA is known to contaminate the Olin site itself, less is understood about nitrosamine contamination in the surrounding environment. NDMA is miscible in water, creating high potential for transport to drinking water supplies. The chemical is sensitive to light, so potential sampling locations and conditions must be carefully researched and optimized. The team identified three locations within a mile of the Olin site and collected initial water samples from each. In the future, researchers will return to these sites in the dark hours of the early morning to collect light-protected water samples for measuring NDMA content.

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Public Interest in Environmental Issues from Massachusetts to Missouri

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Recently I found myself staying in St. Louis, Missouri to attend a conference for researchers who focus on atmospheric science. The conference was located downtown near the river, which gave ample opportunity to check out the St. Louis Arch and the recently dedicated National Park that surrounds it. From here I was able to gaze upon the gushing waters of the Mississippi, watch the sun cast its light on the heartland of America, and listen to the symphony of cicadas that sounds so sweet to someone from the south like me. Needless to say, I was struck by such natural beauty residing in the middle of a bustling urban center. And, in my opinion, I think the residents of St. Louis were as well. I was never alone at the park, there were always crowds lounging on the open grassy spaces or running along the river paths.

Another observation I made about St. Louis was that the people seemed very interested in the research conference I was attending. The mayor had made a formal declaration dedicating the week to the conference, businesses hung signs in their windows welcoming members of the conference, and locals stopped to ask us about our work. This was unusual because, to be frank, my research doesn’t have much crowd appeal. I focus on aerosol particles, which are small pieces of liquid or solid materials suspended in our atmosphere. They are too small to see, but they have huge impacts on our health and climate. These particles are important for the work of the MIT Superfund Research Program (SRP) because harmful chemicals are sometimes found within aerosol particles, affecting the transport and exposure of those chemicals (see this post by fellow MIT SRP researcher Dr. Hélène Angot for more details). The conference was dedicated to aerosol research (literally, called the International Aerosol Conference), so I expected to be talking about it with colleagues. However, when I ended up talking with a local man named Antoine about them, I was rather surprised. He had heard that the conference was about air pollution, and wanted to know which area we studied. We ended up talking about the chemistry that happens in our atmosphere and how that relates to our health. After saying goodbye, I was left wondering, what makes everyone so curious?

Now that I’m back in Boston, I could sing equally elegant praises about the outdoor features of our city. The Charles River and surrounding esplanade constantly draws us out of hectic urban life into the beauty of nature. And here too, in Boston, there is what I consider to be an increased level of interest in environmental issues. I’ve seen this mainly through the MIT SRP’s partnerships with community organizations like the Friends of the Malden River (FoMR) and the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA). These organizations aren’t groups of professionals getting paid for their work, they’re simply residents; teachers, business people, retirees, who want to do what they can for their environment. They organize clean ups for their respective water features, host events to engage the public, and invite speakers to come and increase their understanding of the environment. After seeing all this during my first year of grad school, I am again left wondering, what makes these people care?

Among other reasons, I would propose that maybe having access to natural elements within the city keeps the citizens of St. Louis and Boston in touch with their environment and more concerned about it. Taking this to be true, our work as part of the SRP becomes that much more important. The SRP stems from national efforts to clean up Superfund sites, which are areas of heavy chemical contamination throughout the US. If our research can help remediate these areas and make them safe for public use, then maybe local citizens will have more access to their environment, take a greater interest in the safety of the environment, and take steps to prevent future environmental calamities like Superfund sites. This process may take years to complete, but it certainly motivates my work with the MIT SRP today.