Lexington, Kentucky
October 23-26, 2011
Meeting Summary

Meeting attendees received a call to the post by a bugler from Keeneland, one of Kentucky's historic racetracks.
(Photo courtesy of Joseph Ray Au)
The annual meeting of the Superfund Research Program (SRP), held in Lexington, Kentucky on October 23-26, 2011, brought together researchers, trainees, and administrators from SRP research centers, and individual research grants from the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Participants shared their latest research and technology advances on environmental health problems and toxic waste remediation. SRP researchers presented findings on topics ranging from systemic impacts of pollutants on humans to sustainable remediation techniques.
The variety of experts who came together to exchange cutting-edge science and remediation technologies included toxicologists, chemists, engineers, risk assessors, administrators, and public health officers. The meeting showcased the commitment to training graduate and post-doctoral researchers in cross-disciplinary research that is at the heart of the SRP strategic plan. Three sessions featured presentations by trainees and postdoctoral researchers, allowing them to discuss their findings and take questions from meeting attendees. At the end of each session, a Research Translation Core leader summarized the implication of the presenters’ work for research translation and community engagement.
The scientific sessions were flanked with satellite meetings on the days before and after the main meeting. Individual research grant recipients convened the day before to update program staff and their fellow researchers on their work in nanotechnology and phytoremediation. After the main session, Research Translation and Community Engagement Core leaders gathered to learn more about risk communication and strategies for interacting with the media and effectively communicating the results of their research.
As has become a tradition at the annual meeting, the recipient of the Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award was announced. This year’s honoree is Monica Ramirez-Andreotta, of the University of Arizona. The SRP established this annual award to recognize an outstanding graduate student or post-doctoral researcher that best demonstrates the qualities of scientific excellence exhibited by Karen Wetterhahn, Ph.D. Ramirez-Andreotta is the former Research Translation Coordinator for the University of Arizona and the SRP acknowledged the citizen-science project she is undertaking to understand how metals are being taken up by vegetables planted in home gardens adjacent to the Iron King Humboldt Smelter Superfund site in Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona.
In addition, the SRP recognized first, second, and third place winners in two categories (Biomedical and Non-Biomedical) for student posters presented at the meeting.
Sponsored by
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - Superfund Research Program
- University of Kentucky
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