It is important to understand the fundamental mechanisms affecting the mobility of contaminants in the environment in order to accurately describe contaminant transport at larger scales. Processes such as sorption/desorption, precipitation/dissolution and redox transformation can only be fully understood from detailed, mechanistic, molecular scale studies. These analyses form the basis for understanding the myriad different mechanisms affecting contaminant transport in the environment. The ERSP funds environmental molecular scale science through several activities in addition to ERSP Solicitations for research. These activities include operation of the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL), a national user facility, located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; support for environmental projects at the synchrotron light sources at ANL, LBNL, BNL and SLAC, and; participation with the NSF in funding three Environmental Molecular Science Institutes (EMSIs) at Stony Brook University , Stanford University and Penn State University. Additional information on each of activities can be found in the links provided below.
- Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL)
- Synchrotron Environmental Science at Argonne National Laboratory, contact Ken Kemner
- Brookhaven National Laboratory, contact Jeffrey Fitts
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, contact Susan Hubbard
- Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab, contact John Bargar
- Center for Environmental Molecular Science (CEMS)
- Center for Environmental Kinetics Analysis (CEKA)
- Stanford Environmental Molecular Science Institute