USA Science & Engineering Festival

May 13, 2016

This Week in EPA Science

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By Kacey Fitzpatrick

Rain got you stuck inside all weekend? Well here’s something to pass the time until those May flowers finally show up. Check out the latest in EPA science.

EPA’s P3 Student Design Competition
Did you miss our P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) student design competition at this year’s USA National Science & Engineering Festival? Well don’t worry—EPA’s Christina Burchette recapped the event and some of the innovative projects on display in her blog EPA’s P3 Student Design Competition: Where Science and Creative Genius Meet.

Supporting the Next Generation of Scientists
EPA announced the winner of its Patrick H. Hurd Sustainability Award today at the Intel International Science & Engineering festival. High School Student Alexis D’Alessandro was honored with the award for her project that is providing clean drinking water affordably to a community in Kenya. Learn more in this press release.

EPA Researchers at Work
Meet EPA Ecologist Steve Paulsen! Steve works on National Aquatic Resource Surveys –a collaborative program designed to assess the quality of the nation’s coastal waters, lakes and reservoirs, rivers and streams, and wetlands. Read his profile to learn why he thinks of his science as a combination of accounting and exploration.

Meet EPA IT Specialist Linda Harwell! Linda’s love for the ocean started at a very early age. As a Navy brat, Linda moved around a lot but she never lived far from a coast. Even now, working at EPA’s research laboratory in Gulf Breeze, Linda gets to see the ocean right outside her office every day.

Learn more about what it’s like to be a scientist at EPA in our Researchers at Work profiles.

Upcoming Events
Need more science? Here are some public meetings and webinars EPA is hosting this month.

About the Author: Kacey Fitzpatrick is a student contractor and writer working with the science communication team in EPA’s Office of Research and Development. She is a regular contributor to It All Starts with Science and the founding writer of “The Research Recap.”

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone. EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog, nor does EPA endorse the opinions or positions expressed. You may share this post. However, please do not change the title or the content. If you do make changes, please do not attribute the edited title or content to EPA or the author.

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EPA is providing this link for informational purposes only. EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of non-EPA information provided by any third-party sites or any other linked site. EPA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies, internet applications or any policies or information expressed therein.

May 10, 2016

EPA’s P3 Student Design Competition: Where Science and Creative Genius Meet

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By Christina Burchette

This year’s USA National Science & Engineering Festival was a huge event. The convention center in downtown Washington, DC was buzzing all weekend long with thousands of people coming to see the fascinating gizmos and gadgets on display by various companies and organizations (and to learn about science, of course).

While many of the exhibits boasted flashy set-ups and hi-tech gadgets that could awe anyone, our P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) student design competition participants were impressing passersby with the innovative genius of their simple, sustainable, and cost-effective projects. The EPA P3 design program invites college students to design environmental solutions that move us towards a sustainable future by benefiting people, promoting prosperity, and protecting the planet.

P3 participant explains air filter project

Students share their P3 projects at the festival.

This year, 38 student teams received P3 Phase I grants of up to $15,000 to research and test the original projects that they presented at the USA Science & Engineering Festival. In a couple of months, some of these teams will be chosen to receive up to $75,000 in additional grant money to continue developing their projects and implement them in the field or marketplace.

When I wandered into the two rows of P3 teams, I was floored by the creativity and ingenuity of the projects—and how excited these students were to share their work.

One team told me that they created a self-sustaining mini-ecosystem comprised of just fish and vegetables. The fish waste provided fertilizer for the vegetables, and the vegetables kept the water clean for the fish to thrive. The system will provide organic food to those who need it most—the team was hoping to set up these systems at elementary schools for children who don’t get enough to eat at home. To add to that, the team plans to employ homeless vets to maintain and manage the mini-ecosystems. The project design is simple, completely organic and sustainable, and considers socioeconomic issues as well as environmental ones!

Another team used what they described as “home depot technology” to solve a problem that plagues major rivers that flow into the ocean: eutrophication, an excess of nutrients clogging waterways and sparking algal growth that absorbs oxygen that aquatic creatures depend on. Their project involved installing bioreactors with naturally-occurring bacteria at the edges of crop fields so that that bacteria could eat the excess nitrate that is washed away from fields by rain, instead of allowing it to flow off into waterways. It blew my mind how simple and effective their design was, and the fact that they said anyone could build it with the right tools.

What amazed me most about listening to all of the students and faculty talk about their projects is the fact that they’ve managed to develop such creative solutions to environmental issues that seem impossible to solve. It just goes to show how much we can accomplish with science, inspiration, and a little creativity.

About the Author: Christina Burchette is an Oak Ridge Associated Universities contractor and writer for the science communication team in EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

Apr 15, 2016

This Week in EPA Science

EPA P3 Competition, EPA People Prosperity and the Planet, Public Health Week, research recap, USA Science & Engineering Festival, Water Security Test Bed 5 Comments

By Kacey Fitzpatrick

Will you be in the Washington D.C. area this weekend? Come join us as at the USA Science & Engineering Festival where we’ll be holding our People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) student design competition and National Sustainable Design Expo!

Not in the area but still need a science fix? Then check out the latest from EPA right here.

Citizen Science
This week, the White House announced the launch of CitizenScience.gov. The new hub provides information, resources, and tools for people looking to participate in citizen science and crowdsourcing projects. The site features a catalog of federally-supported citizen science and crowdsourcing projects across the country—17 of these are EPA projects. Read more about the initiative in this White House fact sheet.

Public Health and Environmental Protection
Last week was Public Health Week! From ongoing efforts to address climate change to the emerging concerns of the potential spread of the Zika virus, EPA scientists and engineers are working tirelessly to protect public health. To learn more about the role of EPA science in public health, read this message from Tom Burke, the Deputy Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Research and Development as well as Agency’s Science Advisor.

Water Security Test Bed
EPA built the Water Security Test Bed—a full-sized replica of a drinking water distribution system—to conduct real-world experiments regarding water security in the face of emergency situations and aging infrastructure. Over the next few years, EPA and it collaborators plan to run various experiments to ensure that if disaster strikes our water infrastructure systems we have the data and tools to protect our infrastructure and public health. Read more about it in the blog Water Security Test Bed: Real-World Testing of Real-World Systems Issues.

About the Author: Kacey Fitzpatrick is a student contractor and writer working with the science communication team in EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

Apr 15, 2016

Students at Work: Come Get Inspired!

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By Tom Burke

Before coming to EPA, I was a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I am still a teacher at heart and what I miss most is the day-to-day interaction with my students. It is so inspiring to watch enthusiastic and bright students devote themselves to the science of environmental protection and public health. This weekend (April 16 and 17), you can come witness that same spirit of energy and innovation at the U.S. EPA P3 (People, Prosperity, and the Planet) student design competition, a highlight of the USA Science & Engineering Festival.

Thirty-eight student teams comprised of the world’s next generation of scientists and engineers will share their projects as they vie for additional funding as part of the design competition. The competition is a two-phase process. In Phase I, teams apply for grants of up to $15,000 to research and test sustainability ideas. At the Science and Engineering Festival, funded teams will showcase their designs in anticipation of Phase II awards announced in the summer, which include up to $75,000 in additional grant money to help bring their products to the marketplace.

Since P3’s beginning in 2004, EPA has funded more than 5,300 students and faculty, and 26 companies have been founded based upon the innovative ideas they shared during the competition.

P3 Teams share their love of sustainability!

For example, a former team of students from Harvard University, Wellesley College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Qinghai Normal University founded the nonprofit organization One Earth Designs, launched on their successful design of “a high- performance parabolic solar concentrator that harnesses the energy of the sun for outdoor cooking,” according to their website. This product, called the “Solsource 3-in-1” has replaced traditional wood-burning cookstoves for hundreds of rural families around the world, saving them from sooty indoor air pollution and reducing pressure on local forests at the same time.

Another former team, from Oberlin College, won a P3 grant for their prototype, the Building Dashboard, which tracks in real-time how much energy and water occupants are using in a building, providing visual insights that can help them change their habits. Now, that team is the award-winning company Lucid and their technology has helped reduce energy consumption in over 11,000 buildings all over the country.

The work our P3 competitors do is amazing, which is why we love this annual event. Students and faculty sharing their P3 projects offer you the opportunity to see science the way they do: as an amazing tool that can help solve the world’s toughest environmental problems. Come out and be inspired by the ingenious work of the next generation of scientists and engineers—they’re changing our world.

The USA Science & Engineering Festival is a free, all-day event located at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center at 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW in Washington DC on April 16^th and 17^th.

About the Author: Thomas Burke, Ph.D. is the Deputy Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Research and Development as well as the Agency’s Science Advisor. He served as the Jacob I. and Irene B. Fabrikant Professor and Chair in Health, Risk and Society and the Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and Training at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health prior to coming to EPA. Before his time at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Burke was Deputy Commissioner of Health for the State of New Jersey and Director of the Office of Science and Research in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Apr 9, 2015

EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment , Nifty Fifty , Science Education , STEM , USA Science & Engineering Festival

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By Ken Olden, Ph.D.

EPA “Nifty Fifty” scientist Dr. Kenneth Olden

Is there something in this world that you would like to see changed? Disease, hunger, health care—I believe we all have things we want to change. That desire for change is how I got to the position that I am in today.

I grew up on a farm along the Appalachian Mountains in rural Tennessee, among the worst poverty in the United States. We were poor, hungry, and I didn’t like the environment in which we lived. I looked around my community and I knew that if we wanted something to change, one of us would need to break out and become a leader. So I thought, why not me?

I decided then that I needed to work hard, go to college, and keep going until I acquired the education to become part of the leadership class. I shined shoes before and after school for 15 cents a pair—that’s how I paid for my first year of college.

I started at Knoxville College in 1956 and earned a B.S. in Biology. Then I earned a M.S. in Genetics from the University of Michigan. After that, I earned my Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Biochemistry from Temple University in 1970.

I made history when I became the first African American to direct one of the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Today, as the Director of EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment, I have a platform from EPA, one of the nation’s top environmental and health organizations, for addressing the issues and problems I’ve wanted to see changed since I was a kid.

Picture of Capital City Public Charter School

Capital City Public Charter School, Washington, DC.

Recently, I had the opportunity to share these experiences with students at the Capital City Public Charter School. I was asked to speak at the school as part of the USA Science & Engineering Festival’s “Nifty Fifty (times 4)” program. The program is linking 200 noted science and engineering professionals with middle schools across the Washington, DC area. My fellow “Niftys” and I are sharing stories about our science and career paths throughout the current school year.

I asked the students if there was anything in the world they would like to see changed. One student wanted to change how people perceive hip-hop. Another wanted equality for women in the workforce. Every student agreed that there was something they wanted to see changed.

My question back to them was: “Why not you?”

You have your lifetime ahead of you to make a difference. Everything that has been discovered to date—it’s all just the beginning! There are just as many possibilities for discovery now as there was when I was in middle school. You can make those discoveries and you can make a difference.

I didn’t like seeing health disparity or people living in unhealthy environments when I was their age, and I wanted to change things. I set out in 1956 to make a difference and at 76, I can say I have lived a good life—I have had the opportunity to make a difference. Now it’s their turn.

About the Author: The Director of EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment, Dr. Ken Olden has published extensively in peer-reviewed literature, chaired or co-chaired numerous national and international meetings, and has been an invited speaker at more than 200 symposia.

Dr. Olden has won a long list of honors and awards including the Presidential Distinguished Executive Rank Award, the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award for sustained extraordinary accomplishments, the Toxicology Forum’s Distinguished Fellow Award, the HHS Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award, the American College of Toxicology’s First Distinguished Service Award, and the National Minority Health Leadership Award. From 1991-2005, he served as the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program (NTP) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Apr 9, 2015

You Can Make A Difference: How I Became a “Nifty Fifty”

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By Ken Olden, Ph.D.

EPA “Nifty Fifty” scientist Dr. Kenneth Olden

Capital City Public Charter School, Washington, DC.

My question back to them was: “Why not you?”

Apr 25, 2014

EPA’s P3 Student Design Competition: Sowing the Seeds of a Sustainable Future

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Reposted from EPA Connect, the official blog of EPA’s leadership.

“The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation.” -PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

By Lek Kadeli

Each spring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides the nation with a glimpse of America’s winning future through our P3 student design competition for sustainability.

“P3” stands for People, Prosperity and the Planet. Working in teams, students and their academic advisors devise innovative solutions to meet environmental challenges in ways that benefit people, promote prosperity, and protect the planet. Through that work, the competition engages the greater academic community and the next generation of environmental scientists and engineers in the principles of sustainability.

The competition is a two-phase process. In Phase I, teams submit design proposals for a chance to receive grants of up to $15,000 to research and test original sustainability projects. In addition to research funds, winning teams earn the opportunity to travel to Washington, DC to publically showcase their designs and prototypes at the National Sustainable Design Expo.

During the Expo, teams also showcase their work to a panel of judges for a chance to enter Phase II of the competition—which includes up to $90,000 in additional grant money to help bring their designs and products to the marketplace. Successful P3 projects ultimately benefit the economy and create jobs in our communities.

President Obama said in this year’s State of the Union address “that the nation that goes all-in on innovation today will own the global economy tomorrow.” This program exemplifies that spirit of innovation.

Over the past 10 years, EPA has awarded more than 550 grants to university and college student teams across the nation. A number of teams have leveraged their winning ideas into thriving small businesses and nonprofit organizations, sparking job growth as they advance sustainability and public health. For example:

An inter-collegiate team made up of students from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and two Chinese universities launched the nonprofit organization One Earth Design (OED) based on their winning project: a solar-powered device that cooks, provides heat, and generates electricity.
A team from the University of Massachusetts designed a process for producing a nontoxic flame retardant from cashew oil. The end result provides the benefit of suppressing flames that is as effective as the more toxic synthetic retardants in use today.
Students from the University of Arizona designed an irrigation system for small farmers that also serves as a fish farm. Rows of irrigation ditches filled with fish provide a local source of fertilizer that boosts crop yields while yielding additional sources of food and profit.
Western Washington University students partnered with local dairy farmers for their project using cow manure as a source of fuel-grade methane for running vehicles.
Re-design methods developed by a team of University of Tennessee students have helped transform depression-era housing into buildings that meet both energy efficient, green building standards and strict historical preservation codes.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the EPA’s People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) program. Both the P3 public displays and the National Sustainable Design Expo will be held in conjunction with the USA Science & Engineering Festival at the Washington Convention Center, April 26-27. Now in its third year, the USA Science & Engineering Festival is the largest science festival in the United States.

About the Author: Lek Kadeli is the Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

Jan 29, 2013

Education Outreach: Fun for All!

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By Maureen Gwinn, Ph.D., DABT

Since 2007, the Girl Scouts Council Nation’s Capital Chapter has organized a Girl Scout Science Day to give local Girl Scouts an opportunity to learn more about science in a fun and friendly environment.

I first became involved as a friend of the troop leader in charge of the event. She and I would work on ideas, adapt experimental protocols and talk our science friends into volunteering at the event.

EPA's Maureen Gwinn: "I enjoy every opportunity I have to encourage kids to have fun with science."

From the beginning, experiments have been led by Cadette or Senior Girl Scouts with the assistance of volunteers, including troop ‘moms’ and ‘dads’ and area scientists. We have hands-on experiments that address concepts of chemistry, microbiology, genetics, and toxicology. We have had discussions related to what goes into your personal hygiene products, why DNA is unique to each of us, and how forensic science can help to solve a crime.

The Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts running the experiments at a recent event were the 4^th graders who participated five years ago. It has been a pleasure to see these girls not only learn the scientific concepts well enough to teach them to the new Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts, but to watch them take on more responsibility for the event itself. Through my involvement in this event, I have been privileged to watch those young, giggly ten-year-old girls turn into responsible young ladies – that still giggle, but do so while teaching or setting up for the next group of girls.

This event inspired me to volunteer in education outreach at other events, including the Society of Toxicology Annual meeting, EPA’s Earth Day celebrations, and the USA Science & Engineering Festival.

Volunteering in education outreach was not something I had considered in the past, but after participating in the Girl Scout Science Day for the past five years, I enjoy every opportunity I have to encourage kids to have fun with science, to ask questions about how things work, and to work together to solve scientific problems.

The Society of Toxicology Education Committee has ways to help support these types of opportunities, and for K-12 in particular we are putting together a website of ideas, experiments, and how-to’s to get you started in the new year.

Are you interested in getting involved in education outreach, but don’t know where to start? Or are you already involved and have some tips or favorite resources to share? Please post your questions or suggestions in the comments section below so we can join forces.

The impact these events have on the kids is worth the effort.

About the Author: Maureen Gwinn is a biologist in EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment and works as an Associate National Program Director for Sustainable and Healthy Communities. She is currently serving in her final year as the K-12 Subcommittee Chair for the Society of Toxicology and is always looking for ideas for scientific outreach.

Apr 27, 2012

Celebrating Science and Engineering

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By Aaron Ferster

I knew my mistake as soon as the kid’s cheeks puffed out and streams of water started arching out of the corners of his mouth like a fountain.

“Blow; don’t suck in” were my clear instructions. But just as I jump to the right every time an approaching cyclist calls out “bicycle right!” as I walk along a bike trail, sometimes the mind executes the opposite of a command.

The unfortunate mishap occurred while engaging visitors in the “Lung Capacity Challenge” at EPA’s exhibit booth at the last USA Science & Engineering Festival. It shows lung capacity by having people blow into a tube. As their breath bubbles into a holding chamber placed upside-down in a small tub of water, it displaces an equal volume of water—causing the chamber to rise and showing how much air has come out of the participant’s lungs.

The Lung Capacity Challenge

Illustrating how researchers measure lung capacity is a great gateway into sharing how EPA scientists use such tools to compare lung function and take other, albeit more sophisticated, actions to better understand the connections between human health and clean air.

The only problem is that if someone sucks on the tube instead of blows, they create a siphon, getting a mouth full of water instead of lung capacity data. (Luckily, we’ve discovered the secret to avoiding this mess: never utter the word “suck” in your instructions; bike commuters, please take note.)

It’s all part of the fun at the USA Science & Engineering Festival, a celebration that brings hundreds of organizations together to share their research and technology.

This year’s Festival is this weekend, and I’m happy to say EPA will once again be part of the action.

In addition to our world-famous Lung Capacity Challenge, our scientists and other volunteers will be featuring demonstrations such as:

Fun with Chemical Reactions (aka “baggie science”) where visitors can see what happens and learn important scientific concepts as they mix up a batch of chemicals in their own baggie.
Making the Invisible Visible where visitors learn how scientists use instruments to “see” what’s in the air we breathe.
One Fish, Two Fish, Safe Fish, New Fish invites visitors to go fishing and learn about the science of fish consumption advisories, habitat degradation, environmental sampling in wetlands, and other important aquatic and clean water issues.

For visitor and travel information, go to: www.usasciencefestival.org/#. Be sure to come by booth #1745. And remember: blow!

About the author: Aaron Ferster is the senior science writer in EPA’s Office of Research and Development.