Sources, Transport, Exposure & Effects of PFASs

The CI is part of the URI Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center—STEEP—led by CI Senior Fellow Rainer Lohmann, a professor at the Graduate School of Oceanography. The CI leads the Research Translation Core, ensuring that the critical and cutting-edge science conducted by STEEP is communicated in plain language to a wide range of audiences. In addition, the CI hosts STEEP outreach events at URI and in Rhode Island, and helps promote STEEP events that are held on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, and beyond.

Launched in 2017, the 5-year, $8.5 million STEEP project will address the growing concerns about the effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), industrial chemicals that pose an immediate threat to human health through groundwater contamination.

The URI Superfund Research Program is in partnership with scientists from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, and the non-profit Silent Spring Institute, with funding and support provided by the Superfund Research Program, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.