By Maddie Valier On April 12th, Duke Superfund faculty, trainees, and staff, along with MEM students from the Nicholas School took part in a full-day, immersive workshop led by two expert facilitators from the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. The facilitators were James Rea, a communications coach and consultant […]

Engaging through Improv: Communicating Science with the Alda Center

By Sam Cohen On March 21, we convened stakeholders from across North Carolina in Raleigh to discuss how fish consumption advisories are set and communicated, and how to improve the process to best protect public health. NC Fish Forum attendees focused on known risks like mercury, and emerging contaminants such […]

NC Fish Forum Brings Stakeholders Together to Improve Fish Consumption ...

By Catherine Kastleman The CEC joined several community health educators at the Cape Fear River Watch’s annual StriperFest Education Day as part of the “Stop, Check, Enjoy” campaign. The event was funded by the CEC and also supported by an EPA Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving grant. StriperFest was held Saturday, […]

CEC Engages Fishing Community at Striper Fest and other Wilmington ...

Duke Superfund Center’s CEC seeks to increase understanding, inform decision-making, and ultimately change behavior related to exposure to contaminants in fish, particular mercury and PCBs, among subsistence fish consumers in the Northeast Cape Fear River, with a special emphasis on reducing early life or developmental exposures for children and pregnant […]

CEC Continues to Develop Outreach Campaign for Subsistence Fish Consumers

By Sam Cohen and Steven Yang   Over the past year, the Duke University Superfund Research Center’s Community Engagement Core (CEC) has partnered with community gardens across North Carolina to test for soil contaminants, consider potential sources of contamination, and discuss gardening best practices.You can learn more about the CEC’s […]

Down the Chromium Rabbit Hole

Over the past year, the Duke University Superfund Research Center’s Community Engagement Core (CEC) has partnered with community gardens across North Carolina to test for soil contaminants, consider potential sources of contamination, and discuss gardening best practices.You can learn more about the CEC’s work here and visit our resource page for North Carolina […]

Gardeners’ Knowledge Can Improve Understanding of Environmental Exposure Risks

In October (2018), Duke SRC sponsored a biannual meeting for members of the Elizabeth River Project Sediment Remediation Partnership (ERPSRP). This unique group is led by The Elizabeth River Project, a non-profit organization located in Portsmouth, VA and is dedicated to restoring the Elizabeth River watershed to fishable and swimmable […]

Cleaning Up the Elizabeth River with Bacteria and Fungi

By Dr. Andrew Hawkey, Postdoctoral Associate–Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences On a perfect sunny day in late October, groups of AP science students from Orange High School put down their textbooks and headed for the woods.  We gathered by the Riverwalk in downtown Hillsborough, NC to meet with experts who monitor […]

Water Bugs: Engaging Students in Environmental Assessment and Stewardship

  By Abigail Joyce, PhD — Analytical Chemistry Core Manager   As Hurricane Florence approached North Carolina’s coast, much of state hunkered down for the severe weather to come. Though some locations were somewhat spared, the storm brought as much as 30 inches of rain to some coastal communities in […]

Dispatches from the field: Duke Superfund conducts water sampling after ...