EPA Funds 4 New Clean Air Research Centers

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

To better understand the impact of air pollution on people’s health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that they will be funding 4 new Clean Air Research Centers. The four universities awarded the funding to operate the centers are already conducting what the agency referred to as “cutting edge air pollution research.”

“These centers are critical to understanding how to improve air quality and protect Americans’ health from complex mixtures of air pollutants,” said Dr. Paul Anastas, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “The centers will focus on important scientific questions remaining in air research.”

Each university will get $8 million of the total $32 million appropriated for the research over a five year period. The schools selected are Harvard, Michigan State University, the University of Washington, and Emory University jointly with the Georgia Institute of Technology.

It is hoped that the research centers will lead to a better understanding of which groups of people, based on age and other factors, are most susceptible to air pollution. Also important to understand is how individuals are impacted by exposure to multiple pollutants at the same time.