Environmental Studies

Resin Optimization and Organism Toxicity for iTIE (in situ Toxicity Identification Evaluation)

Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) is a laboratory bioassay developed by the USEPA and used for assessing sites with multiple chemical contaminants. To determine the predominating environmental stressors and primary toxicity concerns at these sites, this method physically and chemically fractionates various compounds from water samples in a laboratory setting. However, the method is resource-intensive and does not require in situ toxicity analysis, which limits the results’ ecological realism. To improve the effectiveness and validity of assessments at sites with multiple contaminants, the in situ Toxicity Identification Evaluation (iTIE) has been developed to separate and expose fractionated waters to organisms directly within the field by use of resin adsorption technology. Specific resins are used for target removal of ammonia, heavy metals, polar organic, and nonpolar organic contaminants of concern from site water prior to organism exposure within chambers in the iTIE unit. The purpose of this study is to inform specific amendments to the iTIE prototype and to optimize the effectiveness of resins by ensuring that they cause no adverse effects to test organisms. In laboratory toxicity experiments, cladoceran Daphnia magna larva were exposed to each of the resins and analyzed for reproduction. Results suggest that the tested resins cause no significantly toxic effects. Using this supporting information, resin optimization for the iTIE system can reduce costs for future ecotoxicological assessments and impact management decisions by identification of the primary contaminants of concern in a site with multiple stressors.

Better Air Quality Outcomes in Southwest Detroit

Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision (SDEV) works to fulfill the needs of the community by empowering its residents to engage and by providing a connection to important resources. SDEV works with industrial corporations, businesses, and residents to address environmental pressures and concerns, specifically air pollution. Residents of Southwest Detroit live in the middle of industry and are exposed to bad air quality that leads to asthma, lead poisoning, strokes, heart attacks, and more. Even more significantly, these high impact areas correlate to more COVID fatalities as a result of these pre-existing conditions. SDEV recognizes that these high impact areas are primarily urban areas of color and that environmental and racial justice go hand in hand. To combat this issue, SDEV is working to propose a revised truck route to reduce truck traffic on residential streets and to increase enforcement of Detroit’s Anti-Idling Ordinance. SDEV has compiled a list of community members willing to host cameras and air-quality monitors at their residences collecting data relating to pollution levels. This data will be used in the proposal to revise the truck routes in order to better protect the health and wellbeing of the community. SDEV also fosters civic engagement and advocates for environmental policy. This is done by organizing residents to talk to their representatives who vote on the policies that affect them. Through these efforts, SDEV is able to engage the community and make deep and impactful changes that lessen environmental pressures. SDEV works to ensure that the residents come first and their concerns are being heard and met.

Better Air Quality Outcomes in Southwest Detroit

Olivine Geochemistry of Igneous Intrusions in the Duluth Complex, MN

The Duluth Complex is a series of rock formations in northeastern Minnesota that formed 1.1 billion years ago. On the southwestern side of the Complex, there are 14 different igneous intrusions containing minerals rich in iron and titanium, known as oxide-bearing ultramafic intrusions (OUIs). Although little is known about the genesis of these OUIs, there are many minerals present which can act as proxies to gain insight as to how they formed, such as olivine, a silicate mineral. Since olivine can have a range of compositions with varying amounts of iron and magnesium (from Mg2SiO4 to Fe2SiO4) and it is one of the first minerals to crystallize out of magma as it cools, we can discover a lot about the formation and emplacement these OUIs from its composition alone. Rock samples containing olivine were analyzed with microscopic techniques to find shapes and textures of formation. This analysis indicated that olivine forms in many shapes, such as tubular and trapezoidal in the Titac and ropy and striated in the Longnose. Chemical analysis indicated that the Longnose intrusion had more magnesium rich olivine, and the magnesium content increased with depth (from ~60-~70% Mg), while the Titac had higher amounts of magnesium at the top, but iron dominated lower in the intrusion (from ~60% Mg at the top; ~30% Mg at the bottom). These compositional differences give insight into the magma composition of the OUIs, and help us understand how they formed.

Data Gathering Data Analysis Toward Better Air Quality Outcomes in SW Detroit

In 2019, a resident of southwest Detroit called SDEV to ask for help with air pollution that was getting into her house. The problem was so bad that she had to change furnace filters monthly, which were completely caked with black soot. SDEV visited the resident’s home to learn more and received a furnace filter from the resident. My project involved launching a survey of residents to see how many are experiencing similar indoor air quality concerns and quantifying the information to present at SDEV’s annual member’s meeting and to the City of Detroit’s Council meeting. Using a google form, the survey was created with feedback from University of Michigan Public Health experts and other professional resources. With the internet, phone, and physical canvassing efforts, data was collected from 48 residents. We have found a majority of residents surveyed do experience some kind of air quality problems inside the house (grime, soot collecting on the walls, furnace filter color black, etc.) persisting for at least over a year. SDEV intends to use this data to push for real change and bring more resources to address the problem in people’s homes. By making the data accessible to the public, government decision-makers, and others who can bring resources, SDEV will work with community members and others to address the problem of indoor air quality. We have and will continue to connect with community members to bring awareness to the resources that can mitigate the impact of pollution at home. This work aligns with the recommendations of the community-based participatory research initiative Community Action to Promote Healthy Environments (CAPHE) facilitated by University of Michigan with SDEV and other local partners.

Environmental Health Research to Action (EHRA) for Air Quality

Due to the vast amount of air pollution in Southeast Dearborn, Michigan and nearby communities, Environmental Health Research to Action (EHRA) was formed to build skills and knowledge in environmental health. EHRA is a community-academic partnership that runs an annual intensive summer academy for youth. In recent times, due to COVID-19, EHRA has added a virtual series for youth and by youth. Currently, EHRA is developing additional community-led monitoring and policy and media advocacy efforts, as well as conducting interviews with Steering Committee members to determine next steps and priorities for achieving environmental justice. (RESULTS ARE PENDING)

Floating LiDAR development project

Emma Remien Pronouns: she/her/hers Research Mentor(s): Tae Kim, PMO Consultant Research Mentor School/College/Department: Copenhagen Offshore Partners, Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021 Session: Session 1 (10am-10:50am) Breakout Room: Room 8 Presenter: 3 Event Link Abstract For privacy concerns this abstract cannot be published at this time. Authors: Tae Kim, Emma Remien, Corinne Pita Research Method: …

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Floating LiDAR Development Project

Corinne Pita Pronouns: She/Her/Hers Research Mentor(s): Tae Kim, PMO Consultant Research Mentor School/College/Department: Copenhagen Offshore Partners, Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021 Session: Session 1 (10am-10:50am) Breakout Room: Room 8 Presenter: 3 Event Link Abstract For privacy concerns this abstract cannot be published at this time. Authors: Tae Kim, Emma Remien, Corinne Pita Research Method: …

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Is sympatric speciation more important in the ocean?

In evolutionary biology, the importance of geographical isolation and allopatric speciation has been emphasized for several decades. However, different from the terrestrial environment, there is no such absolute geographical barrier in the ocean because most marine species, even larvae, can easily disperse great distances due to its mobility and the ocean current. More sympatric speciation is expected in marine species since allopatric speciation is hard to realize in the ocean. This project mainly focuses on evaluating the importance of sympatric speciation in the ocean through analyzing the dataset that we created. The sympatric speciation requires range overlap rather than isolation. The importance of sympatry is evaluated by examining the range overlap among sister species in the ocean. Phylogenetic trees are constructed based on both morphological (i.e. character matrix) and genetic information (e.g. DNA sequences) using the Principle of Parsimony. Complete phylogenies and evolutionary tree of marine species are useful to identify the existing sister species pairs. Additionally, phylogenies are collected from articles published on academic journals and are selected based on its consistency with WoRMS. (World Register of Marine Species) Biogeographic data records the living range of existing species. Combining that with identified sister species pairs, the range overlap of certain marine sister pairs can be determined, and the pattern of sympatry is expected to be recognized. The result are compared with the importance of sympatry of terrestrial organisms to emphasize the significant role of sympatry in the ocean.

COVID-19 bioinformatics research

Bioinformatics has been a powerful method to study COVID-19 and our project look at ontology-based application in rational drug design. In our previous study (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-021-00799-w), the Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO) was used as an ontological platform to represent anti-coronaviral drugs, drug targets, host-coronavirus interaction (HCI), and their relations. A “HCI checkpoint cocktail” strategy was further proposed to interrupt the important checkpoints in the dynamic HCI network and ontologies support this design process. However, the users such as drug researchers might not have the required ontology knowledge to use the information represented by the CIDO. Therefore, our project aims to design and build a user-friendly tool/website to allow basic queries and facilitate rational drug design using “checkpoint cocktail” strategy. We have developed a MySQL relational database that systematically represent the drugs, bioentities, interactions, pathways, and their relations. A set of real life data were added to the database. MySQL queries were performed to demonstrate our capabiliities to query different contents from the database to support the query of anti-coronaviral drug information. A web interface is being developed in order to further support online query and analysis of anti-coronaviral drugs, leading to rational anticoronaviral drug cocktail design.