Our Finale-The Poster Session

 Our program culminated in a poster session where we were able to describe the efforts of all of our hard work over the summer.  Our participants summarized their experiences in this Video.  Great job, Everyone!

Video

Week of July 18-Results from the soil analyses and painting our projects

 On Thursday, Dr. Jason Unrine joined us to report back on the lead levels from our soil samples.  The concentrations of lead in our samples ranged from 27.96 to 44.90 mg Pb/Kg soil.  These levels are well within the distribution of background soil lead in Kentucky and well below EPA screening levels-Background soil lead levels.  The mean levels that have been found in Kentucky are 29.2 mg Pb/Kg.  After a brief discussion of these results, we then engaged the creative sides of our brains and painted our projects.

Earlier in the week, the SURF students met with Dr. Vrushali Angadi who discussed her work in voice function and rehabilitation.  The SURES students met with Dr. Cetewayo Rashid who described his career journey and his research investigating the health outcomes in the offspring following maternal exposures to endocrine disruptors.

Week of July 18-Poster Planning and Culinary Medicine

 This week, the SURF students were joined by Mr. Trace Jolly who discussed why he decided to go to graduate school and his research using zebrafish as a model to develop new cancer therapies.  The SURES students met with Dr. Ellen Hahn who is the director of the University of Kentucky Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences.  She also leads a research effort called BREATHE.  She told us about her successes and challenges in making changes in policy to improve our health.

On Thursday, we first met to work in groups discussing our posters.  We then went to The Food Connection where chef Tanya Whitehouse taught us to make different sauces from the herbs that we have been growing in our global garden planters.

Week of July 11

 

For our Thursday afternoon activity, we watched the moving "The Human Element", a documentary about climate change.  After the movie we engaged in a discussion with two experts on climate change and sustainability, both of whom are involved with the Kentucky Climate Consortium.  Dr. Bill Haneberg is the State Geologists of Kentucky, Director of the Kentucky Geological Survey and Research Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences.  He talked to us about his career experiences and gave us advice on how to talk to others about health effects and climate change.  Shane Tedder is the Sustainability Coordinator for the University of Kentucky.  He told us about some of his efforts in policy development and planning around sustainability.  We also discussed how to become engaged locally to make an impact.  

The SURF participants met with Dr. Hilaree Frazier, who is now a postdoctoral fellow.  She discussed her career journey and some of her research in neuropharmacology.

Week of July 4-Collection of Soil Samples for Lead Analyses

 

This week, we first learned about the presence of lead in the environment, in particular in our soil, and the adverse health effects of lead exposure.  The participants of the previous program had selected different sites on our campus for their soil collection and determination of lead contamination.  We wanted to build on their results and collect samples at different sites to determine how soil concentrations of lead may vary across the campus.  Working in teams, we decided where we wanted to collect our samples and collected our samples.  We then took our samples to the lab to grind, weigh and sift them-they were then ready to go to Dr. Unrine's laboratory to be analyzed for lead.

The SURES participants talked with Dr. Stanifer who discussed her career journey and work with community engagement.