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EPA Awards $3.5 Million in Grants for Particulate Matter Research

Release Date: 04/03/2009
Contact Information: Suzanne Ackerman, 202-564-7819 / 4355 / [email protected]

(Washington, D.C. – April 3, 2009) EPA awarded four grants to universities to research the relationship between the chemical composition of particulate matter (PM) and health effects. PM is a complex mixture that consists of direct emissions and reaction products formed in the atmosphere.

“These EPA Science To Achieve Results grants will build bridges between two different research communities – epidemiology and air quality engineering,” said Lek Kadeli, EPA’s acting assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development. "The collaboration of expert researchers in both fields could result in major advances in data, methods, and tools available to link health problems with sources and components of air pollution."

Grants were awarded to:

    Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga, $899,956
    North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., $893,439
    University of California, Davis, Calif., $900,000
    University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, $899,401

The health effects of exposure to ambient PM include premature death, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, aggravated asthma, acute respiratory symptoms, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, and increased risk of heart attacks.

More information on grants: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/07innovpm/