March 2015
 


Thank you for your interest in serving as a citizen scientist! We received your contact information when you signed up on our website, http://citizen.science.oregonstate.edu/. We are in the midst of developing a new website specific to our first project, but wanted to keep you informed as we move forward.
What is Citizen Science, or Public Participation in Research Science?
Training 'non-scientists' to contribute to a research effort
Traditionally, research has been done by classically trained researchers within the framework of government, academic, or industry branches. Now, researchers are training the public to contribute to research. Scientific American has created a database of current citizen scientist projects, ranging from identifying marine animals to understanding how a person's sense of smell changes over time. The Citizen Science Association is a wonderful resource to learn more about public participation in research science.

The Food Safety and Environmental Stewardship (FSES) Program at Oregon State University, directed by Dr. Kim Anderson, has begun a citizen science project titled EPREP:  Environmental Preparedness & Resilience Empowering People
What is EPREP?
Environmental  Preparedness & Resilience Empowering People (EPREP) is a resource based on a low cost passive sampling platform including a common wristband and a stationary sampler  that can be used to evaluate air quality. EPREP will help citizen scientists learn about their environment pre- and post- environmental disasters . Click here to learn more about our passive sampling devices.

Why Environmental Preparedness?

Environmental disasters are uncontrolled/unintended releases of hazardous chemicals that could cause harm to human or environmental health. Communities are concerned about their air quality before, during and after an environmental disaster. Communities impacted by environmental disasters have identified a lack of local and neighborhood specific sampling and chemical information surrounding disasters

 
Getting Involved 
Open Studies
We do not currently have any open studies. However, we will begin posting open studies online later this year. Please go to our website, which we will update as studies become available. 

Online training to become a citizen scientist with EPREP
Before you can participate in an existing study, you must complete on-line training modules. These short (20-minute) free modules are in the process of being created, and when finished can be found here. 

Ability to register personal studies or volunteer for existing studies
Once trained, a citizen scientist will then be able to  sign-up as a participant in an existing community or university study, or  propose their own, privately funded studies.

More questions? Please go to our list of commonly asked questions . If your question isn't listed, please send us an email at citizen.science@oregonstate.edu.

Passive Samplers in the News

Last year, the FSES lab published a peer-reviewed article in  Environmental Science and Technology about the use of silicone wristbands as personal passive sampling devices (Silicone Wristbands as Personal Passive Samplers, O'Connell et al. 2014)
 
Since then, over 25 news articles have been published, and 18 news stations have aired the story. See our local KEZI station interview  here or listen to Dr. Anderson's interview with KLCC.
 
To learn more about the stationary air samplers, read about our recent research in Appalachia, Ohio, here.

For more information about the personal wristband samplers, or to see how we extract the chemicals from the silicone, watch these two videos, produced by our partners at the Environmental Health Sciences Center and available here:   fses.oregonstate.edu/PSDs or  ehsc.oregonstate.edu/community

Thank you for your interest in EPREP. We are thrilled to be part of the growing citizen scientist movement, and look forward to working with you in the future!

Sincerely,

The EPREP Project Team
 

Food Safety & Environmental Stewardship Program | Citizen Science
Environmental Health Sciences Center 

1011 Agricultural & Life Sciences Bldg.
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331

Copyright � 2015. All Rights Reserved.