A Note from the Director

Greetings in the last month of 2023! Hard to believe we will soon be ringing in a New Year...

Thank you to the many CHHE members that took time to come to the State of the Center Social at the Transfer Co Food Hall. We enjoyed great food and refreshments and announced new members and awards. Congratulations, again to those recipients noted below.  

As you know, our renewal is due in April 2024 and the RPPR is due February 1, 2024. This will be an incredibly busy time for those of us writing sections - we are starting that process with a writing retreat on Dec 11 and 13, followed by small group meetings as needed. Check out our upcoming events.

I want to take this opportunity to wish you all happy holidays, safe travels, and a wonderful time with family and friends that makes this time of year extra special. Happy New Year!!  

Sue Fenton

sefenton@ncsu.edu 

Toxicology Bldg. Rm 1104E

Upcoming Events

News

Dr. Sinan Sousan Receives New AIHA Subaward



Dr. Jo Anne Balanay (Principal Investigator) and Dr. Sinan Sousan (Co-Investigator; ECU Dept. of Public Health and NC Agromedicine) were selected to receive a $26,834 subaward from the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) for a project titled, “Development of a WBGT-based Heat Stress Assessment Mobile Application”. This project will be conducted in partnership with Dualboot Partners, a product design and software engineering company based in North Carolina. The goal of the project is to create a mobile app that automatically calculates wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index, provides heat stress risk level and recommends heat stress prevention measures. The proposed mobile app will be built up based on an existing WBGT web-based app prototype, which is an ECU-owned intellectual property that was developed by Drs. Balanay and Sousan, with the support of the ECU Office of Licensing and Commercialization, as a product of their NSF-funded Innovation Corps (i-Corps) App Development Training in Fall 2020.

Environmental Health Disparities RIG Holding Monthly Meetings Starting January 2024



Starting in January, the Environmental Health Disparities RIG (formerly the EJ RIG) will be holding monthly meetings, led by Jen Richmond-Bryant and Cathrine Hoyo. Our primary goals will be to identify areas for research collaboration, develop proposals to fund these activities, and implement the activities. Please email Jen with best available days/times at jrbryan3@ncsu.edu if interested in joining this effort. We will reach out to new and existing members shortly to identify a meeting time that best meets everyone's schedules.

NIEHS released an RFI for Environmental Justice Research Gaps, Opportunities and Capacity Building, and we have composed a submission. If you would like to sign on, please contact Jen Richmond-Bryant, jrbryan3@ncsu.edu by December 8. It is due on December 15.

Community Engagement Core - 2023 Community Grant Program Award Recipients

The Community Engagement Core (CEC) is pleased to announce the award recipients of their 2023 Community Grant Program. We are looking forward to starting the New Year with new partnerships and opportunities for meaningful community engagement. You can read a brief description of each recipient’s projects below, but we encourage you to use the hyperlinks to learn more about their organizations. 

Triangle Land Conservancy--Pathways: Into Nature: A fellowship for high school students that introduces them to environmental science topics, professionals, and career opportunities. Fellowship was designed to address lack of diversity in environmental organizations and recruits low-income students of color to that end. 

Science Happens 4 Me--STEM on the Move: An afterschool and summer program, which aims to improve STEM literacy in K-12 students across several counties. The project features a mobile laboratory, which will travel between schools and is meant for low-income and rural communities.

Student Action with Farmworkers--Into the Fields: Training students to creatively engage farmworkers around heat stress: Through this project, SAF will use art to educate migrant farmworkers, farmworker youth members and their families, student interns, and allies about the impact of climate change on farmworkers and the need for heat stress standards for field workers in NC. 

For Girls Like Quaneisha Mentoring Program--Bridging the STEM Gap: Girls and STEM: A short project designed to introduce young girls to a variety of STEM concepts. Using several community partner organizations, students will rotate through stations with hands-on, age-appropriate activities and be given STEM kits to take home.