E.P.A. Chooses University of North Carolina at Charlotte to Help Find New Uses for Toxics Data

ATLANTA - The E.P.A. (EPA) announced today its selection of academic partners for the 2015 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) University Challenge, a plan designed to increase public awareness and use of data on industrial delivers of toxic chemicals in communities. A suggestion from faculty at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was among just 3 selected nationally. The other proposals selected came from faculty at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Mercyhurst University.

"For in excess of 25 years, the TRI Plan has gathered data critical to helping communities make informed decisions about their environment," said Ann Dunkin, E.P.A. chief information officer. "Through the 2015 TRI University Challenge, we hope to raise awareness of this valuable data among students and professors, and engage them in research that will benefit their communities and further our work to protect human health and the environment." 

TRI provides communities, government, and non-governmental organizations with information about toxic chemical delivers to the air, water, and land, as well as what industries are doing to reduce and prevent these releases. TRI lends itself to a wide variety of uses, including academic research, public policy development, sustainable corporate governance and environmental education.

The 2015 TRI University Challenge follows the successful 2014-2015 challenge, in which E.P.A. selected 6 academic partners to collaborate on plans related to data visualization and analytics for improving the understanding of TRI data. 3 of these plans are ongoing and are expected to finish within the 2015-2016 academic year.

The TRI University Challenge is open to faculty and students affiliated with accredited colleges or universities.

More information on the TRI University Challenge: www.epa.gov/tri/university

Connect with E.P.A. Region four on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eparegion4

And on Twitter: @EPASoutheast

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