Goal

Empower and assist trainees in adopting a comprehensive systems approach to understand and address both existing and emerging environmental health problems.

Aims

1) Identify, promote, evaluate, and track an interdisciplinary approach to training

2) Coordinate opportunities for trainee participation in the Community Engagement Core and the Research Translation activities

3) Interact with the Data Management and Analysis Core to provide training in data management, analysis, and data sharing

4) Provide opportunities to enhance trainees’ professional career development.

The Research Experience and Training Core (RETCC) consists of investigators from Project 1, Project 2, Project 5, the Analytical Core, the Data Management and Analysis Core, and the Administrative and Research Translation Core. Trainees guide the core. Weekly meetings of the Analytical Core and Data Management and Analysis Core have been fully integrated with the RETCC to create a weekly gathering of trainees.

The RETCC created a 16-week PCBs in the Environment course. Project and Core leaders and staff led the course lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities. Topics included the analytical chemistry and metabolism of PCBs, sources of airborne PCBs, bioremediation, data science of PCBs, research translation, and community engagement. The course was led by ISRP Director Dr. Keri Hornbuckle and RETCC Leader and Project 2 Co-Leader Dr. James Ankrum.

Please go to our video page to see videos of trainees explaining their research and interacting with communities. Also, take a look at our publications page. Between 2020 and 2023 trainees were co-authors on 47 peer-reviewed publications (some papers counted more than once due to multiple trainees as co-authors) and 31 datasets. 36 peer-reviewed publications in this time period had a trainee listed as the first-author, showing the tremendous productivity and leadership of ISRP trainees.