NSF Awards $7.9 Million to Establish Vermont's PFAS Environmental Research Network
核心洞察
The National Science Foundation has awarded $7.9 million to establish the PFAS (搜索) Environmental Research Network (PERN), a four-year initiative led by Bennington College (搜索).
The network unites Bennington College (搜索), Middlebury College (搜索), the University of Vermont, and Landmark College (搜索) with state agencies to study how PFAS (搜索) move through water systems and food webs.
UVM researchers will apply Bayesian analysis, machine learning, and data science to model PFAS (搜索) distribution, persistence, and human exposure pathways across Vermont.
The National Science Foundation has awarded $7.9 million to Bennington College (搜索) and three other Vermont institutions to establish the PFAS (搜索) Environmental Research Network (PERN), a four-year initiative uniting researchers, educators, students, and state partners to better understand and address environmental contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS or "forever chemicals."
Led by Bennington College (搜索) faculty member Tim Schroeder, PERN brings together researchers from the University of Vermont, Middlebury College (搜索), Landmark College (搜索), state agencies, and community partners to generate new knowledge that can guide future environmental management, public health decisions, and policy development. The award is supported by the National Science Foundation's EPSCoR Research Incubators for STEM Excellence (E-RISE) program.
A Persistent Environmental and Public Health Challenge
PFAS (搜索) are a persistent group of synthetic compounds used for decades in industrial applications and consumer products such as non-stick cookware, stain-resistant textiles, food packaging, and firefighting foams. These highly persistent compounds can remain in the environment for decades, moving through soil, water, wildlife, and ultimately into people. Chemicals classified as PFAS encompass an estimated 15,000 synthetic compounds, with most of the U.S. population having detectable amounts in their bloodstream.
Bennington and surrounding towns in Vermont and nearby New York were an early epicenter of testing and environmental remediation efforts related to PFAS (搜索) in area soils and groundwater. Contamination related to the industrial chemicals was discovered there in 2016 and is now recognized worldwide as a serious threat to water supplies and soils. Bennington College (搜索) faculty and students have been at the forefront of PFOA (搜索) and PFAS research since its discovery locally and linked by the state to former ChemFab Corp. factories.
"I have been working on the PFAS (搜索) contamination problem with students at Bennington College (搜索) since its discovery in southwestern Vermont in 2016," said Schroeder. "The most common questions I am asked now by residents are related to how these chemicals move through the natural food web. For the first time, this project will let us begin to meaningfully address those questions. Our goal is to provide real data so Vermonters can make informed decisions and to provide a framework for other communities across the country to address forever chemicals."
Following PFAS Through the Food Web
One of the greatest unknowns surrounding PFAS (搜索) is how these compounds accumulate in plants and animals and how that accumulation may affect people, particularly in rural communities where hunting, fishing, foraging, and other wild food gathering activities are common. While regulation has zeroed in on drinking water contamination, food consumption has been shown to be a primary route of exposure. With a strong culture of hunting and foraging, Vermonters' susceptibility is unknown, as few studies have investigated PFAS bioaccumulation in a terrestrial setting.
Researchers will measure PFAS (搜索) concentrations in fish, wildlife, plants, and fungi commonly consumed in Vermont to better understand how contamination moves through food webs and may contribute to human exposure. At UVM, co-principal investigator Bindu Pannikar, associate professor in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, will partner with researchers at Middlebury College (搜索) and build on previous health surveys to advance understanding of the human health impacts of PFAS exposure. In UVM's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Professor Jana Kraft will provide fatty acid analysis of fish tissues using lipid extraction methods, helping network researchers understand how PFAS move across ecosystems and accumulate through the food web.
Computational Modeling and Data Infrastructure
The UVM research team will use advanced computational tools to address critical questions surrounding PFAS (搜索) contamination and exposure, including how PFAS move through groundwater, how they spread into streams, forests, and wildlife, and which pathways present the greatest risks to human health.
"Our institutions have each been studying different aspects of PFAS (搜索) for years," said Kristen Underwood, research associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and UVM's principal investigator on the project. "These new resources allow us to collaborate more intentionally, share expertise, and generate research that can better inform decision-making and policy around these forever chemicals."
Underwood will lead efforts to develop sophisticated data-driven and probabilistic models that create a more complete picture of PFAS (搜索) distribution, persistence, exposure pathways, and potential health impacts across Vermont. Using Bayesian analysis, machine learning, and shared data resources, her team will work with collaborators statewide to identify where contamination occurs, how it persists, and how people and ecosystems may be exposed. Matthew Scarborough, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, will contribute expertise in biological process modeling and contaminant transport to help researchers understand how PFAS move through the natural environment and improve predictions of how PFAS interacts with the biosphere.
UVM will also play a central role in developing the digital infrastructure needed to support PFAS (搜索) research across Vermont, helping build a scalable data platform and a centralized database and web-based platform enabling users to share standardized PFAS data, analytical tools, and research findings.
Funding Distribution and Statewide Collaboration
Each institution will receive the bulk of the total funds — $4.8 million for Bennington College (搜索), $2 million for Middlebury College (搜索), $950,000 for UVM, and $138,000 for Landmark College (搜索) — for the first three years of the grant immediately. A small amount of each allocation will be distributed for the fourth year, based on successful completion of tasks and reporting.
The network will connect researchers across Vermont institutions with state agencies, including the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Health, and the Vermont Agricultural and Environmental Laboratory, to strengthen Vermont's PFAS (搜索) laboratory system, in alignment with the state's Science and Technology Plan. Together, partners will develop research, data, and educational tools designed to generate actionable knowledge that can support data-driven PFAS management and regulation while strengthening Vermont's research capacity and STEM workforce.
"We all deserve answers about how PFAS (搜索) contamination is affecting our water, food, and environment, and I'm proud to see Vermont institutions coming together to tackle that challenge head on," said U.S. Rep. Becca Balint. "This is exactly the kind of research and collaboration that federal investments should support: bringing our world-class colleges, students, scientists, and state partners together to solve a problem that affects communities here at home and across the country."
"As an advocacy group, the Vermont PFAS (搜索) Coalition knows that the best scientific research contributes to our efforts to advocate for effective policies and better solutions to the problems that 'forever chemicals' pose to our environment and health," said Marguerite Adelman, founder of the Vermont PFAS Coalition. "We are thrilled that Bennington College (搜索) is leading this worthy venture and will provide all Vermonters with a more rigorous understanding of the plague of PFAS."
According to the award announcement, PFAS (搜索) contamination "is a complex environmental challenge that no single institution or discipline can address alone. This collaborative effort strengthens the research capacity of Vermont's smaller, rural institutions and further strengthens the state's research infrastructure." By understanding the lingering threat of contamination through both living and non-living elements of Vermont's ecosystems, PERN will work to assess the threat while creating channels of understanding to inform policy locally, statewide, and wherever PFAS has contaminated the environment.