A new research center, led by engineers and scientists at The
Johns Hopkins University, plans to address these fears by
creating new tools to gauge risks associated with hazardous
waste sites and by developing new ways to clean up harmful
pollutants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently
approved a five-year $5.2 million grant to launch this new
Center for Hazardous Substances in Urban Environments, based at
Johns Hopkins. The funds will support research and allow center
participants to provide technical help to community groups,
state, municipal and local environmental regulators and industry
representatives in the Northeast. Researchers from four other
institutions the University of Maryland, Morgan State
University, the University of Connecticut and the New Jersey
Institute of Technology will participate in the new center and
share in the EPA grant. "Before we applied for this grant, we
asked regional EPA officials about the most serious challenges
they faced," said Ed Bouwer, a Johns Hopkins p