CEMS To Help Environment
Stony Brook, N.Y., January 14, 2003 —The opening of Stony Brook’s new Center for Environmental Molecular Science (CEMS)—supported by $5.7 million in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF)—was celebrated on November 1 with a reception in the Earth and Space Sciences Building. Among those who spoke were Richard Reeder, CEMS Director; Arthur Ellis, Director of the NSF Chemistry Division; Assemblyman Steve Englebright; Provost Robert McGrath; Gail Habicht, Vice President for Research; and Creighton Wirick, Chair of Brookhaven National Laboratory’s (BNL) Environmental Sciences Department.
The creation of the new Center is extremely timely, given current societal concerns about water, soil, and air quality, especially in the New York area. It also represents one of only two new environmental molecular science institutes funded nationwide this year by the NSF.
The Center’s scientific agenda involves investigating the behavior of contaminants in the soil and how they affect the environment. This will be achieved by examining systems that occur naturally in the environment and also materials that have been specifically engineered to absorb pollutants.
In addition to the scientific goals, there will also be a major commitment to educational and outreach efforts in the area of environmental science, which will be focused at high school and undergraduate students as well as toward the local community. “Beyond the science agenda, the Center will be involved in creating outreach programs to expose youth to science,” said Reeder. “It is a true interdisciplinary effort.”
The new NSF Center represents a formal collaboration between Stony Brook and BNL, with the Department of Energy providing additional funding to support research efforts at BNL. What makes the CEMS unique is the wide cross-section of disciplines involved in the Center’s activities. Reeder is a Professor in the Department of Geosciences, and Associate Director Clare Grey is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Leading the research efforts from Stony Brook are Principal Investigators Martin Schoonen, Brian Phillips, and John Parise from Geosciences; Nick Fisher from the Marine Sciences Research Center; Gary Halada from Materials Science; and Chris Jacobsen from Physics. Two scientists, one from Penn State and one from Temple University, are also involved.
“This is a collaborative effort integrating research and education, which will produce science that will benefit the country,” said Provost Robert McGrath.
