UNC Charlotte recognized by EPA

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte was recently selected as one of three winners of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2015 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) University Challenge.

The program aims to increase awareness of industrial releases of toxic chemicals into the air water and land, as well as increase the use of available data pertaining to the issue. TRI also provides information on preventive and responsive measures taken by industries to combat the effects of these releases. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte was selected based on a faculty proposal.

The TRI University Challenge identifies academic partners that the EPA works with to create data visualization and analytics, making the information more easily digested for actions like public policy development, sustainable corporate governance and environmental education.

“For more than 25 years, the TRI program has gathered data critical to helping communities make informed decisions about their environment,” EPA Chief Information Officer Ann Dunkin said. “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.”

The other 2015 University Challenge partners are Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Mercyhurst University.