Michigan State University wins $800,000 STAR grant from EPA

Michigan State University won an $800,000 grant under the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) STAR (Science to Achieve Results) program on Tuesday and will use the funds to study the ecological impacts of manufactured chemicals.

Michigan State is joined in this round of STAR grants by the University of California, Santa Barbara; Harvard University; University of North Carolina at Wilmington; Oregon State University; and Texas Tech University.

The university will use its STAR grant to study a method that can predict the effects of chemicals via the adverse outcome pathway for neurological function in fish.

“This innovative research will provide new approaches to evaluate how chemicals influence the health of ecological systems," EPA Office of Research and Development Deputy Assistant Administrator Thomas A. Burke, who also serves as the agency’s Science Adviser, said. "These approaches can help predict and, more importantly, prevent chemical impacts. This knowledge will help us more effectively protect the environment from adverse impacts of chemicals over time.”

The STAR grants are part of the EPA’s Chemical Safety for Sustainability program, which supports research into new methods for improved chemical evaluation.