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Accolades & Honors

Pitt researchers earned an EPA grant to study the health impacts of increased rainfall

A puddle reflects a building on the pavement

Three Pitt faculty members are on a team that earned an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to study the health impacts of increased rainfall among residents in predominantly Black, low-income neighborhoods.

The $1.3 million grant will fund new data collection among homes in a Black, disinvested urban neighborhood in Pittsburgh. Researchers have been studying the cohort for the past decade. This project builds on that infrastructure to focus on bacterial and fungal pathogens and indoor air quality in the residential basements.

Sarah Haig, assistant professor in the Swanson School of Engineering, will lead the project; also on the team are Daniel Bain, associate professor in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and Emily Elliot, professor in the Dietrich School and director of the Pittsburgh Collaboratory for Water Research, Education and Outreach.

The team — which also includes researchers from the Rand Corporation, Homewood Children’s Village and the Black Environmental Collective — will also generate community-based solutions to address health risks related to wet basements and heavy rainfall.

Learn more about the study and its goals from the Swanson School of Engineering.