Update on the NIEHS hurricane response portal.In the aftermath of devastation of the Gulf Coast, teams of NIEHS staff responded by mobilizing resources. Within the Division of Extramural Research and Training, a group of Superfund Basic Research Program The Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP) was created within the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in 1986 under the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA). grantees pooled resources to create an interactive, web-based geographic information system geographic information system (GIS) Computerized system that relates and displays data collected from a geographic entity in the form of a map. The ability of GIS to overlay existing data with new information and display it in colour on a computer screen is used primarily to (GIS) portal that provides the ability to share information, software, and computer processes across organizational boundaries. The NIEHS Environmental Health Science Data Resource Portal allows users to access demographic, public health, infrastructure, and environmental data, all of which are fully georeferenced in a user-friendly and highly customizable research environment (see http://www.apps.niehs.nih.gov/Katrina/). The spatial data sets incorporated into the portal contain basic infrastructure data such as those on roads and electric power plants, potential contaminant sources including Superfund and Toxic Release Inventory sites, hurricane flooding data, Census data, physiographic phys·i·og·ra·phy n. See physical geography. phys  i·og ra·pher n. data, and remote sensing
imagery both pre- and post-Katrina.
This portal is a collaborative effort, drawing expertise from the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). at San Diego, Duke University, Columbia University, University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky, also referred to as UK, is a public, co-educational university located in Lexington, Kentucky. , Research Triangle Institute The Research Triangle Institute (RTI) is a non-profit research organization based in the Research Triangle Park (RTP) of North Carolina. RTI is the oldest tenant of this major research park, and the sister organization to the Research Triangle Foundation. , and San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU), founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area (generally the City and County of San Diego), and is part of the California State University system. , with input from local government, housing, and community groups in the Gulf Coast region. The goal is to provide resources needed to monitor and evaluate the human health impacts of the hurricane events; assess/reduce human exposures to contaminants; and develop science-based remediation, rebuilding, and repopulation repopulation 1. introduction of new animals to a farm or part of it after it has been depopulated for health or production reasons. 2. the additional growth of normal cells around a tumor that is being destroyed by irradiation. strategies. The portal environment provides the research community with a flexible framework in which to collaborate and conduct analysis and visualization using a variety of data sets and web-based tools. Parts of the portal are open to the public. Secured areas can be used by researchers to upload and integrate their data into the existing data sets available within the portal. If interested in learning how the portal can be customized to meet your needs, contact hurricanegis@niehs.nih.gov. The NIEHS Environmental Health Science Data Resource Portal adds to the previously reported activities of the NIEHS Worker Education and Training Program grantees (Extramural Update. Environ Health Perspect 114:A115). This group developed a hazard awareness orientation PowerPoint presentation and booklet to provide field-accessible safety awareness information in a worker-friendly format. Both the portal and the hazardous awareness orientation materials were designed to provide access to critical and timely information in the event of similar disasters in the future. Contacts Claudia Thompson, Ph.D. | thomps14@niehs.nih.gov Beth Anderson | tainer@niehs.nih.gov |
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