Integrating Research and Education: Tracking Arsenic from Pressure-treated Wood

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

PI: Tyson Institution: U of Massachusetts This award supports a research and education project at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) under the direction of Julian Tyson. He will investigate procedures to determine the arsenic content in soils and water with the goal of devising one that middle and high school students can use to investigate arsenic leaching from pressure treated wood into the environment. The first phase of the project will involve research towards developing a low cost field test using spectrophotometric detection techniques. This will result in an analysis procedure and apparatus suitable for use by K-12 students. In the second phase, the test procedure will be field tested in middle and high school classrooms in Springfield MA. It will also be incorporated into the UMass undergraduate analytical chemistry laboratory classes. The research team aims to create curricular materials for use both at the middle school-high school level and the undergraduate level.