June 11, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - The ENVIRON Foundation announced this week that it will make a two-year, $100,000 grant to Western Kentucky University for a project that will provide training to scientists and government officials in methods to improve water resources in the limestone karst regions of southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
WKU’s China Environmental Health Project (CEHP) works to improve public health in China through university partnerships, focusing on water resources in southwest China’s extensive limestone karst regions and impacts of coal combustion on air quality. With major support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) made possible with the help of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a key goal of CEHP is to involve WKU and Chinese students in the process, to make the work sustainable by increasing the Chinese academic infrastructure to continue the work into the future. Other partners include the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction.
Since 2005, the ENVIRON Foundation has provided financial assistance to endeavors that promote protection of human health and the global environment through relevant education, training, applied research, and direct initiatives. Its impact is being realized throughout the world, with projects working to improve public health in locations as diverse as Vietnam, Azerbaijan and Romania.
“The ENVIRON Foundation is pleased to be able to support WKU in its efforts to improve access to water resources and public health in China,” said Dr. George O. Linkletter, chair of the ENVIRON Foundation Committee. “The goals of our groups are closely aligned, in particular as one of the Foundation’s goals is to promote governmental and business decision making that is informed by scientific principles and by public engagement.”
“This is just how the congressional appropriation process should work,” according to Dr. Chris Groves, who directs the CEHP and authored the new grant. “The support of USAID has helped us to develop an infrastructure that then becomes sustainable through the support of a variety of funding agencies, such as The ENVIRON Foundation.” The CEHP is a program of the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute within WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program.
The ENVIRON Foundation grant will enable CEHP to expand its existing training programs by working with scientists and students at Southwest University of China (SWUC) to conduct training in karst hydrogeology for local and provincial level officials in Yunnan Province, where WKU-SWUC teams have been conducting fieldwork near China’s border with Vietnam.
“Ongoing research in China funded by these types of grants is part of the department’s mission to engage faculty and students in issues of global significance,” said Geography and Geology Department Head David Keeling. “What we learn from experiences in China can be incorporated into both experiential and project-based learning for students here on campus and in our local community.”
For more information, visit the China Environmental Health Project website at www.wku.edu/cehp/ or contact Chris Groves at (270) 745-5201 or chris.groves@wku.edu.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Chris Groves at (270) 745-5201.
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