Research Experience and Training Coordination Core

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Research Experience and Training Coordination Core (RETCC) ABSTRACT The Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center aims to characterize and manage both existing and environmental emergency-created hazardous waste sites through the development of tools that can be used by first responders, affected communities, and government bodies involved in site management and cleanup. The complexities of hazardous chemical exposures that occur as a result of environmental emergencies, their potential adverse health effects, and the need to rapidly and comprehensively evaluate and mitigate the potential hazards of exposures to complex mixtures call for a highly interdisciplinary and cohesive research program. The Center brings together a team of scientists from biomedical, engineering, data science, and social disciplines to design comprehensive solutions for complex exposure- and health hazard-related risk assessment and hazard reduction challenges. Given the diversity of the disciplines involved, the excellence of the investigators, and the tight integration of the fundamental and applied research, the Center will form an outstanding training environment for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and will create ample opportunities for integration and professional development of the next generation of researchers and practitioners. The Research and Experience Training Coordination Core (RETCC) will serve as a central hub for science and practice learning in the Center by focusing on the following objectives: (1) Promote interdisciplinary learning via collaborative projects across multiple Projects/Cores; (2) Augment trainees’ existing graduate and postdoctoral programs with targeted skill-building workshops; (3) Provide opportunities for interactions with diverse audiences (scientific and layperson) in support of the research translation functions of the Community Engagement and Administrative and Research Translation Cores; and (4) Track and evaluate trainee development and success. The Core will work closely with existing training programs at participating institutions and will be tightly integrated with the Interdisciplinary Faculty of Toxicology and T32 program, “Regulatory Science in Environmental Health and Toxicology,” at Texas A&M University. The Core will coordinate research and learning of postdoctoral fellows and doctoral students in all Projects and Cores. Distinctive features of the Core are topic-specific inter- disciplinary boot camps and a trainee exchange program across Center components or with outside stakeholders involved in emergency response to environmental disasters, modelled after the KC Donnelly Externship Award. These activities receive support from Texas A&M administration. It is expected that Center trainees will continue to be highly successful in academia, industry, governmental agencies and other professional settings and will improve public health protection through innovative and rigorous research and practice in support of decision- making.