CREST: Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，佛罗里达国际大学将建立一个水生化学与环境研究中心。人类产生的环境污染物包括抗生素和药物、汞、黑碳和化石燃料。这些压力源被认为对生态系统和生物群以及人类健康有重大影响。了解控制这些化合物的命运及其对生态系统的影响的生物地球化学过程至关重要。水生化学与环境研究中心将研究在不断变化的土地利用和环境条件下，污染物、污染物和其他自然压力源的来源、运输、转化和生态系统反应。水生化学和环境中心将产生关于水生环境中的污染物和污染物的重要新知识，并产生检测和评估污染物数量和影响的创新方法，包括使用分子检测技术。拟议的研究将把目前在环境中污染物的生物效应、运输、转化和分布方面的努力推进到新的合作研究领域，以调查污染物和水生系统中污染物的来源和运输。该中心围绕环境化学、生物地球化学、生态学以及与区域水资源有关的数据综合和建模组织了三个研究子项目。第一个子项目将提高传统污染物分析方法的有效性，发展以前未知污染物的特征和量化方法，扩大分子生物学方法的适用性，以评估跨土地使用边界对水生生物的环境压力。第二个子项目使用新的传感技术来确定生物地球化学循环，包括污染物来源、储存、运输和转化。第三个研究子项目开发数据分析方法，使综合大型、复杂的数据集能够全面评估南佛罗里达水生生态系统的影响。水生化学与环境中心将为学生提供创新的机会，让他们体验真实的、与社会相关的环境研究，并培养他们成为未来的STEM专业人士。

Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the EnvironmentWith National Science Foundation support, Florida International University will establish the Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment. Human-derived environmental contaminants consist of antibiotics and pharmaceuticals, mercury, black carbon, and fossil fuels. These stressors are recognized as having significant effects on ecosystems and biota as well as on human wellbeing. It is critical to understand the biogeochemical processes that govern the fate of these compounds and their impacts on the ecosystem. Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment research will address the sources, transport, transformation and ecosystem responses to contaminants, pollutants and other natural stressors, under changing land-use and environmental conditions.The Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment will generate significant new knowledge regarding contaminants and pollutants in aquatic environments, as well as produce innovative methodologies for detecting and assessing contaminant quantities and impacts, including the use of molecular detection techniques. The proposed research will advance current efforts on the biological effects, transport, transformation and distribution of contaminants in the environment into new collaborative research areas that investigate the sources and transport of contaminants and pollutants in aquatic systems.The Center articulates three research subprojects organized around environmental chemistry, biogeochemistry, ecology and data synthesis and modeling as they pertain to regional water resources. The first subproject will advance the effectiveness of approaches for the analysis of traditional pollutants, develop methodologies for the characterization and quantification of previously unknown contaminants and extend the applicability of molecular biology methodologies to assess environmental stressors to aquatic organisms across land-use boundaries. The second subproject uses new sensing techniques to determine biogeochemical cycles including contaminant sources, storage, transport and transformations. The third research subproject develops data analytic methods to enable synthesis across large, complex data sets to allow holistic effects assessment for understanding South Florida's aquatic ecosystem.The Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment will establish innovative opportunities for students to experience authentic and socially relevant environmental research and foster their development as future STEM professionals.