Research Experience and Training Coordination Core

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 breadth 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 scientific and lay audiences
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 interdisciplinary 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.

Grant Number: 5P42ES027704-09
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Candice Brinkmeyer-Langford