Newswise — Two Indiana State University departments, in conjunction with the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and the American Trucking Association, have received a $600,000, five-year grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to manage the EPA's Transportation Environmental Resource Center (TERC), an environmental compliance assistance resource center designed to provide technical assistance to the transportation sector.
The Department of Aerospace Technology and the Department of Health, Safety and Environmental Health Science will assist in the update, research, development and maintenance of a website — http://www.transource.org — which provides the transportation industry with environmental compliance information affecting all areas of the transportation sector, including air, water and rail. The trucking page is managed by the American Trucking Associations.
"The center provides the transportation industry with a one-stop service center," said Greg Schwab, chairperson of the Department of Aerospace Technology. "The center will not only translate rules and regulations for these industries, but will serve as an educational tool for anyone interested in these issues. There will also be opportunities for Indiana State to host regional conferences on various topics."
For example, information is available on the website about oil spills and when and how to report them. There is also information on emergency procedures regarding hazardous materials and how to store them. People interested in aviation can read such things as a de-icing fluid study and storm water management requirements.
AAAE, in cooperation with seven other trade associations, has designed, developed and maintained the TERC since 1998.
Including AAAE, the seven associations are:Regional Airline Association; Association of American Railroads; Air Transportation Association; American Trucking Associations; American Waterways Operators; American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association.
"AAAE will continue to manage, maintain and supplement TERC toward its goal of reduced reliance on federal funding. Technological enhancements, tracking of transportation-related environmental management systems, the organization of a Regional Transportation Environmental Compliance Assistance Roundtable and a National Transportation Environmental Compliance Assistance Workshop, together with new partnerships to improve outreach, will help achieve this goal," the proposal stated.
The two ISU departments will identify, update and supplement compliance assistance needs and close gaps in the environmental compliance assistance services in the transportation industry. They will assist AAAE in the ongoing research and environmental compliance needs of the transportation industry and will help AAAE maintain the content of the website.
ISU will also assist AAAE to produce web-based training modules on the Best Practices in Environmental Management for the transportation industry. These modules on topics such as spill prevention control and countermeasures, storm water management and environmental management systems will be prioritized.Indiana State will also contribute to information on the website through its own research.
"We will conduct an assessment to identify and supplement compliance assistance needs regarding environmental compliance issues among different transportation industries," said Shaiw-Fen Ferng, professor of health, safety and environmental health sciences. "We will be developing and collecting web-based questionnaires, running statistical analysis and writing needs-assessment reports for AAAE. The result of this research will be used to prioritize the development of web-based training modules on the best practices in environmental management for transportation industries."
Indiana State was selected for this project for many reasons, said Claudio Ternieden, director of environmental affairs for the AAAE. "ISU was selected because of its multiple capabilities, both in multimedia technology as well as its transportation expertise through the aerospace program," he said. "AAAE, in partnership with Indiana State University, will bring a solid base of knowledge, experience and extensive technical and organization capabilities that will help TERC grow and become self-sufficient."
ISU alumnus Craig Williams, who graduated in 1993 with a degree in aviation administration, played an instrumental role in uniting the AAAE and Indiana State in the project. Williams, now staff vice president for regulatory affairs for AAAE, knew the organization was looking for a college or university to partner with in the project. He encouraged Schwab and Ternieden to consider working together. Ternieden is also a former employee of Indiana's Department of Environmental Management.
The two entities started with a potential partnership for a much smaller grant, "but when the opportunity came for the larger grant, we already had the communication process in place and it seemed like a natural fit for AAAE and ISU," Williams said.
Two students —Serena Guan, a doctoral student in curriculum, instruction and media technology from Chengdu, Sichuan, China, and Will Kaufman, a senior majoring in environmental health sciences from Lewis, Ind. — have been working on the website.
"So far we have added two sections to the website — State Resources and Training, which is under construction now," Guan said. Guan will continue working on the training section, adding videos and other tools. The plan is to have that section completed in the fall, she said. She will continue working on the website. Kaufman graduated May 8, so another student will probably be sought to replace him.
The updated site is expected to be up-and-running by the end of 2004.Kaufman spent about 125 hours researching and organizing information on state resources and contacts and linking to the information off an easy-to-use map of the United States.
"You click on a state and information on its Department of Natural Resources and other state agencies appear," Kaufman explained. "It puts all the information in one place so it is quick and easy to use."
The project, Guan and Kaufman agree, has been a challenging and meaningful addition to their college careers.
"I am very happy and excited to work on this grant," Guan said. Not only can I apply what I have learned in educational technology for this project, but also I can broaden my experiences and learn from this project. One of the tasks for the project is web-based training module design, which is related to my academic program and it also provides an opportunity for my future research."
"This taught me a lot about website design, which is something I wouldn't have learned if I hadn't been involved in this project," Kaufman said. "It also has helped me to polish my skills in locating and interpreting environmental regulations. I know where to go for resources and I know how the environmental regulation system works."
Michael M. Stahl, director of the Office of Compliance for the EPA, notified Ternieden of Indiana State's and AAAE's selection for the funding.
"A panel of experts in the subject areas covered by the announcement carefully reviewed all of the applications received in response to our program announcement," Stahl said in a letter to Ternieden. "The reviewers evaluated the applications against the published criteria and their assessments were the primary basis for the final decision on each application. The limited availability of funds permitted us to select only the highest ranked application."
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