Foundation Funds Air Pollution Researcher

A doctoral candidate at the School of Public Health has received a grant of $7500 to study regional air pollution patterns.

The Bird Companies Charitable Foundation of East Walpole awarded the grant to Mary Ellen Coffey. Coffey is conducting one of the first studies of the relationship between weather conditions and the concentration of sulfur dioxide over a large metropolitan area.

"The Federal Government has greatly reduced its support for graduate education over the past few years," Dade W. Moeller, associate director of the Kresge Center for Environmental Health, said in a written statement. "The financial support offered graduate students, particularly in the physical sciences, through grants by small charitable foundations, is critical to such avenues of study."

Three students have won grants for environmental health projects from industrial foundations, and Moeller said yesterday that he is actively searching for such funds for six other projects.

When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in December 1970, the administration of training grants in environmental health was transferred from HEW to EPA. Although the amount of allocated funds has remained the same, the new agency found it more productive to distribute funds to masters candidates rather than to doctoral candidates, Moeller said.

EPA's Preference

The EPA's preference for masters students stems from a desire to fight pollution with current laws and technology, Moeller said. Universities support doctoral candidates who are more concerned with the development of new techniques for combating pollution, he added.

Other Recommendations

In addition to the EPA fund switch, the Office of Management and Budget has recommended a 50 per cent reduction in Federal funds for all air, water, and radiation pollution grants. Moeller predicted that the subsequent protest by universities should result in only a 25 per cent cut.

In the past the School of Public Health relied on small industrial foundations like Bird for other needs such as endowment and construction. Now the Center for Environmental Health hopes these foundations will fill the void left by the Federal Government.

Approximately $8000 is required to support a doctoral candidate for one year.