IUPUI is Indiana's premier urban research university. The campus enrolls more than 30,000 students in 21 schools and academic units.
Featured Scholars : Lenore Tedesco
Associate Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
Purdue School of Science
Director, Center for Earth and Environmental Science
(CEES)
ltedesco@iupui.edu
Dr. Lenore Tedesco cares a lot about the water we drink and how we can better manage this precious resource. Her translational research has resulted in a spectrum of community-based solutions. She works closely with Veolia Water Indianapolis, which has committed to a long-term partnership with the Center for Earth and Environmental Science, in an effort to apply these ideas both locally and to other communities around the world. Her team's water resources applied research is providing answers for improved water resource management for central Indiana drinking water.
These efforts include developing analysis tools and understanding causes of water quality degradation. Education and outreach are critical to engaging the community in personal solutions for water resource protection. Her efforts are also manifest in the development of successful school-based programs that get kids excited about their environment and how to keep our water supplies safe and plentiful. To support children's understanding of, and appreciation for, clean and healthy waterways, a technology-based, science education program on water, air and energy has been developed called Discovering the Science of the Environment.
The program is funded by a consortium of corporate and community partners including Veolia Water Indianapolis, the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, Eli Lilly and Company, IPL, Duke, Dow AgroSciences, and the Hoover Family Foundation. The curriculum is enhanced through the use of a mobile science trailer that facilitates in-depth analysis of scientific experimentation in environmental habitats unique to each neighborhood.
Professor Tedesco's translation of educational models to help people learn about water and its importance for our environment is another example of how IUPUI's faculty members are TRANSLATING their RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE.
