A List
1/12/04

SLU PROF RECEIVES VERMONT DEC GRANT FOR AIR QUALITY STUDY

CANTON – St. Lawrence University Assistant Professor of Chemistry Ning Gao has 
been awarded a $15,000 grant from the Vermont Department of Environmental 
Conservation (DEC), to study the air quality of the Lake Champlain Basin. 
	The grant will be used to cover the costs of research, including 
undergraduate student research assistants and summer interns.
	Gao has been engaged in research concerning Lake Champlain for several 
years, some funded by the Vermont DEC. Primarily, her research examines the 
variety of  pathways that have led to mercury depositions in Lake Champlain. 
Much of her research has involved undergraduate students as assistants and 
partners. 
      This most recently funded study will involve the study of already 
acquired data on air quality in the Lake Champlain Basin, employing a 
number of source-receptor models, in order to evaluate the possible regional 
origins of air pollutants. The ambient air quality of a region has an 
impact on an area's residents, not only if toxins are inhaled, but also 
because they may contaminate water supplies. Some 34 percent of the 600,000 
residents of the Lake Champlain Basin depend upon Lake Champlain to supply 
their drinking water.
      Gao is a graduate of Zhongshan University in China, with a master's 
degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Ph.D. from 
Clarkson University. 

-30-

Back To News Releases
Back to St. Lawrence Homepage