National Science Foundation supports Virginia Tech engineer in efforts to improve public school infrastructure

With more than 53 million children in the U.S. spending time in some 135,000 school buildings across the country, concern about the possible indoor pollution they are exposed to for several hours a day is understandable. Possible contaminants include asbestos, lead, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), radon, pesticides, and biological agents such as fungi and bacteria.

“As with the bulk of the national civil infrastructure, the public school infrastructure is at risk of deterioration and in need of systematic condition management,” said Deborah Young-Corbett, an assistant professor who directs the Occupational and Construction Hazard Reduction Engineering (OCHRE) Laboratory, part of the Myers-Lawson School of Construction and the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. More