Bennington College has been awarded an $89,810 National Science Foundation Rapid Response grant to offer a new course and conduct original research on PFOA contamination in Hoosick Falls, New York and North Bennington, Vermont.
The chemical PFOA has been detected in water near the college and the state is testing almost 150 wells to see how far the contamination spread.
David Bond is Associate Director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA) at Bennington College.
Bond says the college was planning to offer a class on the water situation in Hoosick Falls, which is just 10 miles from Bennington.
“Support from the NSF will allow Bennington College to do what it does best: engage the big problems of our present directly," Bond says. "We want to put students and faculty to work crafting new insights and new solutions in real-time."
Bond is joined on the grant by Chemistry Faculty Janet Foley and Geology Faculty Tim Schroeder.
