Blue Lab is excited and honored to be joining an interdisciplinary team on the project, Forever chemicals, ecological futures: A collaboration of bioremediation science and multimedia storytelling.

The project is supported by the Collaborations between Artists and Scientists or Engineers fund at Princeton University, which encourages collaborations between faculty and scholars in the arts and those in the natural sciences or engineering to promote synergistic innovations, allowing experts in seemingly unrelated fields to expand their collective knowledge in ways that benefit both disciplines.

PIs on the Forever Chemicals project include:

  • José Avalos, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
  • Allison Carruth, Professor of American Studies and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, Director of the Program in Environmental Studies, Director of Blue Lab
  • Peter Jaffe, William L. Knapp '47 Professor of Civil Engineering, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • David Reinfurt, Professor of the Practice, Visual Arts in the Lewis Center for the Arts

This collaboration connects biological and environmental engineering with science communication and visual media to engage diverse communities with the ecological ubiquity of long-lived environmental contaminants known as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The researchers, which include Research Associate Scholar Mansha Seth Pasricha, will combine the development of bioengineering solutions to biodegrade these forever chemicals with the production of an innovative lab-to-field series of mixed-media documentary shorts, data visualizations, and local events involving science museums, environmental justice groups, and community arts organizations to raise awareness and engage responses.