July 26, 2011

In the spring of 2011, Paul Mohai, SNRE professor, and Byoung-Suk Kweon, U-M research investigator, completed an extensive study that found that Michigan schools located in areas with the highest industrial air pollution levels had the lowest attendance rates — an indicator of poor health — as well as the highest proportions of students who failed to meet state educational testing standards even after controlling for factors such as school demographics, expenditures and location.That study, funded by the Kresge Foundation, was published in the journal Health Affairs and received wide media attention.

Now, Mohai and Kweon are taking their work to the next level: developing state and national policies to guide school siting. The team recently received a $865,000, three-year grant from Kresge to study multiple states to determine if the patterns found in Michigan reflect a national problem, and reach out to relevant state and national stakeholders in multiple ways to find a path toward effective policies for school siting.