Melanie Malone awarded Royalty Research Fund

IAS faculty member Melanie Malone received a Royalty Research Fund (RRF) of $39,993 for her research on contaminant sources in organic urban community gardens. Building off her pilot project on contamination in soils in urban community gardens in Seattle, WA and Brooklyn, NY, the RRF will allow Malone to also sample plants grown in community gardens to determine whether or not plants consumed by community gardeners contain harmful contaminants.

The research will also be used to support efforts to minimize gardener interaction and consumption of contaminated materials in gardens, and will encourage community partners to engage in collaborative citizen science.