Objectives:

Our primary objective in establishing a Center for Environmental Toxicology and Statistics was to promote an existing interdisciplinary relationship between faculty in the statistics and life sciences departments at Miami University.

With the advent of the use of tremendous quantities of chemicals in society, concerns arise as to the safety of these chemicals. Assessing the "safety", or at least attempting to quantify the magnitude of the adverse response associated with the use of these chemicals, is a major objective in environmental toxicology.

Environmental toxicology, the study of the nature and mechanism of toxic effects of substances on living organisms, populations and ecosystems, is fundamentally an interdisciplinary science. In particular, knowledge of physiology and chemistry are required for understanding the mode of action of a toxin in an individual organism. Background study in genetics is needed to understand early changes in toxin-exposed populations. Examination of the population level effects of a toxin requires understanding of the relationships within communities and ecosystems. In the host of studies that are conducted to evaluate these questions, various experimental decisions must be made (e.g., spacing of doses, number of doses, amount of replication).

The above decisions involve the integration of statistical design and analysis at all levels of study within environmental toxicology. This integration continues when the construction of appropriate summary measures of chemical toxicity are considered. The Center for Environmental Toxicology and Statistics, explicitly recognizes the importance of cross-departmental collaboration in the study of such complicated phenomena.

Faculty Participants:

The following Miami faculty (permanent positions) have research interests in environmental toxicology and statistics. These faculty direct or serve on graduate student research committees for over 20 students in environmental toxicology. In addition, these faculty teach the statistics, toxicology, environmental analytical chemistry and applied ecology course sequences for graduate students in the environmental sciences.

Faculty who are currently participating in research relevant to the interests of this center:

Department of Zoology:

• Tom Crist, Ph.D., Ecological impacts associated with toxicant exposures
• Sheldon Guttman, Ph.D., Population responses to toxicant exposures
• Jim Oris, Ph.D., Aquatic toxicology and chemistry

Department of Mathematics and Statistics:

• John Bailer(a), Ph.D., Endpoint estimation and toxicological study design
• Mike Hughes, M.S., Computational statistics and statistical consulting
• Bob Noble, Ph.D., Multivariate analysis and toxicology study design
• Bob Schaefer, Ph.D., Analysis of repeated measures experiments
• Kyoungah See, Ph.D., Experimental design and multivariate statistics

(a) affiliate member of the Department of Zoology

Department of Microbiology:

• Robert Findlay, Ph.D., Microbial ecology and toxicology

Department of Botany:

• David Francko, Ph.D., Physiological limnology, algal and aquatic macrophyte physiological ecology, nutrient dynamics, toxicity, and wetland ecology

James Oris Department of Zoology Miami University Oxford, OH 45056 513-529-3194 (orisjt@muohio.edu)

OR

A. John Bailer Department of Mathematics and Statistics Miami University Oxford, OH 45056 513-529-3538 (ajbailer@muohio.edu)

1. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Miami University
2. Biological Sciences, Miami University
3. Statistical Consulting Center, Miami University
4. Environmental Resources on the Internet

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