OU graduate student awarded EPA fellowship

Laura Brunson, a doctoral student in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, recently received a research fellowship from the Environmental Protection Agency for her work in water purification. (Astrud Reed/The Daily)
OU graduate student awarded EPA fellowship
By Kathleen Evans, The Oklahoma Daily
Published: October 5, 2011
Laura Brunson, a doctoral student in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, recently received a research fellowship from the Environmental Protection Agency for her work in water purification. (Astrud Reed/The Daily)

Research by an OU graduate student that helps reduce the fluoride levels in water, which causes bone deformations after prolonged drinking exposure, won a fellowship with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Environmental science graduate student Laura Brunson received the EPA Science to Achieve Results fellowship, which offers an approximate $120,000 stipend over three years for living and research, according to a press release.

“I didn’t really expect to win. You know, you set out to write a good application and try the best you can, but it’s really competitive and there are lots of people all around the country doing really awesome research,” Brunson said. “So, I was pretty excited. It’s good for me to know I can pay my rent, but it also helps my professor because these are expenses he would have had to cover.”

Brunson’s research looks at ways to remove fluoride from water in developing countries, primarily Ethiopia because of connections formed with professors there in the summer of 2009, Brunson said. She is currently working with them to locate a specific area with specific needs to test her filtration methods.....