The Philadelphia Emerging Contaminants Initiative launched in September 2025 as a Penn Environmental Innovations Initiative (EII) Research Community with the goals of (1) increasing awareness of the prevalence and dangers of emerging contaminants, (2) bringing together researchers across the Philadelphia region with an interest in emerging contaminants, and (3) providing educational opportunities for students to learn how to conduct environmental sampling and contaminants analysis. We held workshops and trainings throughout the fall 2025 and spring 2026 semesters to introduce students to microplastics, toxic elements, and PFAS analysis. After training, student fellows refined their research questions in collaboration with workshop organizers (especially Dr. Derek Ho) and developed sampling strategies. They traveled to a variety of sites around Philadelphia to sample both environmental waters as well as tap water from different neighborhoods and developed research questions to address. Their final results are available below from their arcGIS story map:

​