UT Tyler professor awarded USDA grant

TYLER – Shawana Tabassum, PhD, assistant professor of electrical engineering at The University of Texas at Tyler, has received a nearly $319,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to develop wearable sensors for freshwater fish to enhance water toxicity monitoring. According to a news release, a recent report from the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project found that half of U.S. rivers and streams are so polluted that they are classified as “impaired.” “It is crucial to provide ‘early warning’ monitoring of the fish health, which in turn, signifies water quality,” said Tabassum as quoted in the release. “This is an innovative project that addresses an important problem, which is the preservation of aquatic environments,” said Steven Idell, MD, PhD, UT Tyler senior vice president for research, also as quoted in the release.