Mold Map Grant
Aslihan Karatas, from the Department of Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering, has been awarded a new three-year grant of nearly $1 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Healthy Homes Technical Studies program to develop a mold map predictive risk assessment for homes in Chicago.
Karatas is collaborating on this project with Assistant Professor Andrew Foell from UIC’s College of Social Work, Associate Professor Michael Cailas and Adjunct Assistant Professor Apostolis Sambanis from UIC’s College of Public Health, and community partner Gamaliel of Metro Chicago.
The project is geared toward developing a user-friendly cost-effective predictive tool for community organizations and city health officials to identify and map houses at-risk of hidden mold growth without having to go through costly physical mold inspection.
“We are collaborating to support a community in Chicago’s east end of Pilsen by inspecting 100 houses for mold issues, a significant concern for overburdened communities,” said Karatas, director of the Built Environment and Infrastructure Laboratory. “Thanks to the generous grant from HUD, we will also provide necessary mold remediation, whether minor or major, based on their specific needs.”
The researchers plan to collect data that will help them understand how they can predict the mold occurrences in those neighborhoods. Right now, there are many variables to consider and it’s difficult to know exactly what triggers the occurrences.
“When you see mold on the walls, it’s too late to remediate it or it’s too expensive. We are trying to find a way to predict it before it becomes a major issue, which will save money on the cost of repairing those houses and more importantly the health of the occupants,” she said.