Hesburgh Libraries

When work becomes personal: Notre Dame team developing innovative home lead test

By Brendan O'Shaughnessy | September 25, 2018

When work becomes personal: Notre Dame team developing innovative home lead test

In early 2017, Notre Dame librarian Matthew Sisk offered his expertise in digital mapping to help a group of health and science professors tackling a public health problem: toxic lead poisoning local children.

A news report had found that children in the Near Northwest Neighborhood of South Bend had the state’s highest levels of lead in their blood. Sisk signed on to further refine the mapping and analysis of the state’s lead test data.

What he learned in just a few weeks prompted him to get his 1-year-old daughter, Laurie, tested for lead. Her results were below the state threshold for action, but still alarming for any first-time parent. Elevated lead levels can lead to serious cognitive, developmental and behavioral problems in children, ranging from hyperactivity to lower IQ.

“I was very committed to the project from the beginning, but suddenly it was personal,” Sisk said. “There’s no safe level of lead, so it’s a little scary.”

Read the full story about the Notre Dame Lead Innovation Team.


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