Assistant Professor and CEnREP Affiliate Zach Raff has been appointed to the North Carolina Collaboratory’s PFAS Research Network. The PFAS Research Network is a multi-university research initiative established by the North Carolina General Assembly to help the state with its PFAS challenges. For example, the network’s 2026 Biosolids and Wastewater Program aims to help North Carolina utilities and state regulators understand how to reduce PFAS in biosolids.
This work involves identifying sources of contamination and designing mitigation strategies through a Research-Practice Partnership framework, supported by $1.5 million in state-sponsored funds. The research team is primarily composed of physical and environmental scientists from North Carolina universities, with Raff serving as the group’s economist, focusing on the financial and operational trade-offs of PFAS mitigation and on developing effective cost-sharing frameworks for utilities.