A student in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences assisted the Siouxland District Health Department with this goal by researching and mapping information about radon concentrations at zip code level throughout Woodbury County.

In collaboration with SIMPCO, the Siouxland District Health Department aims to decrease the number of homes in Sioux City with high radon levels, a strategy that could have the long-term benefit of decreasing the rate of lung cancer diagnoses in the area. This is a particularly salient concern for Iowans, as according to the EPA Iowa has the highest levels of radon in the country.

The students used de-identified data from the Radon Testing Kits that residents can purchase through Siouxland District Health. This information was used used by Siouxland District Health to inform both their programming and data collection in the future.