WORCESTER, Mass. – A Nashua student was on a team of Worcester Polytechnic Institute undergraduates who researched and implemented solutions for reducing elementary school students’ exposure to lead in schools, winning the WPI President’s IQP Award.

As part of their required IQP – interactive qualifying project – seniors Trevor M. Rancourt, of Nashua; Brianna S. Hayes, of Marble Falls, Texas; Taylor C. McNally, of Burrillville, R.I.; and Tracy M. Sinkewicz, of Georgetown, Mass., traveled to Thailand, where students are susceptible to numerous health problems because of lead exposure in schools and the environment.

Rancourt and his teammates placed first among five teams that won the award.

The team designed a program to inform elementary school students, teachers and administrators about the sources, effects, prevention and mitigation of lead exposure.

Input from teachers was used to create a package of educational materials, including lesson plans, pamphlets, posters, stickers and instructional videos. All materials were made accessible on a website. The program was tested at two schools, and evaluations showed it to be effective.

The project was done in collaboration with Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The WPI faculty advisers were Stanley Selkow and Seth Tuler.

Also winning the award was Matthew Valcourt, of Nashua, and teammates Jay Ringenbach, of Huntington, Mass., and Wenli Wang, of Jiaozuo, China, with their project, “Mapping the Potential for Urban Agriculture in Worcester: A Land Inventory Survey.”

The awards were presented Friday, Jan. 31.