Synthetic polymers which mimic black carbon materials can be created in the laboratory and applied to soil and water along with specialized bacteria to break down hazardous contaminants. The development of these “tunable materials” and determining their impact on bioremediation of halogenated groundwater pollutants is the focus of a five-year $1.467 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental and Health Sciences awarded to Tim Mattes, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Iowa and Wenqing Xu, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Villanova University.