COLUMBUS (WCMH) — The Ohio State University has announced the first round of winners of grant money dedicated to battling the opioid epidemic.

In 2017, university leaders pledged $1 million to the Opioid Intervention Fund, dedicated to advancing research and developing solutions to the crisis.

Eight teams of researchers and medical professionals were awarded grants ranging from $45,000 to $100,000.

One of the teams, the recipient of $96,762, is focused on creating the Franklin County Opioid Crisis Activity Levels (FOCAL) Map.

Researchers will gather data from 22 EMS organizations to track specifically where overdoses occur.

The purpose is to identify where there are high overdose rates with little or difficult access to treatment or recovery centers.

“We are really excited to be able to take some of this information and give it back to the EMS agencies, to the fire departments and say ‘thank you for providing us this data, and now we would like to share that information back with you so that you can plan for your own community what works and what doesn’t,’” said Dr. Ayaz Hyder, an assistant professor with OSU’s Division of Environmental Health.

The grant distributions are just the beginning of the university’s efforts to battle the opioid epidemic, according to university officials.