News

Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.

 

2020

Thursday, January 23, 2020

AirUCI faculty Jack Brouwer is quoted in a January 23rd Harvard Business Review article about cyberattacks and other threats to utilities. Preparation is key to preventing widespread and long term effects from outages of power, water, and emergency care systems.  To illustrate the risks we face by not planning, Jack cites the intentional California blackouts associated with wildfires in 2019; 248 hospitals were in regions that lost power. “I can’t overemphasize the calamity that these events cause at the neighborhood level. Hundreds of healthcare facilities don’t have back-up generators,” said Jack. “If you’re out of power for an hour, that’s fine, but for a couple of days — those lives count as much as those that would be lost in a fire.”  Read the article

Thursday, January 23, 2020

AirUCI researchers Lisa Wingen, Veronique Perraud, and Allison Vander Wall (Finlayson-Pitts group) submitted an article for publication to the journal Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts and Allison's cover art was accepted for the first issue of 2020 — congratulations! 

Thursday, January 9, 2020

In a January 9th Associated Press article on the effects of wildfire smoke, AirUCI faculty Mike Kleinman is quoted on his concerns about long-term health consequences of repeated exposure.  Studies of wildland firefighters also give insights into the risks of smoke inhalation from plants as well as toxins released in the burning of construction and household materials.  They’ve shown significantly higher rates of lung cancer and death from heart disease, according to Mike's research.  “It’s safe to say there will probably more effects at the long-term level,” he said.  “Especially if those events happened over a longer period of time or more repeatedly, there will be cumulative damage to the lung and heart which eventually will lead to chronic disease.”  Read the article

2019

Sunday, December 22, 2019

An article in the December 22nd edition of the New Yorker magazine quotes AirUCI faculty Steve Davis about the possibilities of "new" nuclear energy.  Steve is a proponent of renewable energy, and the article was referencing his current research into renewable capacities.  His work shows that if Japan could maximize wind and solar generation, construct energy storage facilities, and rebuild its electrical grid, they could provide at least 98% of their energy needs without nuclear or carbon-based power.  "It's doable," Steve says, but the price tag is the question."   Read the article

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

A December 17, 2019 article in the Los Angeles Times cites F. Sherwood Rowland as an inspiration to the scientists of today as they step out of the lab to advocate for scientific data and decisions which should be based in evidence and fact.  Many researchers are uncomfortable discussing the ramifications of their studies, but Sherry (an honorary AirUCI member from our founding to his death) demonstrated the necessity to speak out in response to moral imperative, and that it doesn't need to undermine the ability to carry out impartial and unbiased research.  Read the article

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Several current and former AirUCI researchers are among the authors and contributors to a book entitled Multiphase Environmental Chemistry in the Atmosphere, published in 2018 by the American Chemical Society as part of their ACS Symposium Series 1299.  The three editors are Dr. Sherri Hunt of the U.S. EPA (former AirUCI grad student and researcher), Dr. Alex Laskin of Purdue University (longtime AirUCI collaborator), and Dr. Sergey Nizkorodov (AirUCI co-Director).  This book is based on a selection of presentations that were given at the 2017 ACS fall meeting.
 
The purpose of this book series is to publish timely, comprehensive texts developed from ACS-sponsored symposia.  Our three editors make the case that creatively combining traditionally distinct fields of science in order to understand the complex atmospheric reactions and processes is the way forward in advancing research that will shed light on issues of air pollution and climate change.
 
The author index lists about 20 current and former members of our AirUCI team.  Several others are current and former AirUCI collaborators. The editors conspicuously credit Barbara Finlayson-Pitts for her breadth of knowledge and appreciation of the power of interdisciplinary research.
 
Download the chapters

Monday, November 25, 2019

AirUCI faculty Steve Davis has been named among the most highly-cited researchers for 2019.  This list recognizes world-class researchers selected for their exceptional research performance, demonstrated by production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in 'Web of Science'.  Steve, who is also frequently interviewed and quoted in radio programs and publications like Newsweek Magazine, Science, and Nature, was also selected in this 'Web of Science' list for 2018.  Congratulations, Steve!
 

Monday, November 25, 2019

AirUCI faculty Jack Brouwer has written an opinion piece in the Sunday, November 24th edition of USA Today.  His topic is repurposing oil and natural gas pipelines after we have moved beyond fossil fuels to store hydrogen which can be created using electolysis, a technology that converts electricity into hydrogen in gaseous form.  This carbon-free hydrogen gas can then be used to fuel the same type of low-emission power plants that are already in use today — zero-emission fuel cell plants.  AirUCI's partner institute, APEP, has tested this technology for over 10 years, and Jack is advocating for creative uses like this for pipelines.
Read the article

Friday, October 25, 2019

On Friday, October 25th, AirUCI co-Director Barbara Finlayson-Pitts will be among the presenters at the Interdisciplinary Research Showcase and Workshop, a day-long event to be held on campus.  Workshop sessions will address a wide range of topics of interest to UCI researchers, including hands-on tools for promoting effective cross-disciplinary collaboration and best practices for leading and sustaining interdisciplinary research and training programs. Barb will discuss the history and extraordinary collaborative successes of AirUCI.  RSVP to attend this event

Friday, October 18, 2019

An article on the Voice of America web site quotes AirUCI faculty Jack Brouwer on issues surrounding wildfire risks posed by California's electrical grid.  Distributed power production could reduce the need for transmission lines in high risk areas and allow “local production of renewable electricity, for example distributed solar and battery energy storage.  Those are very important technologies for avoiding wildfires,” said Jack.  He adds that new fuel cell technology, similar to that being introduced in cars, can create more local generation and notes that the university’s medical center gets 30 percent of its power from fuel cells.  Read the article

Pages