AirUCI faculty James Randerson and his graduate student Shane Coffield (who just graduated this summer!) have written an opinion piece in the November 29, 2022 Los Angeles Times describing their studies of carbon uptake by trees planted to offset the carbon footprint of corporations. These offset forests aren't having nearly the impact claimed by the companies that plant them. For example, logging companies aren’t logging less than they did before they invested in protecting that land so no real offsets are achieved. There are, however, better approaches to reaching the desired outcomes of offset forest practices. Read the article
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2022
Monday, November 28, 2022
AirUCI faculty Jun Wu is the subject of the November 28, 2022 Academic Minute item as they examine the effects of the environment on pre-term births. Read the article
Thursday, November 17, 2022
AirUCI grad student Cynthia Wong is among the recipients of UCI's School of Physical Sciences Advancing Inclusive Excellence Award for 2022. Along with four other grad students in the Department of Chemistry, Cynthia received the award for Fostering Community in the Department of Chemistry: Student-Led Organizations Mixer. Congratulations, Cynthia!
Thursday, November 17, 2022
UC Irvine boasts 16 faculty among the 2022 list of Most Highly Cited Researchers, and three of these 16 are AirUCI faculty — Steve Davis, James Randerson, and Voya Stamenkovic. The list of nearly 7,000 scientists is drawn from papers that rank in the top 1 percent by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index over the past decade, and determines "who's who" among influential researchers. Read the article
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Scott Samuelsen, AirUCI faculty and Director of AirUCI partner APEP, is the Primary Investigator on a groundbreaking new project to build the first community microgrid projects in California. This new housing development will feature two neighborhoods with self-supporting energy systems that can be connected if needed. Working with several partners — the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), SunPower, KB Home, Southern California Edison (SCE), and Schneider Electric (SE) — this testing and demonstration project equips each home with smart energy systems which will be monitored and evaluated by APEP to enhance these technologies. Read the article
Friday, October 21, 2022
Along with researchers at UC Davis, AirUCI faculty Jun Wu and Shahir Masri, an AirUCI research specialist in her group, have published an article in Climate that shows how the correlation between high temperatures and airborne particle concentrations disproportionately affect lower income residents. Periods of high summer heat combined with inhalable particles such as those generated by wildfires affect residents in remote, lower income communities more than people with better access to information. “Among low-income households, many lack computers and even internet, rendering them less able to become informed about, and therefore prepare for an approaching wildfire or smoke plume. In some cases, such platforms publish news before traditional media channels,” said Shahir. Read the article
Thursday, October 20, 2022
AirUCI faculty Andrea de Vizcaya Ruiz is quoted in an article on NBC News about a recent study showing the dangers of gas stoves and the chemicals they release into homes. Benzene is of particular concern. "It’s one of the most direct chemicals that induces cancer, because it transforms the cells in the bone marrow," Andrea said. Read the article
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
In a paper published recently in Nature Communications, an interdisciplinary team of AirUCI researchers quantified the health co-benefits of different decarbonization scenarios. Along with AirUCI faculty Scott Samuelsen and Steve Davis, and AirUCI Senior Scientists Mark MacKinnon and Shupeng Zhu, Andrea Carlos-Carlos (engineering grad student) contributed to this study which found that greener buildings and cleaner trucking showed measurable improvement in health outcomes for disadvantaged communities. Read the article
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
The Horiba Institute for Mobility and Connectivity2 research facility was formally dedicated in a grand opening ceremony held Tuesday, October 11th on the UCI campus. AirUCI faculty Vojislav Stamenkovic, who serves as the HIMaC2 Director, was present at the ceremony. Researchers from multiple disciplines are exploring new horizons in zero-emission, connected, and autonomous vehicle technologies as well as the integration of energy and transportation sectors to improve the environment and people’s lives. Read the article
Friday, October 7, 2022
AirUCI Co-Director Sergey Nizkorodov has been elected as a fellow of the American Association of Aerosol Research (AAAR). He joins fellow AirUCI faculty Donald Dabdub (recently retired) and numerous AirUCI collaborators in receiving this honor. In 2008, the AAAR Board of Directors established a category of Fellow to honor significant contributions by individuals to the discipline of aerosol science and technology, and service to AAAR. AAAR Fellows are expected to actively promote the field of aerosol science and technology and the ideals of AAAR. The AAAR Fellow title is retained as long as the individual is living. Congratulations, Sergey!
