More than 20 graduate students, undergraduates, postdocs, and project scientists from AirUCI will be presenting their research at the upcoming 41st Informal Gathering on Atmospheric Science and Photochemistry (IGASP). The conference is taking place at UC Riverside on Friday, April 17, and AirUCI researchers will be participating in one of the conference's poster sessions.
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2026
Thursday, April 9, 2026
Dr. Mark England, an Assistant Professor of Earth System Science at UCI, is joining AirUCI as its newest faculty member. Welcome, Mark!
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
AirUCI faculty member Jun Wu will be a featured speaker at an upcoming National Public Health Week event hosted by the UCI Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health. The event, entitled "From Research to Impact: Community Voices Shaping Public Health," will take place on April 7. Professor Wu will be discussing "how environmental exposures - such as air pollution, climate, and neighborhood conditions - shape maternal, child, and community health, with a strong focus on environmental justice and health disparities." Additional details about the event can be found here.
Thursday, March 26, 2026
AirUCI member Jessica Granger-Jones, a graduate student in Sarah Finkeldei's research group, was awarded the Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The fellowship provides 2-3 years of full funding for "a major research project of [the Fellow's] own conception." Jessica plans to begin her fellowship this fall researching sol-gel synthesis techniques for improved fabrication of high activity nuclear fuels (e.g., radioisotope power system fuels for use as "space batteries"). Congratulations, Jessica!
Thursday, March 26, 2026
The research group of AirUCI faculty member Eric Saltzman has published an article in Nature that describes the first-ever measurements of atmospheric hydrogen from an ice core, thereby providing the longest historical record, by far, of atmospheric hydrogen to date.
Hydrogen is itself not a greenhouse gas, but its reactions with other atmospheric gases leads to increased global warming. The authors note that with hydrogen being used as a source of green energy, it is important to understand how increases in anthropogenic hydrogen emissions may affect the atmosphere, and having a record of atmospheric hydrogen levels over long timescales is an important step in developing this understanding.
Their research was spotlighted by Popular Mechanics, Nature, and UCI.
Monday, March 23, 2026
AirUCI faculty member Jun Wu was quoted in an Undark article about the impact of wildfire smoke on mental health. Regarding ways that wildfires can impact our health, Professor Wu was quoted, "Focusing on only one pathway risks underestimating the overall mental health burden." Read the article here.
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
AirUCI faculty member Ann Marie Carlton has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She was selected for her "paradigm-shifting research on the role of water in the chemistry of air pollutants, which has broadly affected air quality regulations in the United States and internationally." The official announcement by the AAAS can be read here, and the announcement by UCI can be read here. Congratulations, Ann Marie!
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
AirUCI graduate student Berenice Rojas, a member of Professor Jim Smith's research group, has been selected to attend the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. She will be one of approximately 600 Young Scientists from around the world who will gather to connect with each other and approximately 75 Nobel Laureates. The meeting will take place June 28-July 3, 2026 in Lindau, Germany. Young Scientists undergo a rigorous nomination and application process and are selected based on their "academic achievements, their motivation and dedication, their recommendation letters, as well as extracurricular activities." Congratulations, Berenice!
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Chowhound published an article about the potential health effects of drinking water from plastic bottles that featured AirUCI faculty member Andrea De Vizcaya-Ruiz as its expert consultant. Read the article here.
Saturday, February 14, 2026
On Feb 14, the Orange County Regional Science Olympiad tournament will take place at UCI. The Science Olympiad competition includes a wide variety of events focused on various fields and topics of science and engineering, and the AirUCI conference room will be the site for one of these events. Watch a video about the event here.
