AirUCI researchers were among the awardees of the UC Irvine Climate Collaboration's inaugural team project grants. AirUCI professors Jim Smith, Celia Faiola, and Alex Guenther have partnered together with the South Coast Air Quality Management District to study, "how desert plants capture carbon, use water, and emit gases under heat stress." In addition, AirUCI professor James Randerson has received grants in partnership with two different research teams to develop fire risk maps and to better understand wildfire behavior. Read the article.
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2025
Thursday, October 30, 2025
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
AirUCI faculty member Jack Brouwer was quoted in an article in the Los Angeles Times about LADWP's plan to shift its largest gas power plant to hydrogen. "It's a good plan. The Scattergood facility and some of the other coastal plants are part of the required infrastructure to enable LA 100 to become completely decarbonized and depolluted. It's not even possible to do this without something there," says Brouwer. Read the article.
Friday, October 24, 2025
AirUCI faculty member Scott Samuelsen was quoted in an article in The Wall Street Journal about the potential of bidirectional electric vehicle chargers to transform the power grid. The article states, "'Real-world deployment of bidirectional charging is essential for gathering the data, and the technical and customer adaptation insights needed to scale V2H deployment across the grid,' said Prof. Scott Samuelsen, project director and founding director of the UCI Advanced Power and Energy Program." Read the article.
Thursday, October 16, 2025
AirUCI professor Celia Faiola has won the American Association for Aerosol Research's prestigious Kenneth T. Whitby Award, given for "outstanding technical contributions to aerosol science and technology by a young scientist. The purpose of the award is to encourage continued work in the field and ongoing support of such endeavors." Congratulations, Celia!
Friday, October 10, 2025
Donald Blake, AirUCI faculty member, was quoted extensively in a recent article in The Orange County Register. The article discusses the two Nobel Prizes that UCI faculty received in 1995, including one awarded to three scientists including UCI Professor Sherwood Rowland, "for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone." Blake worked closely with Rowland for many years. Read the article.
Friday, October 10, 2025
The AAAR Student Chapter at UCI held online elections for its 2025-26 Executive Board from September 30-October 3. The results are in, and its newly-elected officers are: Jackson Ryan, President; Colleen Miller, Treasurer; Berenice Rojas, Professional Development Chair; Connor Seto, Social Events Chair; Dhivya Manickam, Undergraduate Liaison; Sage Lauper-Cook, Secretary. Congratulations to all of the new board members!
Thursday, October 9, 2025
A team led by AirUCI professor Jun Wu has been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Enviornmental Health Sciences. Wu says, "Our goal is to better understand how environmental conditions may contribute to mental health challenges for parents and children. By identifying risks and vulnerable periods, we can provide insights that help families and communities build resilience." Read the article.
Monday, September 22, 2025
Findings from a recent article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by AirUCI faculty member Manabu Shiraiwa and colleagues have been featured in multiple news articles. As quoted in one article, Shiraiwa says about his research, "Our modeling found that surfaces inside homes have a much greater size to absorb and hold chemicals than previously realized. We can thank of these surfaces as massive chemical sponges that soak up VOCs...This discovery has significant implications for human health. It means people can be exposed to harmful chemicals long after their introduction into indoor spaces, and compounds can later be released back into the air or transferred to humans through direct contact with contaminated surfaces." Read the articles here, here, and here.
Thursday, August 21, 2025
AirUCI faculty member Celia Faiola was featured in a press event in Irvine focused on the health effects of poor air quality in Orange County. The event was organized by the Climate Action Campaign, a non-partisan coalition advocating for strong federal action to protect clean air and public health, and it also included Congressman David Min and Irvine Councilmember Kathleen Treseder. An article and news clip featuring Dr. Faiola can be viewed here.
Friday, August 15, 2025
AirUCI Co-director Barbara Finlayson-Pitts was quoted in a commentary published by the Brookings Institution entitled, "What the US loses by exiting UNESCO." Dr. Finlayson-Pitts is quoted as saying, "The US will be at a significant disadvantage with this withdrawal." Read the article.
