AirUCI faculty member Jack Brouwer was quoted in an article in the Los Angeles Times about a new hydrogen production facility being developed in Vernon by the company Avina. The article states, "Jack Brouwer...said it could serve as proof-of-concept for the rest of the region and country. 'They are one of the first to actually work through all the details of this to see if it can actually be cost-effective today,' said Brouwer, who is also the director of UC Irvine's Clean Energy Institute..." Read the article.
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2025
Friday, July 4, 2025
AirUCI faculty member Jun Wu was quoted in an article in Time magazine on the health and environmental impacts of fireworks. Regarding fireworks, Wu says, "What level of exposure you get depends on your activity levels - for instance, whether you're outdoors - and, if you're indoors, how leaky your house is. If you have to go outside, wearing a [N95] mask would be good." Read the article.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
A new risk-based trade-off assessment tool for the aviation industry has been developed by lead researcher and AirUCI faculty member Michael Prather and colleagues, as described in the journal Nature. This new tool "helps to assess the likelihood of a net positive outcome from climate actions that can have competing effects on warming." Their paper was highlighted in Nature, as well as profiled in The Hill. As quoted by The Hill, Professor Prather says, "This new decision tool uses the information to provide accurate risk quantification for climate tradeoff decision." Read the article. Prather's research was also featured in Aviation International News. Read the article.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
AirUCI faculty Donald Blake was honored by NASA with its Exceptional Public Service Medal, which is granted for exceptional contributions to NASA's mission. Professor Blake received the medal for his contributions to NASA's tropospheric composition field campaigns, which significantly enhance understanding of the science of the atmosphere, as well as his commitment to the NASA Student Airborne Research Program, which provides undergraduate students with hands-on experience in making and analyzing atmospheric measurements. Congratulations, Professor Blake! Read the campus article
Friday, June 27, 2025
AirUCI welcomes Dr. Sherry Tsai as the new AirUCI administrative coordinator. Melissa Sweet has retired, so beginning on Monday, June 30th Sherry will take over. She will be stationed in the usual AirUCI office.
Friday, June 20, 2025
By now you may have heard that AirUCI founder and co-Director Barbara Finlayson-Pitts has received the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award for 2025! You can read the details of the award here, but here you will find the full report from the awards ceremony events held in Paris, France during the week of June 9 - 13, 2025. It was a splendid week of celebration, both for Barbara and of her, and an honor well deserved for her amazing science over her long and influential career!
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
AirUCI founder and Co-Director Barbara Finlayson-Pitts has been named the 2025-2026 recipient of the UCI Academic Senate - Better World Award. This award is presented to "a faculty member whose professional contributions have positively impacted the world community in an extraordinary manner." Congratulations Professor Finlayson-Pitts!
Thursday, June 12, 2025
As previously reported, AirUCI Co-Director Barbara Finlayson-Pitts was recently selected as the North American laureate of the 2025 L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award. Congressman Jay Obernolte entered her achievement into the Congressional record and recognized her for "[embodying] the very best of our community's values through not only her consistent dedication to better understanding the world around her, but also through her passion for preparing future generations of researchers..." Congratulations, Barbara!
Monday, June 9, 2025
In a June 9th article in Delish, AirUCI faculty Andrea de Vizcaya Ruiz is quoted on the use of plastic containers to store various foods. Plastic containers shed microplastics and certain foods cause greater shedding, and Andrea says, "There are growing concerns about their potential health effects through ingestion, inhalation, or skin contact." When storing food, especially acidic, greasy, or hot foods, Andrea recommends using glass, stainless steel, or ceramic containers. Read the article
Monday, May 26, 2025
AirUCI founder and co-Director Barbara Finlayson-Pitts has received the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award for 2025! These awards are presented annually to highlight scientific excellence and encourage talent. Each year an international jury selects five outstanding women scientists as laureates, one from each of the following regions—Africa and the Arab States; Asia and the Pacific; Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; and North America. Awardees are women who have contributed to scientific progress through their research, the strength of their commitments, and their impact on society. Barbara was recognised for her groundbreaking research into how chemicals released into the atmosphere react to form new air pollutants and influence climate change. She joins AirUCI alumna Najat Saliba, who received this award in 2019 which means that AirUCI has produced not one, but two L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awardees! Najat was a postdoc in Barbara’s research group in 2008 and went on to a professorship at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. She was elected to the Lebanese Parliament in 2022.
L’Oréal-UNESCO sent a film crew to AirUCI arriving at the end of March and for three days they followed Barbara as she sat for interviews, conducted research in her labs, taught her Chemistry class, led her weekly group meeting, and interacted with researchers, students, and collaborators. The crew will use their footage to produce a biographical film which will be shown at the awards ceremony on June 12, 2025 in Paris, France. We are thrilled to congratulate Barbara on this exceptional and well deserved honor. We look forward to the full report and details from the ceremony. Read the press release Read the campus article
