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!
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2025
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, 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.
Friday, August 1, 2025
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.
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!
