Audrey Miles, an AirUCI graduate student in Sarah Finkeldei's research group, was recently part of the Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation in Washington, D.C. She described her experience in being part of the program, which gives students the opportunity "to discuss the issues facing nuclear energy, policy, education, and research with key policymakers." Read the article.
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2025
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Friday, October 17, 2025
The community-university partnership ¡Plo-NO! Santa Ana! (Lead-Free Santa Ana!), co-led by AirUCI professor Jun Wu, was honored by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation as a 2025 Exemplary Project through its Community Engagement Scholarship Awards program. The award recognizes "four-year public universities that have made exemplary strides to become more closely and productively engaged with communities through their teaching/learning, discovery, and service activities." ¡Plo-NO! Santa Ana! "engaged youth, residents, and students in systematically collecting over 1,500 soil samples across the City of Santa Ana, mapping soil lead concentrations in each Census tract, investigating potential sources of contamination, and organizing information sessions and advocacy campaigns to press for lead remediation." 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
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!
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.
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.
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.
