AirUCI faculty Steve Davis has written, along with three other environmental experts, an opinion piece for this week's Sunday edition of the New York Times. The article stresses the importance of acting on steps we can take right now using today's technologies to begin reversing the rate of carbon, methane, and other emissions that cause climate change. We don't need to waste precious time debating details, such as just how much carbon reduction is needed to offset particular events. We know conclusively that we need to reduce these greenhouse gases, no matter what the final measurements may be. "The next steps are clearer and more affordable than they have ever been. Rather than getting distracted by distant and likely irreducible uncertainties, let’s focus on what matters: deploying clean technologies we know we need, implementing a coherent climate policy, laying the groundwork for future progress, and creating a just transition that shares the benefits of a sustainable energy system.”
Read the article
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2022
As part of a larger ALPACA research project, AirUCI faculty Manabu Shiraiwa sent three of his team members to Alaska in the middle of winter. From January to March 2022, Dr. Ting Fang (postdoc), Sukriti Kapur, and Kasey Edwards (grad students) conducted field studies to collect and analyze air samples in the Fairbanks region, which has some of the worst air quality in the United States. Similar field campaigns have focused on air pollution in cold places like Denver, Utah, and regions in the eastern U.S. but Fairbanks has colder and darker conditions than these places, and “there remain important knowledge gaps in our understanding of the wintertime pollution and chemistry taking place at this location,” said Sukriti. Read the article
AirUCI faculty Jim Smith and his grad student Jeremy Wakeen are profiled in an article describing their research into the chemical composition of sea salt particles and their effect on climate change. Their project, based on the beach at Crystal Cove, has been sampling and analyzing marine air to help determine the size of the particles and how much of them are salt and how much are organics. Read the article
AirUCI faculty Claudia Czimczik and her team have published a new study of permafrost emissions during autumn and winter months. For the first time they were able to directly measure these gases using a new tool designed by the Czimczik researchers, and their findings contradict current thinking that the Arctic soil microbes take a break during colder months and generate fewer greenhouse gases than in summer and spring. Read the article
AirUCI faculty James Randerson is quoted in a Los Angeles Times article describing how climate change is decimating Anza-Borrego State Park. Between 1984 and 2017, his study found that native vegetation declined 37.5% across a study area that stretched from the U.S.-Mexico border to Palm Springs. "You think of it as a super-hot and dry place, but it’s also vulnerable to climate change,” said James. Read the article
As we typically do, numerous AirUCI researchers are giving presentations at the 2022 ACS Spring Conference to be held March 20 - 24 in San Diego. Faculty, researchers, students — even a summer undergraduate and our current Fulbright Fellow — will be speaking in person and/or presenting posters at this prestigious event.
AirUCI faculty Jun Wu is quoted in a March 15th Healthline article saying that leaded gasoline continues to be one of the most significant sources of environmental toxicity in the United States. “Definitely it’s on the top of the list for long-term impact on IQ and children’s cognitive ability and future success and achievement,” she said. “Lead paint and lead pipes are relatively localized, but leaded gasoline really brought the issue to a regional and national scale.” Read the article
AirUCI faculty Jun Wu has been selected by Orange Coast Magazine as one of Orange County's 2022 'Kickass Women." This is the second year that the magazine has profiled women of Orange County in this way. Jun was included among this impressive group for her role as Co-Director of UCI's Center for Environmental Health Disparities Research as well as her dedication to working closely with local communities to address Environmental Justice issues. Read the article
AirUCI faculty Don Blake will be this year’s recipient of the Tolman Medal, awarded each year by the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society in recognition of outstanding contributions to chemistry. These contributions may include achievements in fundamental studies; achievements in chemical technology; significant contributions to chemical education; or outstanding leadership in science on a national level. Way to go, Don!
AirUCI faculty Jun Wu has published a study which found that a smaller number of low-cost air pollution sensors were distributed across the state in communities with lower socioeconomic status, and with higher proportions of racial/ethnic minority populations. The study also discovered a lack of functioning air sensors in areas with greater levels of ambient fine particulate matter – where they are most needed. Additional authors are AirUCI's Dr. Shahir Masri and Dr. Amirhosein Mousavi, formerly a postdoctoral research scientist with AirUCI. Read the article
