Congratulations to AirUCI graduate student Lauren Fleming (Nizkorodov group)! She has been selected to participate in the 15th Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging Senior Scientists (ACCESS XV), which will be convened July 25-28, 2019 at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York. She will also attend the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) as ACCESS is convened every other year since 1991 in conjunction with the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in Atmospheric Chemistry. The ACCESS colloquium is exceptionally competitive... well done Lauren!
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2019
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
AirUCI Founder, Co-Director, and Professor Barbara Finlayson-Pitts has won the 2019 Environment Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry. The prize is awarded every other year for outstanding contributions to the chemical sciences in the area of environment, sustainability, and energy. Barb received this prestigious award for her groundbreaking research identifying new processes in the formation of photochemical air pollution and establishing the molecular basis of reactions occurring at environmental interfaces — way to go, Barb! Read the article
Saturday, April 27, 2019
AirUCI faculty Jack Brouwer has written an op-ed for the April 27, 2019 edition of the Los Angeles Daily News that talks about a novel energy storage solution. As Director of UCI's National Fuel Cell Research Center, AirUCI's partner organization, he describes how electricity can be converted via electrolysis to hydrogen gas which is then easily stored and available as an alternative energy source. After a decade of development and two years of testing, Jack and his team are confident that this is a workable solution for drastically reducing carbon emissions. Read the article on the NFCRC site
Friday, April 26, 2019
On April 26, 2019 AirUCI grad student Annie Rohrbacher (Finlayson-Pitts group) won the UCI AGS Graduate Research Symposium Poster Award for her current Ph.D research work. Her poster was entitled “Atmospheric Fate of Neonicotinoid Insecticides as Pure Compounds and in Commercial Formulations”. Congratulations, Annie!!
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
This Wednesday evening, April 10th, PBS will premiere their new documentary entitled Ozone Hole: How We Saved the Planet at 7 pm Pacific Time (possibly 10 pm – check your TV schedule). In Los Angeles and Orange Counties, it will be broadcast on Channel 50, KOCE. The program documents the background, discoveries, and solutions to the problem of CFCs accumulating in the atmosphere and endangering the planet. The research of Sherry Rowland and Mario Molina is highlighted, and the issue is presented as a successful outcome in the environmental protection movement, one of the "wins" that show that we can accomplish positive change in our efforts to preserve the planet.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
AirUCI faculty Steve Davis is quoted in an article in the Los Angeles Times that describes how flying cars might not only ease traffic congestion, but might ameliorate some greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Based on a University of Michigan study of likely emissions generated by such vehicles, the article notes that this discussion could prompt new designs that use less fossil fuel and more renewable energy sources.
Read the article
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
It was announced today that Doug Tobias, one of the original founding members of AirUCI, has accepted the position of Chair of the Department of Chemistry at UCI, effective July 1, 2019. Congratulations, Doug!
Monday, March 25, 2019
AirUCI faculty Manabu Shiraiwa has been selected as an Environmental Science & Technology and ES&T Letters Early Career Scientist. The publication highlights 24 young scientists in the field of environmental science and included him, citing his studies of terbuthylazine and its heterogeneous reactions with OH. The Shiraiwa research group conclude that the shielding effects of the surface can extend this herbicide’s atmospheric lifetimes from a few days to a few weeks, a finding that has implications on the long-range transport of this potentially toxic compound. ES&T created a virtual issue on March 21st, 2019 to acknowledge the achievements of these young scientists. Read the article
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
AirUCI is pleased to welcome Prof. Kim Fortun and Prof. Michael Fortun as new faculty in our institute. Both are professors in UCI's School of Social Sciences, Department of Anthropology (where Kim serves as Chair), with research interests in air pollution and its effects on human health. We look forward with great anticipation to their contributions and collaborations in the work of AirUCI.
Thursday, March 14, 2019
On March 2nd, 2019 AirUCI intern Anton Ni participated in Part 1 of the Orange County American Chemical Society's Chemistry Olympiad exam. His was the highest score and his team from University High School placed 4th among 45 Orange County high schools. 160 students took the Part 1 exam and the average score was 33.2 — Anton's score was 58! Only 13 of the 160 participants qualified to take the national test on April 27th.
Anton is also captain of the team from University High School that is going to the finals of the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl in Washington DC. After intense competition at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena on January 26, 2019, their team beat out more than 20 other high schools to advance to the finals, which will be held in April. Anton, who is the son of Weihong Wang in the Finlayson-Pitts research group, has worked in our labs the past two summers and at his young age has contributed to published scientific journal articles. Way to go, Anton!
