News

Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.

 

2019

Thursday, February 7, 2019
Nehal Idris and Hillary Nguyen receive 2019 Jim Pitts Award

The 2019 recipients of the Jim Pitts Undergraduate Memorial Award are Nehal Idris and Hillary Nguyen, both Chemistry majors set to graduate in June, 2019.  Nehal stood out among the nominees for her determination and persistence in pursuing her education despite many obstacles. A native of Sudan, growing up in Saudi Arabia, she overcame discrimination, language barriers, and the challenges of her socioeconomic status, and she will now be pursuing a Ph.D in Chemistry. 

Hillary also overcame obstacles in her study of chemistry.  She is a first-generation college student for whom chemistry was initially quite challenging, but she spent extra time and worked very hard to master course material.  She also plans to pursue a Ph.D in Chemistry with the goal of synthesizing natural products that have medicinal impacts.

This award is given annually in honor of the late James N. Pitts, legend in Atmospheric Chemistry and longtime AirUCI team member.  Congratulations, Hillary (at left) and Nehal!

             

Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Kleinman and Biggs to judge science fair

On February 6th, AirUCI faculty Prof. Michael Kleinman and graduate student Brenna Biggs will serve as judges in the Irvine Unified School District's 38th annual science fair.  Judges review approximately 8-10 projects from students in grades 6 through 12, and AirUCI has a long history of sending judges to this event.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019
AirUCI high school intern goes to DOE tournament finals

AirUCI intern Anton Ni is 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!  Read more

Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Saltzman quoted in government shutdown article

AirUCI faculty Eric Saltzman was quoted in an article from Inside Higher Education that discusses the ramefications of the federal government shutdown and its effects on research.  Because of the federal agencies involved, the shutdown will impact researchers working in the earth sciences in particular, hampering momentum in areas like climate change.  Eric noted that scientists are always anticipating where the money for their next research project will come from, so there is uncertainty about applying for new grants at this time.  And the shutdown also delays peer reviews of previously submitted proposals as well as decisions on grant awards.  
Read the article       Related article on E&Enews

2018

Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Davis paper cited in climate economics article

A new paper by AirUCI faculty Steve Davis and his ESS co-authors estimates the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that could be prevented by the end of the century due to the impact of climate change itself.  In other words, if climate change slows economic growth, our emission of greenhouse gases should also slow.   Read the article

Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Dennin responds to UCI diversity success

A recent report from the American Talent Initiative (ATI) details the achievement of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) as a leader in  socioeconomic diversity in academics. “We are honored to be recognized as the top contributor to the ATI nationwide enrollment goal for our work with transfer students,” said AirUCI faculty Michael Dennin, who also serves as vice provost for the Office of Teaching and Learning and dean of UCI’s Division of Undergraduate Education.  Read the article

Friday, December 14, 2018
Hind Al-Abadleh is 2nd Fulbright Fellow

Prof. Hind al-Abadleh of Wilfrid Laurier University has joined us from December 15, 2018 through April, 2019 as AirUCI's second Fulbright Fellow.  She will conduct collaborative research projects with AirUCI groups as well as teach an upper-level Chemistry course, and will deliver lectures during her time with us.  Welcome, Hind!

Thursday, December 13, 2018
Biggs volunteers at IUSD science event

AirUCI graduate student Brenna Biggs is volunteering as a science resource at the 21st Century Career Conference to be held at the Beckman Center and hosted by Irvine Unified School District, the Irvine Public Schools Foundation, and sponsored by Google Fiber.  Middle school students will be able to attend breakout sessions to explore career options, including sciences.

Thursday, December 6, 2018
AirUCI students form AAAR Student Chapter at UCI

AirUCI graduate students have taken the lead in forming an American Association for Aerosol Research Student Chapter at UCI.   This organization was formed in December, 2019 and is intended to provide a platform to connect students and faculty of similar aerosol interests at UCI, and to support graduate students in their academic endeavors.  We aim to be a resource for primarily graduate students to develop skills outside of doing research and better prepare grad students for successful careers.

In order to achieve this goal, the organization will facilitate informal meetings for scientific review (paper drafts, CV review, laptop presentation run-throughs, application reviews, etc.), hold development events for graduate students, connect with undergraduate students through workshops and talks, and organize social events to foster a supportive network for environmental and atmospheric research at UCI.  Chapter contact details TBA in January, 2019.
 
Our first meeting (which will have liquid nitrogen ice cream) is Friday, January 18th from 3-5pm in Rowland Hall room 390 and is open to any interested students!

 

Monday, November 26, 2018
Davis quoted in Colorado Sun

In an article in the Colorado Sun on moving the electrical grid to renewable energy, AirUCI faculty Steve Davis is quoted as a member of the research team that examined the challenges of moving Colorado to 100% renewable energy.  The issues of stability and baseload generation could potentially be filled by other green technologies to supplement wind and solar power, such as hydropower or biogas, but "If you go over about 80% [renewable energy] you need to overbuild your generation or build massive storage," Steve said.  Read the article

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