The Next Wave — AAAR group
One of AirUCI’s main missions is to provide outstanding educational opportunities for our entire team. Researchers from faculty down to undergraduates attend and give presentations at such events as international meetings of ACS, AGU, AAAR, and other major science organizations. These opportunities provide valuable experience for young researchers as they bring their projects out of the lab and into the wider world of scientific enquiry. In addition to these events, we are pleased to sponsor a student-run chapter of the American Association for Aerosol Research.
In 2018, AirUCI graduate students took the lead in forming a student chapter of AAAR at UCI, and their meetings have continued while their membership has grown. To date, the leaders of this group have been AirUCI graduate students although the membership includes many from other groups and schools. Michelia Dam was the 2021/2022 AAARSC president, while the new officers for 2022/2023 are President Adam Thomas, Treasurer Jeremy Wakeen, Social events chair Sukriti Kapur, Professional development chair Yinting Chiu, Secretary Anna Kapp, Undergraduate Liaison Lena Gerritz. Former officers (going back to 2020) include Hayley Glicker, Sabrina Chee, and Deanna Myers (all of whom have graduated) as well as Madison Flesch, Kasey Edwards, and postdoc Yiming Qin. These names may seem quite familiar as many of these students have been profiled in past issues (and this one!).
They transitioned to virtual meetings at the onset of COVID but the content of their meetings remained inspiring, relevant to research, and motivating the formation of collaborative projects among research groups. Since autumn 2021 they have been holding in-person seminars again while simultaneously offering virtual participation. Each speaker gives a presentation on their research projects, after which there are 20-30 minutes of questions and discussions. These are invaluable opportunities for graduate students, postdocs, and other researchers to learn about the array of projects within AirUCI research labs as well as to practice presentation skills that will further their careers. 
Shown here is a group of our AAAR students attending and presenting at the October 2022 AAAR meeting, where their posters attracted much attention. In fact, Adam Thomas (top left) received the poster presentation award for this meeting!
This student chapter is intended to provide a platform to connect students and faculty of similar research interests at UCI, and to support graduate students in their academic endeavors. They aim to be a resource for primarily graduate students to develop skills outside of normal lab research and to better prepare them for successful careers. In order to achieve this goal, they have since 2018 facilitated numerous informal meetings for scientific review (paper drafts, CV review, laptop presentation run-throughs, application reviews, etc.), have held development events for graduate students, have connected with undergraduate students through workshops and talks, and have organized social events to foster a supportive network for environmental and atmospheric research at UCI. AirUCI’s AAAR group has been exceptionally active in promoting AirUCI science on social media.
This group of students and other young researchers that form the AAAR chapter have already made their mark with these meetings and by assisting one another to fine-tune their papers and presentations. They have made training sessions available on some of our more “esoteric” equipment, allowing greater use by more teams and forming new collaborations. Their outreach to undergraduates and the community has been inspirational and encouraging to those who want to pursue further studies or careers in atmospheric and environmental science. Previous group leaders have gone on to excel in many positions, and we look forward to following their careers with great interest.
