Melissa Sweet Retires as AirUCI Project Coordinator
Melissa Sweet, Project Coordinator for AirUCI, retired on June 30, 2025. As AirUCI’s founding administrator, she played an important role in building the success and visibility of AirUCI. Her wide variety of responsibilities included creating AirUCI’s promotional and print materials and its website content, and she served as the primary organizer of AirUCI’s many successful events.
“Melissa went above and beyond in organizing logistics of all the events AirUCI members participated in, especially so during the time AirUCI offered our summer teacher workshops (2005-2014). We would not have been able to do as much as we did without her,” said AirUCI Co-Director Sergey Nizkorodov.
Other major events Melissa organized include Legislators Day, when AirUCI hosted over 25 federal, state, county, and city representatives; public lectures from eminent scientists (most recently Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who spoke to an audience of almost 500 people); and the 2022 Informal Gathering on Atmospheric Science and Photochemistry (IGASP) Symposium.
Melissa began working with the AirUCI team as a staff member for a “Collaborative Research in Chemistry” grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2002. This evolved into AirUCI as an NSF-funded center, eventually transitioning into its current form in 2014 as an Organized Research Unit. Melissa served as the project administrator throughout this time.
“Melissa was an amazing part of the team, always not only willing, but anxious, to go the extra mile to make sure things were done well and with ‘class.’ She made all our visitors feel like they were part of the AirUCI family from the get-go, and she had wonderful skills in ‘calming troubled waters.’ She was a real gift to AirUCI and UCI itself,” said Barbara Finalyson-Pitts, AirUCI Co-Director.
Since her retirement, Melissa has been enjoying gardening, making music, volunteering for non-profit organizations, getting things organized at home, rooting for the Lakers, and enjoying time with family. Travel plans are in the works.
Upon reflecting on her time at AirUCI, Melissa said, “I’ve been blessed to have had several fun and meaningful jobs, but my time with AirUCI was by far the most important and fulfilling. This is largely due to the countless amazing people who have been associated with AirUCI – not only were they top-notch scientists, but they were outstanding people and dear friends.”
