The 13 grants announced June 5 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be pursued in conjunction with other efforts funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and with additional support from the Southern Co. and Electric Power Research Institute.
For WMU, research efforts will focus on the southeastern United States to investigate the regional climate implications of organic aerosol formation. The goal is to better understand how atmospheric gases interact with and affect the production of aerosols—tiny particles that form and are suspended in the atmosphere and, in large quantities, are visible as haze. Aerosols impact climate because they affect the amount of radiation from the sun that reaches the earth.
The WMU segment of the research is being led by Dr. Steven Bertman, professor of chemistry. He is the principal investigator on the project involving a team of researchers and students from WMU and collaborators at Oakland and Purdue universities and West Chester University of Pennsylvania. The team has been in the field since late May, conducting a set of measurements of ambient concentrations of a wide array of atmospheric volatile organic compounds. Their work is part of an umbrella effort known as the Southern Oxidant & Aerosol Study—SOAS.
Ultimately, results of the work are expected to help the federal government improve its air quality management systems and climate change models as well as continue to protect both people's health and the environment.
To learn more, please follow the link below:
WMU NEWS — WMU IS PART OF 13-UNIVERSITY EPA RESEARCH EFFORT ON CLIMATE, AIR QUALITY