Improving parameterizations of airborne pollutants and their implications for health

Research Opportunity at the United States Environmental Protection Agency

Title:

Improving parameterizations of airborne pollutants and their implications for health

Research Area (s):

Air

Lab, Region/Center, Office:

Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling (CEMM), Office of Research and Development

Opportunity Location:

Research Triangle Park, NC

Opportunity Funding (Duration):

• National Science Foundation Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) Supplemental Funding Opportunity (6 months maximum)
• Other Programs (contact research lead)

Project Description:

This project focuses on the use of models to understand organic and inorganic compounds in air from release, through chemical and physical processing, to exposure. One or more of the following research topics could be included: chemistry of fine particles, volatile chemical product emissions and impacts, indoor vs outdoor air, chemical mechanism development, estimating health impacts of pollutants, hazardous air pollutants, atmospheric oxidizing capacity, changes in anthropogenic and biogenic activity over time. The project may leverage ambient data, satellite data, experimental data, and/or emissions inventory methodologies.

The project supports the EPA CEMM’s role in developing tools to support development of clean air strategies to understand and mitigate human health impacts of emissions to air. These tools include EPA's state-of-the-science Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model and Community Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Multiphase Mechanism (CRACMM) (https://www.epa.gov/cmaq).

Fellowship Goal and Learning Objectives:

Goal not to Exceed One Sentence

Goal:  The fellow will learn how models inform our understanding of airborne pollutant concentrations and implications for health.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn how data is used to build model parameterizations for use in 3-D chemical transport models like CMAQ
• Learn how to use different modeling approaches such as box models, emission inventory methods, and 3-D models to ask and answer scientific questions
• Conduct simulations, analyze data, and write peer-reviewed journal articles

Preferred Skills and Qualifications:

Preferred Skills:

• Knowledge of atmospheric chemistry.
• Familiarity with a programming language (e.g., Fortran, Python, R, Matlab) or motivation to learn.
• Familiarity with computational models (e.g., CMAQ, F0AM) or chemical mechanisms (e.g., CRACMM, MCM) is useful but not required.

Qualifications:  Graduate student or Ph.D. in one of the relevant fields (e.g., Environmental Science, Chemistry, Engineering, Physics).

Point of Contact or Research Lead:

Havala Pye (pye.havala@epa.gov)