Cesunica E. Ivey, PhD

Air Pollution: A Global Challenge​

 

Air quality engineers work to understand the atmosphere and apply that knowledge to mitigate adverse impacts on air quality.  This is not a local or regional challenge, but instead, air quality management is an effort of global proportions.  The atmosphere is one system that is shared by all living things, and its preservation is vital for survival on Earth.

 

The atmosphere flows around the earth, carrying with it particles from human activities and natural processes.  Some may ask, "Why does China's air quality matter to me?"  Our atmosphere transports pollution across oceans, and Chinese pollution has been detected in air samples from western regions of the United States. These impacts are not without consequences.  More and more scientific studies demonstrate a positive correlation between acute and long-term exposure to air pollution and adverse health impacts such as lower birth rates, worsening of existing cardiovascular and pulmonary illnesses, and increased rates of premature mortality. The Lancet reports that exposure to ambient air pollution is the 8th leading risk factor for developing diseases worldwide (visit link below).  

 

​

​

 

​​

Hence, the motivation for our work is great, and there is much more work to be done to overcome this global challenge.  Current efforts include field campaigns to measure atmospheric concentrations of pollutants, computational modeling of the atmosphere, epidemiological studies, and toxicological studies that observe direct exposure impacts of animal cells to air toxins.  There is hope for a cleaner atmosphere, and air quality research is an essential component of these preservation efforts.