Atmospheric chemistry research is uniquely positioned to inform public health, emergency response, and community decision-making. But the path from research to impact is not one-way. When atmospheric research and tools are applied to real-world problems, the problems often expose gaps in emissions, chemistry, and exposure science, and highlight needs that feed back into fundamental research. In this seminar, scientists from the Atmospheric Interdisciplinary Research Institute (AIRI) present three applied case studies that show this two-way exchange and the value of collaboration from the research space and how it can be applied to help and inform communities as well as highlighting new research needs.

  • Dr. Olivia Ryder will discuss community air toxics monitoring and what it reveals about local exposure. Drawing on case studies from across California, she will show how pollutant concentrations can vary widely even among communities with similar emission sources, and how community-based monitoring can identify localized hotspots that regional networks often miss and why these differences matter for protecting public health. 
  • Dr. Crystal McClure will examine large warehouse fires as a source of air toxics in surrounding communities. These events sit outside standard wildfire and urban emissions research objectives and raise open questions about emissions from mixed stored materials, near-field plume chemistry, and rapid exposure assessment when monitoring is sparse.
  • Dr. Samantha Kramer will introduce a new project funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). The project links metabolic equivalents (METs) for outdoor exercise to air quality measurements. Because breathing rate rises with exertion, the dose a person inhales depends on what they are doing as well as on the pollutant concentration. Bringing physiology into exposure science points to new ways that atmospheric observations and forecasts can support activity-specific public guidance.