Here is our spring 2024

This spring, we organized many events including workshop, outreach, journal club and book club. We read, speak, listen to, and in the end we made many memories.

We organized an online NASA-UIUC Workshop on Machine Learning Applications for Air Quality as a student organizing committee together with Dr. Julie M. Nicely, NASA scientist and Dr. Chris Tessum, the professor of UIUC. We had 12 presentations and career panels. Throughout this workshop we learned recent researches on machine learning and air quality.

<Group screenshot of NASA-UIUC Online Workshop>

On March 15, we hosted a journal club with two papers “Fisher et al. (2021) Air pollution and development in Africa: impacts on health, the economy, and human capital.” and “Das et al. (2017) Biomass burning aerosol transport and vertical distribution over the South African‐Atlantic region.” to discuss air quality in African nations. We learned the current status and challenges in the region and discussed what we could do in the future. We will continue to host journal clubs focusing on air quality in developing countries.

<March Journal Club>

We held our exhibit, “Care for the Air” again this year at Engineering Open House. One demonstration we do is “smog in a jar” demonstrates smog formation and provides a visual of air pollution. This is a great way to help children understand what air pollution means, and is a starting point for discussion as to the causes and effects of air pollution. We also demonstrate the QuantAQ ModulAir sensor, a real-time low-cost sensor that detects pollutants such as PM2.5, NOx, CO, CO2, etc. Students could also make “pollution catchers” (Vaseline + paper plate), to see air pollutants they could catch in their home. We had a few examples that we had hung in our home, that participants could use a magnifying glass to identify particles. They found a lot of dust, clothing fiber and pet hair!  We also demonstrated the Corsi-Rosenthal box filter (C-R box filter), a low-cost DIY air filter designed by researchers in 2021 to prevent spread of COVID-19 and its effectiveness. Finally, we encourage the kids to brainstorm and write down their ideas for preventing air pollution, and it is always so encouraging to see their ideas for a more sustainable future. Our exhibit won 3rd place in the “Aspire to Inspire” Award from EOH 2024. We were so excited to win another award, especially as in the previous year we had two awards from EOH2023: 2nd place for the “Best Demonstration of a STEM principle” and “Distinguished Environmental and Sustainability Efforts.” (This year we had not applied for the Sustainability Award due to its sponsorship by Chevron). 

<The most crowd scene of our EOH exhibit “Care for the Air”>

<EOH exhibitors photo shoot>

We hosted presentation practice session on April 12, which is two days ahead of the annual Environmental Engineering and Science Student Symposium at UIUC. During this practice session members practiced their talks and got feedback from other members. We used this event for not only symposium presenters but also practice for the Ph.D. preliminary exam. At the EES Symposium, our chapter member Ganesh won first place for podium presentation. Congrats Ganesh!

AAAR@UIUC had a hands-on demo at the Girl Power event with Girl Scouts of Central Illinois at Abbott Power Plant on Saturday, April 13. At this event, the Girl Scouts could participate in several hands-on science demonstrations, then go on a tour of the Abbott Power Plant. We shared our “Smog in a Jar” exhibit and demonstrated how this affected indoor air quality using real-time PM concentrations from the QuantAQ ModulAir sensor. Thank you to the Stillwell Research group for including us in this fantastic event! 

<Smog in a jar demonstration in Girl Power Event>

<ModulAir sensor demonstration in Girl Power Event>

We won a Green Globes Award from Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment. The “Green Globes” is an annual award ceremony hosted by the Institute of Sustainability, Energy and Environment (iSEE) which honors several student groups for their sustainability achievements over the past year.

<Green Globes Award Ceremony>

Book club “Big Myth”

Inspired by meeting with and hearing Naomi Oreskes’ talk in the fall semester at Midwest Student Conference on Atmospheric Research, as well as the documentary based on her book Merchants of Doubt, we decided to start a book club to read her most recent book, The Big Myth, co-authored with Erik M. Conway. The Big Myth  discusses how businesses promoted free-market ideology, with propaganda becoming so widespread that it infiltrated academia as well as the political sphere. We discussed the first part of the book, “Foundations” on February 13 which explained this history, and how manufacturing companies in the early 20th century would provide funding to academics and textbooks to promote the benefits of the free-market, skewing research to highlight the positives rather than negative externalities. It was interesting for us to discuss the ethics around funding for our research and academic integrity, and how industries can influence research results. At the next book club on May 7, we will discuss Part 2, “Marketing”. 

<Book club on “Big Myth”>

So, we had a vibrant spring, and you know summer is coming soon!