NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute for FY 2012 in China

Carter Ellison M, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Ellison M. Carter of the University of Texas at Austin to conduct a research project, entitled "Advanced monitoring techniques for indoor air pollution from solid fuel combustion," during the summer of 2012 at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The host scientist is Dr. Xudong Yang. The Intellectual Merit of the research project is the development of air pollutant monitoring techniques that are robust and rugged for application in the field and the creation of new metrics to evaluate indoor air pollution generated from biomass combustion relative to coal combustion, paying particular attention to compounds with known adverse health impacts that have been seldom studied in the field. This field-based study would be the first to quantify and compare previously ignored toxic emissions resulting from household biomass and coal combustion, providing information that is crucial to the development of effective remediation and health intervention strategies that target reductions in toxic emissions. The study promises to fill a knowledge gap by studying indoor air pollutants that have been previously ignored in rural populations and are suspected or known to have significant health impacts. Broader Impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce.