Atmospheric Chemistry GROUP

Shanhu Lee

Professor, Atmospheric and Earth Sciences

Adjunct Professor, Chemistry

University of Alabama in Huntsville

4208 NSSTC/CRH

320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805

Office: 256-961-7734

https://sites.google.com/uah.edu/shanhulee/home

Education:

• Beijing University of Chemical Technology, B.S. (1989)

• University of Tokyo, M.S. (1994)

• University of Tokyo, Ph.D. (1997) 

• MIT, Postdoctoral fellow (1998-1999)

• NOAA, Postdoctoral fellow (1999-2001)

Distinctions: 

• JSPS Young Scientist Fellow (1995-1997)

• NASA CRYSTAL-FACE Science Team Award (2003)

• NSF CAREER Award (2007)

• NCAR ASP Visiting Faculty (2012)

• NSF MRI Award (2021)

• Top-10 most downloaded JGR papers (2021-2022)

Scientific background:

Shanhu Lee's research has focused on atmospheric chemistry,  atmospheric new particle formation, and advanced mass spectrometry instrumentation. Her research group has conducted both field observations and laboratory kinetics studies. 

Lee's work based on the multi-year dataset of NASA aircraft measurements showed ion-induced nucleation is important for aerosol formation in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (Lee et al. 2003). The observation data presented in her work also helped to test and constrain the molecular-level sulfuric acid nucleation model SAWNUC under atmospherically relevant conditions.

Lee has pioneered the laboratory studies of aerosol nucleation of sulfuric acid (Young et al., 2008, Benson et al., 2008, Tiszenkel et al., 2019), ammonia (Benson et al., 2009, Benson et al., 2011), amines (Erupe et al., 2011, Yu et al., 2012), and highly oxygenated organic molecules (Tiszenkel and Lee, 2023) with the measurements of detailed chemical precursors in the lab. 

For the first time, Yu et al. (2012) showed the synergetic effects of ammonia and amines on sulfuric acid aerosol nucleation, an important feature in understanding aerosol formation processes in real atmosphere, especially in polluted urban atmosphere. This laboratory result was later confirmed by other laboratory experiments and quantum chemical simulations.

Lee developed chemical ionization reaction schemes to simultaneously detect ammonia and amines with ethanol and acetone as chemical reagent (Erupe et al., 2011, Yu and Lee, 2012). Since then, these chemical reactions have been adopted in chemical ionization mass spectrometers (CIMS) by other research groups. Currently, the CIMS in Lee's research group is one of three instruments in the world that can detect ammonia and amines reliably in the real atmosphere (You et al., 2015).

Lee for the first time provided atmospheric observational evidence of, and systematically analyzed, the absence of new particle formation in isoprene-rich forests (Kanawade et al., 2012, Lee et al., 2016). She also performed laboratory kinetics studies (Tiszenkel and Lee, 2023) to reconcile the seemingly contradicting theories in the literature on how isoprene suppresses biogenic new particle formation under various oxidants and biogenic precursor conditions.

Lee conducted field observations of new particle formation in various atmospheric environments, such as in the fee troposphere (Young et al., 2008, Benson et al., 2008), coastal sites (Yu et al., 2011), forests (Kanawade et al., 2012, Yu et al., 2014, Lee et al., 2016), sub-urban (Erupe et al., 2010, Kanawade et al., 2014), and polluted urban sites (Watson et al., 2023).

Lee has maintained two long-time observation sites for new particle formation studies in the United States (Kent, Ohio; Huntsville, Alabama). These long-term data are very scarce and yet essential for understanding atmospheric aerosol nucleation and growth processes.