ASRC-ACAQ - Research Topics

Our research group focuses on fundamental atmospheric boundary-layer chemistry processing across multiple spatial and temporal scales. We investigate how trace gases and aerosols evolve through key chemical and physical processes, with particular emphasis on ozone formation and secondary aerosol development.

Our work spans a wide range of atmospheric conditions—including urban extreme heat events, wildfire smoke intrusions, fog/cloud processing, and other dynamic environments—to characterize how emissions transform, interact with meteorology, and influence regional air quality.

A special focus is placed on extreme and atypical pollution events, where rapid chemical evolution and strong meteorological coupling create unique challenges for measurement and modeling. Selected research topics are highlighted below:

Characterize atmospheric aerosols at different locations in the Northeastern US (including urban, forest, and mountain areas) and the aerosol evolutions under a variety of atmospheric conditions (including extreme weather, fog, and cloud, etc.).

The interplay between urban outflow plumes and small-scale local meteorology (e.g., sea-breeze circulations), with a particular focus on the formation and transport of highly polluted coastal bands

Source: WMO.

Deploy dense low-cost sensor networks to monitor both indoor and outdoor air quality, quantify outdoor-to-indoor pollution infiltration, and rigorously evaluate and calibrate sensor performance against reference-grade instruments.

Methane and toxic emissions from various sources (e.g., landfills, wastewater treatment plants, and other industrial facilities).

Source: EPA

Long-term air pollution trends, particularly how aerosol chemical components respond to emission control measures under varying atmospheric conditions (e.g., urban heatwave periods, sea-breeze stagnation regions, etc.).