Air Quality & Public Health

We live at the bottom of an ocean of air. The air which we breathe has direct impact on our health. Anthropogenic emissions of aerosols and other toxic agents from industrial activities, accidental emissions, and natural calamities change the air composition. Air pollution is of major concern for public health. It is a global health issue. The College of Public Health (COPH) at the University of South Florida has developed capabilities to study air quality and public health, in the department of Environment and Occupational Health (EOH). This interdisciplinary group consists of scientists and researchers having expertise in air quality modeling, measurements and monitoring, and present and potential health assessments. Sophisticated computer models with measurements are used for forecasting and to map the concentrations of the air pollutants. Health assessments are made based on field surveys and laboratory testing.


Air Pollution Modeling

Areas of Expertise

  • Measurement and Monitoring
  • Air Pollution Modeling
  • Emissions Estimation
  • Health Risk Assessment

Computing Facilities and Resources

  • Supercomputing facilities
    • Dedicated 24 processor Beowulf cluster
    • Access to over 300 processors in different configurations through USF Research Computing
  • Modeling Packages
    • AERMOD, CALPUFF --- dispersion
    • WRFChem, CMAQ --- chemical transport
    • HYSPLIT --- trajectories
    • EQUISOLV --- aerosol equilibrium
    • MM5, WRF --- mesoscale meteorology
    • SMOKE --- emissions
    • PMF --- receptor source apportionment
    • ArcGIS --- spatial mapping and analysis

Experimental Laboratories

  • 3400 sq feet of chemical laboratory space
  • Major equipment highlights
    • Hewlett Packard GCMS with autosampler
    • Varian 3400 gas chromatograph
      • flame ionization and electronic capture detectors
    • Dionex CX-600 ion chromatograph
      • conductivity detector, anion & cation columns, autosampler
    • Varian 9010 HPLC with fluorescence detector
    • Thermo TN 3000 total nitrogen analyzer
      • Chemiluminescence detector
    • UV-VIS spectrophotometer
    • 39 sample photochemical reaction chamber

Field Measurement Facilities and Equipment

  • Enviro-van
  • Mass-flow controlled pumps
  • Dry gas meters
  • Denuder/filter pack sampling media
  • Particle size selection inlets
  • FRM PM2.5 samples
  • TEI NOx, SO2, and CO analyzers
  • Pyranometer, wind vane, and thermocouple
  • High volume particle samplers

Presentations

  • FEHA Presentation - Springtime Spatial and Temporal Distributions of Criteria Air Pollutants in Florida - by Mittal, Moti L., Ph.D. & Poor, Noreen D., Ph.D., P.E.

Environmental and Occupational Health Faculty

Faculty

  • Scott Campbell, Ph.D. (Northwestern), Professor
    Thermodynamics, aerosol modeling, laboratory analysis
  • Noreen Poor, P.E, Ph.D. (Virg. Tech), Assoc. Prof.
    Dispersion modeling, field measurement, laboratory analysis
  • Moti Mittal, Ph.D. (IIT Bombay), Research Professor
    Chemical transport modeling
  • Amy Stuart, Ph.D. (Stanford Univ.), Assistant Prof.
    Model development, modeling
  • Foday Jaward, Ph.D. (Univ. of Lancaster), Asst. Prof.
    Analytical chemistry, passive sampling