Studies suggest ongoing poor air quality in Southwestern Pennsylvania negatively affects public health. However, connections among air pollution, human exposure, and public health can be difficult to pin down and explain. Please join us on June 2 for a community dialog with experts from the National Academy of Sciences’ and National Academy of Engineering’s Science & Engineering Ambassadors Program on the state of air qualityresearch in our region. Leading air quality experts from the Ambassadors program will give short presentations followed by breakout discussions around priority topics.    

Neil Donahue is the Lord Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering & Engineering and Public Policy and the Director of the Steinbrenner Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.  Neil and his research team are world-renown experts in what happens to organic compounds from both natural sources and human activity when they are emitted into the air.  He works with the CLOUD experiment team at CERN in Switzerland. Recently his research focuses on the origin and transformations of very small organic particles, which play a critical role in climate change and human health. 

Emily Elliott is Associate Professor in the Department of Geology and Planetary Science at the University of Pittsburgh where her research examines the relationship between human activities and the distribution of reactive nitrogen in the air, water, and land, using stable isotope geochemistry.  She focuses on the influence of agriculture, energy production, transportation and human-built environments to determine how best to manage inputs of reactive nitrogen to protect water quality, air quality, ecosystems and human health. 

Kelly Klima is a Research Scientist in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University where she studies climate, extreme weather, adaptation, hazard mitigation, and risk communication.  Her work supports community resilience throughout the world and has been applied in the City of Pittsburgh, City of St. Paul, and counties in New Jersey. 

Thursday, June 2, 2016

4 PM to 6 PM

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Homewood Branch

7101 Hamilton Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15208 

Refreshments Will Be Provided

Please RSVP by May 26, 2016