Active Research Projects
Air quality in sub-Saharan Africa
With support from the National Science Foundation and the US State Department, we have started an air quality monitoring network in Kinshasa, DR Congo, a megacity with population over 11 million which suffers from poor air quality yet has no monitoring infrastructure. Other projects include air quality knowledge capacity building in Accra, Ghana (partner with Ghana EPA), sensor deployments in Nairobi, Kenya, Kampala, Uganda, and Lomé, Togo, and using models and remote sensing techniques in India, China, and sub-Saharan Africa.
Regional climate response to changes in regional aerosol emissions
Some topics we have worked on in the past include: 1) The impact of changes in emissions in specific regions on local and remote climate, 2) Aerosol impacts on clouds and precipitation and 3) The effect of absorbing aerosols on tropical monsoon systems. We use and develop three coupled chemistry-climate models: GFDL climate models, GISS ModelE, and CESM (NCAR).
News
Prof. Westervelt promoted to Associate Research Professor
Group leader Prof. Dan Westervelt was promoted to Lamont Associate Research Professor, effective July 1, 2023. Congratulations Dan!
Group members pass PhD milestones!
In recent weeks, PhD students Garima Raheja and Benjamin Yang both passed important milestones in their PhD careers!
Ben passed his qualifying exam in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University.
Garima successfully presented her dissertation proposal in March.
Congratulations, Garima and Ben!
The Westervelt++ group goes to Rwanda!
The whole group made the long journey to Kigali, RW, from March 7-10, for the CAMS-Net + AfriqAir annual meeting. The Westervelt group was one of the meeting organizers and are the home to the NSF-funded CAMS-Net project. Several great presentations, posters, panel discussions, and tutorials from all group members. Plus it was the first time some of our group members had met our African collaborators in person. Photos from the event are here: