Active Research Projects
Air quality and climate change in 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
We are key members of the Regional Aerosol Model Intercomparison Project, or RAMIP as well as the Heterogeneous Climate Forcing project or HETCLIF. 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.
News
Collaboration with Solar One and NYC Public Schools
This week, the Westervelt group spent two days at the Solar One Environmental Education Center, collaborating on an air sensor research project.
New project on air quality monitoring in Queens!
Happy to announce a new project funded here at Columbia titled "Clean Air Monitoring Interventions for Empowering Communities in Severely Under-Monitored Sections of Queens County, New York". We will be working with community groups, schools, nonprofits, and others in The World's Borough to drive equitable, actionable air pollution solutions using ground-based monitoring, satellite retrievals, and machine learning. More details below!
https://worldprojects.columbia.edu/clean-air-monitoring-interventions-empowering-communities-severely-under-monitored-sections-queens
Summer 2025: graduation, interns, meetings, comings and goings
Summer 2025 is winding down and it has been busy!