The Year 2024

• At the beginning of this year,  Nahin Ferdousi-Rokib, returned from a fantastic internship and mentorship experience at PNNL.  Then in February,  Nahin Ferdousi-Rokib,  successfullly passed their thesis proposal.
• In January,  our research group presented the following papers at the American Meterological Society Conference in Baltimore, MD.   It was wonderful to connect with so many scientists, researchers, and communicators in the AMS space.
• Two new doctroal students,  Brooklynn Harris and Steph Jacoby,  joined the Environmental Aerosol Research Laboratory (EARL) and have officially started their research endeavors!  We are soooo excited to be a part of your professional journeys.

The Year 2023

• So many things have happened withing in 2023!   The following is just a few of the eventsthat highlight the many success of our EARL team members.  There were also several publications and presentations at the 41st Annual meeting of the American Association of Aerosol Research and thee bi-annual Gordon Research Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry that are newsworthy.
  • HPLC-PDA Method Development, Validation, Optimization, and Comparison with GC-FID for The Quantification of Organic Acids. 
  • The Application of a Generalized Hygroscopicity Parameterization for Climate Modeling.
  • The Analysis of Four Factors for Hygroscopicity Parameterization – Surface Activity, Solubility, LLPS and O/C. 
  • Vapor-Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy for Submicron Visualization of NaCl Aerosols and Droplets. 
  • Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation (LLPS) Can Drive Aerosol Droplet Growth in Supersaturated Regime
  •  Hygroscopicity Aerosol Matters: A comprehensive framework for water-uptake. The Gordon Research Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry – Grand Summit Hotel at Sunday River in Newry, Maine, United States. July 30-August 4, 2023
• In September, doctoral Student, Esther Olonimoyo, succesfully passed her candidacy exam  and is now officially a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.  Well done, Esther!
• Doctoral student Nahin Ferdousi-Rokib was awarded a DOE Science Graduate Student Research Fellowship and interned for 6 months at the DOE Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington under the supervision of Dr. Laura Fierce.
• In June 2023, we launched a partnership with SciMathInnovators to provide afforable educational content and expand the engineering pipeline on the University of Maryland, College Park campus for the local Prince George’s County (PGC) community.   Learn more about the programs from Summer 2023.
• Three doctoral students defended and passed their thesis defenses.  Specifically, Chun-Ning Mao defended her thesis entitled “The Hygroscopicity of Plastic Aerosols “.  Dr. Kotiba Malek defended his thesis in June, entitled “ Atmospheric Organic Aerosols: The effects of physiochemical properties on hygroscopicity” and Dr. Dewansh Rastogi defended his research “Journey Through Aerosol Science:  Unraveling Kidney Stone Formation, Advancing Visualization, and Particle Capture Technologies.” in November 2023.
• Every semester, our group gets together to reflect and celebrate our accomplishments.   This year we enjoyed  two wonderful events together and took the following pictures:

Fall 2022

• Prof. Timothy Raymond will be presenting at the International Aerosol Conference in Athens, Greece. He will discussing results from our recently submitted paper to AS&T on the effects of Mixing State on Water-Uptake Properties of Binary Mixtures.   The presentation details can be found here: Raymond T, Dutcher D, Razafindrambinina P, Malek K , DiMonte K , Dawson J, Freedman M, Asa-Awuku A.  ATAS-26: Physico-chemical properties of laboratory aerosols. International Aerosol Conference, Athens, Greece. September 9th 2022
• Our group will be attending the 40th Annual American Association for Aerosol Research Conference in Raleigh. The group also has several accepted talks at the AAAR conference (https://aaarabstracts.com/2022/). A list of all the talks as found in the program are as follows (names in all caps indicate the presenter and a link to the abstract is provided):
  • A solution to new mobility particle sizing instrumentation and CCN measurement using Scanning Mobility CCN Analysis (SMCA). Kanishk Gohil, Nahin Ferdousi, AKUA ASA-AWUKU, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) Activity of Black Carbon Mixed with Low Aqueous Solubility Organics. KANISHK GOHIL, Reese Barrett, Dewansh Rastogi, Chun-Ning Mao, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland College Park
  • Cloud Condensation Nuclei Activity and Hygroscopicity of Fresh Biomass Burning Particles as a Function of Burning Conditions. MEGAN MOUTON, Markie’Sha James, Kotiba A. Malek, Rudra Pokhrel, Marc Fiddler, Akua Asa-Awuku, Solomon Bililign, North Carolina A&T State University
  • Effects of Mixing State on Water-Uptake Properties of Binary Mixtures. Patricia Razafindrambinina, Kotiba A. Malek, Kristin DiMonte, Joseph Dawson, TIM RAYMOND, Dabrina Dutcher, Miriam Freedman, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland
  • Hybrid Water Activity – A Novel Framework for CCN Analysis of Sparingly Water Soluble Organic Aerosols. KANISHK GOHIL, Chun-Ning Mao, Dewansh Rastogi, Chao Peng, Mingjin Tang, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland
  • Hygroscopicity of Internally Mixed Ammonium Sulfate and Secondary Organic Aerosol Particles Formed at Low and High Relative Humidity. Patricia Razafindrambinina, Kotiba A. Malek, Joseph Dawson, Kristin DiMonte, Tim Raymond, DABRINA DUTCHER, Miriam Freedman, Akua Asa-Awuku, Bucknell University
  • Hygroscopicity of Polycatechol and Polyguaiacol Secondary Organic Aerosol in Sub- and Supersaturated Water Vapor Environments. KOTIBA A. MALEK, Kanishk Gohil, Hind Al-Abadleh, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland
  • Latitude and Weather Influence Incidence of Legionnaires’ in the US. REESE BARRETT, Dewansh Rastogi, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Phase, Morphology, and Water Uptake Measurements of Mixed Salt Nano-Nuclei Found in Kidney Stones. DEWANSH RASTOGI, Kanishk Gohil, Kotiba A. Malek, Chao Peng, Mingjin Tang, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland College Park
  • The Hygroscopicity of Functionalized Insoluble Aerosol Surfaces. CHUN-NING MAO, Kanishk Gohil, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland
  • The Observations of Phase Separation & Hygroscopicity in Binary Mixtures. NAHIN FERDOUSI, Kotiba A. Malek, Qishen Huang, Miriam Freedman, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Where’d Those Particles Come From? Impactor Non-idealities, Multiple Charging, and Optical Measurement Biases. JAMES RADNEY, Chun-Ning Mao, Akua Asa-Awuku, Christopher Zangmeister, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Spring/Summer 2022

• Congratulations to Patricia!  Who defended in April and graduated in May! Her thesis is available on the drum and several of those chapters are published.
• We had wonderful group presentations of our research April 22nd at the first ever UMD Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering showcase.   Chun-Ning gave an oral presentation on her published work regarding the hygroscopicity of biodegradable polymers.   Dewansh discussed his work on uric acid particles and Kotiba discussed  insoluble biomass burning particles. and Reese discussed her soon to be published work on Legionella’s disease.   It should be mentioned that Kotiba won 1st Place Poster in the category Graduate Poster Competition. Congratulations, Kotiba!
• Check out Kotiba’s beautiful front page cover artwork in the Journal Environmental Science: Atmospheres.

Fall 2021

• Kotiba and Patricia have launched a new Podcast called “For the Love of Earth”.   The Podcast can be found via spotify!  It is some really interesting and creative content in the already posted episodes.   It was also a lot of fun conducting an interview with them for their future episodes. (https://open.spotify.com/show/6BOHmu6k0i9VR62xsX63Hh)
• Fall is  here!  We have already expanded with new research trainees  Marlon and Kelsey!  We look forward to getting back to in-person and hands-on lab training.
• The group also has several accepted talks at the AAAR conference (https://www.aaar.org/2021/)  now virtual.  A list of all the talks as found in the program are as follows (names in all caps indicate the presenter and a link to the abstract is provided):
  • Ammonium Sulfate: Good for Optical Diagnostics but Not Quite Good Enough for Calibration. JAMES RADNEY, Christopher Zangmeister, Chun-Ning Mao, Akua Asa-Awuku, National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) Activity Analysis of Low-Hygroscopicity Aerosols Using the Aerodynamic Aerosol Classifier (AAC). KANISHK GOHIL, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland
  • Dynamic Mixing State Effects on the Hygroscopicity of Ammonium Sulfate – Water Soluble Organic Compound Mixtures. PATRICIA RAZAFINDRAMBININA, Kotiba A. Malek, Kristin DiMonte, Tim Raymond, Dabrina Dutcher, Miriam Freedman, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland
  • Hygroscopicity and Shape Factor Measurements of Uric Acid Aerosol Towards the Treatment of Medical Conditions. DEWANSH RASTOGI, Kanishk Gohil, Chao Peng, Mingjin Tang, Akua Asa-Awuku, University of Maryland College Park
  • On the Effects of Wet vs. Dry and Seeded vs. Unseeded Conditions on SOA Hygroscopicity. Patricia Razafindrambinina, Kotiba A. Malek, Joseph Dawson, Miriam Freedman, Akua Asa-Awuku, Tim Raymond, DABRINA DUTCHER, Bucknell University
  • The Particles We Don’t Count Can Significantly Bias Optical Measurements. CHUN-NING MAO, Akua Asa-Awuku, James Radney, Christopher Zangmeister, University of Maryland
  • Water Uptake of Atmospheric Organosulfates at Sub and Supersaturated Conditions. Chao Peng, Patricia Razafindrambinina, KOTIBA A. MALEK, Lanxiadi Chen, Weigang Wang, Rujin Huang, Yuqing Zhang, Xiang Ding, Maofa Ge, Xinming Wang, Akua Asa-Awuku, Mingjin Tang, University of Maryland

 

Spring 2021

• It has been such a busy Spring Semester! We have had a lot to celebrate and research has definitely picked up speed.  To end the year, we had a fun socially distanced outdoor lunch!  It was great to see everyone in one place vis-a-vis.
• Lastly, we must say goodbye to Ian.  Ian has been with us for the past 3 years and defended his MS Thesis April 23rd titled “Mixed Organic Surfactant Effects on Cloud Condensation Nuclei”.  The committee was impressed by quality of the experimental and  modelling work.  Well done, Ian!
• Patricia will also be a NOAA graduate research Summer Intern with the William M. Lapenta NOAA Internship Program!
• Reese, an undergraduate researcher, was recently accepted as a NOAA Hollings Scholar. We are soooo proud of Reese!  A story on her current research experiences and fellowship can be found here: https://chbe.umd.edu/news/story/cheme-undergrad-wins-2021-hollings-scholarship
• In April, Patricia entered the UMD 3 Minute Thesis and Graduate Research Competition and was a Campus Level Winner!  You can check out her winning video here: https://youtu.be/WmCQNY8fC3c   Such a Great presentation Patricia!
• the NSF PEARLS team is now accepting our first Year 1 applications for the NSF PEARLS Program:  Additional Details can be found on our website: https://agnr.umd.edu/student-opportunities/pearls .
• In addition, the PEARLS team was honored with the 2021 Take Nature Black Environmental Champions Award from the Audobon Naturalist Society.  Details on the ceremony and a story on the event can be found here: https://eng.umd.edu/news/story/todayrsquos-trailblazers-to-be-honored-as-2021-taking-nature-black-environmental-champions
• Patricia presented our collaborative work at the 2021 Spring Meeting of the American Chemical Society
• Early on in the semester, Kanishk and Chun-Ning both completed their PhD proposals with flying colors! Big Congratulations to both!

Fall 2020

• Our collaborative work in ACS Earth and Space Chemistry is now published! A summary of the work will be presented at the AMS conference in January.  A video presentation by Patricia can be found here: https://youtu.be/sf0MxdVlb1k
• COVID-19 collaborative work with PIs-Drs. Don Milton and Greg Duncan on the measurement of aerosols from coughing and sneezing continues and has been supported with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• In Early October, our group presented  at the American Association of Aerosol Research 38th Annual  Conference.  Patricia presented an oral platform presentation on her collaborative work entitled ” Direct Comparison of the Submicron Aerosol Hygroscopicity of Water-Soluble Sugars and Ammonium Sulfate-Organic Mixtures”.  Work by Chun-Ning Mao was presented as a poster presentation that can be found here:    Determination of the Water-polymer Interaction Parameter and Hygroscopicity of Particles (https://youtu.be/D_t9gKxPhkM).
• In late September, Patricia presented her work entitled “Absorption Measurements of MGS-1 and other Martian Dust Simulants. ” at the NOBCChe 2020 ConneXions conference and competitions won  second prize in the Environmental and Green Chemistry category. Well Done Patricia!

Spring  2020

• Our new paper regarding tandem particle measurements has been published in Aerosol Science and Technology.  The Article can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2020.1763248
• On Monday, April 27th,  Patricia advanced to doctoral candidacy.  Her Zoom Proposal was well-received and her committee encouraged her to the pursue and complete her proposed thesis dissertation entitled “In-Situ Measurements of Optical, Physical, and Chemical Properties of Atmospheric Aerosols”.  Congratulations!
• Our newest group member, Dewansh Rastogi will be assisting fellow researchers lead by Dr. Milton in the UMD School of Public Health into COVID19 research in droplets and sneezes.  UMD COVID19 Seeded Research 

December 2019

• On Thursday December 12^th, the EARL Research group celebrated another successful semester. In addition, we said a special farewell to our visiting MS research thesis exchange student, Rahaf, from the University College Dublin.
• On Friday December 6^th, we participated in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry’s Graduate Student Organization (GSO) monthly Science Café. The Science Cafes are informal poster sessions that are held on the first Friday of every month during the Fall and Spring semesters in the Chemistry glass lounge (2^nd floor in the chemistry building). The aim is to highlight the research of groups in Chemistry and the research of collaborators from other departments (Chemical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Atmospheric Sciences, etc). Members from the group (left to right. Patricia, Qi, Rahaf) were in attendance and presented our recent collaborative research about Black Carbon and Martian Dust.

April 2019

• Francis Oyebanjo successfully defends MS Thesis entitled “Real-time comparison of physical and chemical aerosol measurement methods”
• Machine Learning  Research Applications News Story
• Department of Education GAANN Graduate Fellowships

March 2019

• Northwestern NuBond Visit: Faces of Science Podcast

December 2018

• Farima Barati successfully defends MS Thesis entitled “Hygroscopicity of cholesterol in various solvents”
• Patrick Roth successfully defends PhD Thesis entitled “Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation from Gasoline Direct Injection Vehicles: The Impact of Exhaust After-Treatment and Fuel Composition”
• American Geophysical Union Press Field Trip to Brandywine: Community Environmental Justice in Brandywine, Maryland

August 2018

• Wired Article About Community Research Engagement is Released
  • Wired Article
  • ChBE Newsletter

June 2018

• BS/MS Student: Francis Oyebanjo Wins Bridge to Doctorate Award. 

April 2018

• Phd Student: Patricia Razafindrambinina Wins NSF Graduate Fellowship Award – https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/features/4121

February 2018

• Brandywine Community Science Citizens Event – https://thrivingearthexchange.org/project/brandywine-md/