PSI/Urban Waters post-doctoral researcher Justin P. Miller-Schulze was recently the lead author on a paper published in Atmospheric Environment, “Characteristics of fine particle carbonaceous aerosol at two remote sites in Central Asia,” and a co-author on a paper in Environmental Science and Technology, “Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of Fine and Coarse Particulate Matter inside the refectory of Santa Maria Delle Grazie Church, home of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’.” Both of these studies involve the use of chemical mass balance source apportionment techniques to estimate the sources of ambient particulate matter. Miller-Schulze is currently working at the Center for Urban Waters to use analogous methods to estimate the relevant sources of chemical species of interest (i.e., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, etc.) and their impact on the Puget Sound region as well as the Sound itself. Miller-Schulze says that some of the same conditions that lead to poor air quality in Milan—a tendency for pollution to stagnate in the local airshed—also exist in Tacoma.

Citations:

Justin P. Miller-Schulze, Martin M. Shafer, James J. Schauer, Paul A. Solomon, Jeffrey Lantz, Maria Artamonova, Boris Chen, Sanjar Imashev, Leonid Sverdlik, Greg R. Carmichael, Jeff T. Deminter. “Characteristics of fine particle carbonaceous aerosol at two remote sites in Central Asia.” Atmospheric Environment, Volume 45, Issue 38 (December 2011): 6955-6964.

Nancy Daher, Ario Ruprecht, Giovanni Invernizzi, Cinzia De Marco, Justin P. Miller-Schulze, Jong Bae Heo,  Martin M. Shafer, James Sioutas Schauer, Constantinos. “Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of Fine and Coarse Particulate Matter inside the refectory of Santa Maria Delle Grazie Church, home of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper”.” Environmental Science and Technology. Publication (Web): (Article), (November 9, 2011): DOI: 10.1021/es202736a.