Events Calendar

Updating our conceptual model for fine particle emissions from combustion systems

Speaker: Allen L. Robinson, Carnegie Mellon University

Talk Title: Updating our conceptual model for fine particle emissions from combustion systems

Abstract: Atmospheric particles play an important role in the Earth’s engergy balance; they are also strongly
associated with adverse human health effects. Motor vehicles, wood stoves, and other
combustion systems are major sources of atmospheric particles. However, quantifying the
impact of these sources on air quality and global climate remains a major uncertainty.

This talk will describe recent field, laboratory, and modeling results on organic particle
emissions from combustion systems. The results reveal a dynamic picture in which low
volatility organics evaporate, oxidize, and recondense as they are transported away from the
source. This new picture alters our understanding of the contribution of combustion sources to
urban and regional pollution and brings chemical transport model predictions into better
agreement with field observations. The talk will conclude with a brief discussion of future
research needs and the implications of this new conceptual model for our understanding of
source contributions to human exposures and the design of regulations to control organic
aerosols.

Biography: Allen Robinson: Dr. Allen Robinson is a Professor in the Departments of Mechanical
Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy and the director of the Center for Atmospheric
Particle Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. His research examines the impact of emissions
from combustion systems on urban and regional air quality and global climate, with a focus on
fine particulate matter. He was a visiting faculty fellow at the Cooperative Institute for
Research in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado and NOAA in Boulder,
Colorado and a postdoctoral fellow at the Combustion Research Facility at Sandia National
Laboratories in Livermore, California. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at
Berkeley in Mechanical Engineering in 1996 and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford
University in 1990. He received the Carnegie Institute of Technology Outstanding Research
Award in 2010, the Ahrens Career Development Chair in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 and
the George Tallman Ladd Outstanding Young Faculty Award in 200. He is the author of more
than 80 peer-reviewed publications on air pollution, atmospheric chemistry, and biomass
energy.

Host: Sonny Astani Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Erin Sigman