Sep 15, 2020Taking Ozone Investigations Down to Ground Level in San AntonioThis summer has been particularly hectic for public health investigators around the world. Their diligent efforts to trace, understand, and work on containing the unprecedented global health pandemic have taken countless hours. However, while this threat still looms large, other public health threats continue to persist that require diligence and…Environment6 min readEnvironment6 min read
Aug 26, 2019Why Cities Need Mobile Environmental Sensing Tech to Stay Healthy and ProsperousThe air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil under our feet — all share the legacy of chemical pollution. Many of the chemicals that have been and continue to be released can significantly impact human health and well-being. Unless we know exactly which chemicals have been released…Environment4 min readEnvironment4 min read
Jul 6, 2019Making Outdoor Time Safer in Summer: Bringing Cutting-Edge Tech to Ground-Level OzoneThe July 4th holiday weekend is peak time for families to be outside — grilling, watching fireworks and enjoy the summer. But the heat and sunshine work together to brew something dangerous in our air: toxic, ground-level ozone. Unlike the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere that protects us from…Environment3 min readEnvironment3 min read
Mar 24, 2019Responding to the Fires in Texas with Air and Water Quality MonitoringI am back on the ground with my team measuring air and water quality in the aftermath of the industrial fires that burned just outside Houston in Deer Park, Texas. …Environment4 min readEnvironment4 min read
Sep 23, 2018Back in the Field: Air, Water, and Soil Testing Post-FlorenceIt’s been a year since our team drove to Houston to monitor the air quality after Hurricane Harvey, and we are back out: Another natural disaster has struck, this time in North Carolina, where Hurricane Florence last week dumped rain relentlessly, and despite the storm moving offshore, the waters continue…Environment3 min readEnvironment3 min read
Published inMission.org·Nov 16, 2017Leveling the Solution Up to the Global Air Quality ProblemThe air we breathe is often a mystery, and every day we breath in a lot of it: about 10,000 liters or the volume of an average above-ground swimming pool. Except in very specific situations — such as near someone smoking, an old car fuming gases, or a heavily polluted…Environment4 min readEnvironment4 min read
Published inMission.org·Sep 27, 2017Roadtrip Sleuthing Yields Surprising Data in Route to HoustonHeading south into Gilroy, California, on Friday morning right before Labor Day weekend, something seemed wrong: The mobile lab I was driving was measuring some of the highest levels of benzene my team and I had ever seen in the Bay area. We must have misconfigured something. Earlier that morning…Environment6 min readEnvironment6 min read
Sep 14, 2017The Line Between Data and Advocacy: Another Field Report from HoustonOn the last day of our data collection in Texas last week, we were eating lunch at a Cajun-Vietnamese restaurant in Port Arthur. The restaurant was once a Burger King, whose sign had been painted over by hand. It was there we could stop to think about our morning with…Environment4 min readEnvironment4 min read
Sep 8, 2017Trial by Emergency: Putting Our Sensors to Work in HoustonA few weeks ago, I would have never predicted I would be in Texas all this week taking measurements out of a van, but that’s where I am. Tucked into neighborhoods that abut oil refineries and Superfund sites, I am getting one of the best emergency tests I will ever…Environment3 min readEnvironment3 min read
