CASE Report 2020

The Center for Aerosol Science and Engineering (CASE) at Washington University in St. Louis is focused on the advancement of aerosol science and technology that addresses grand challenges related to the environment, energy, advanced materials and human health.

CASE works to characterize fundamental aerosol formation and transformation processes; to determine the impacts of aerosols on the environment, climate, and human health; to use aerosol processes to develop new materials and enable energy, environmental and medical technologies. The center is composed of a collaborative group of faculty, students, and affiliates within the department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering and across the university. Partnerships with universities and corporations extend across the globe.

CASE activities include: 1) extensive collaborative research with shared instrumentation facilities 2) education through coordinated coursework, workshops, seminars and discussion groups, and 3) social networking events for students and faculty.

Core faculty Richard Axelbaum

Randall Martin

The Stifel & Quinette Jens Professor of Environmental Engineering Science

Raymond Tucker Distinguished Professor

axelbaum@wustl.edu

PhD, 2002, Harvard University

rvmartin@wustl.edu

PhD, 1988, University of California Nanoparticle synthesis, combustion aerosols; clean energy; LACER Lab

Characterizing atmospheric composition to inform effective policies surrounding major environmental and public health challenges ranging from air quality to climate change

Pratim Biswas

Elijah Thimsen

The Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor and Chair

Assistant Professor

pbiswas@wustl.edu

elijah.thimsen@wustl.edu

PhD, 1985, California Institute of Technology

PhD, 2009, Washington University in St. Louis

Combustion aerosols, air quality and pollution control, nanotechnology, environmentally benign energy production; AAQRL Lab

Energy, advanced gas-phase synthesis of nanomaterials for energy applications; Interface Research Group Lab

Rajan Chakrabarty

Jay R. Turner

Associate Professor

Vice Dean for Education & Professor

chakrabarty@wustl.edu

jrturner@wustl.edu

PhD, 2008, University of Nevada-Reno

DSc, 1993, Washington University in St. Louis

Energy, atmospheric aerosols and radiative forcing; aerosol formation and engineering; AIR Lab

Air Quality Management, Air Pollution exposure and health effects

Rudolf Husar

Jian Wang

Professor (retired)

Professor and Director of the Center for Aerosol Science and Engineering (CASE)

rhusar@wustl.edu

jian@wustl.edu

PhD, 1970, University of Minnesota Center for Air Pollution and Trends Analysis Information Systems for Air Quality Management (CAPITA Lab)

PhD, 2003, California Institute of Technology

Ben Kumfer

Brent Williams

Research Assistant Professor

Associate Professor

kumferb@wustl.edu

brentw@wustl.edu

DSc, 2005, Washington University in St. Louis

PhD, 2008, University of California, Berkeley

Combustion research: utilization of oxygen to increase process efficiency, reduce pollutant emissions, produce nanomaterials, and enable capture of carbon dioxide

Composition and chemistry of the atmosphere, biogenic and anthropogenic gases and particles; ACT Lab

Understand processes that drive the properties, distribution, and evolution of aerosols; to elucidate and quantify the effects of atmospheric aerosols on radiation, clouds, climate and air quality

Affiliated Faculty » Samuel Achilefu (School of Medicine)

» Kim Parker (EECE)

» Raymond Arvidson (Earth & Planetary Sciences)

» Vijay Ramani (EECE)

» Hilary Babcock (School of Medicine)

» Srikanth Singamaneni (Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science)

» Young-Shin Jun (EECE) » Tianxiang Li (EECE) » Fanqiong Ling (EECE)

» Lan Yang (Electrical & Systems Engineering) » Grigoriy Yablonsky (EECE)

highlights & selected metrics » National Academy of Engineering Member (Pratim Biswas)

» Fuchs Award, (Pratim Biswas)

» USEPA Science Advisory Board Member (Jay R. Turner)

» Whitby Award, American Association for Aerosol Research (Pratim Biswas, Rajan Chakrabarty, Jian Wang)

» Past Presidents of AAAR (Pratim Biswas, 2006-07 and Jay R. Turner 2013-14) » International Aerosol Research Assembly President (Pratim Biswas)

» Alumni as leading faculty members and corporate leaders

» Working Group and Tutorial Chairs of AAAR (Rajan Chakrabarty, Brent Williams, Pratim Biswas and Jian Wang) » Host of 10th International Aerosol Conference, St. Louis, Sept.

2-7, 2018 » Highly Cited Researcher, Web of Science (Randall Martin)

» Schmauss Award, Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung (Rajan Chakrabarty) » Total Research Expenditures (FY2018-2020) = $ 9.4 million » Refereed Journal Publications (FY2018-2020) = 232 » Current PhD Students Advised = 41 » Average H-index (SCOPUS) = 36

Research Highlights Law of soot light absorption: Current climate models underestimate warming by black carbon aerosol Calculated trends in geophysical PM2.5 values from 1998–2018.

Warm colors indicate positive trends, cool colors indicate negative trends, and the opacity of the colors indicates the statistical significance of the trends. (Courtesy: Martin Lab)

Global pollution estimates reveal surprises, opportunity Randall Martin’s group at Washington University used a harmonized approach, incorporating data from multiple satellites and ground monitors with computer modeling to compile a comprehensive, consistent map of pollution across the globe. Their data spans 1998-2018, providing a current picture of the state of the world’s air quality that reveals some surprises, both for better and for worse.

International Space Station experiments will search for key to soot-free flames On board the International Space Station (ISS), flames are being ignited to help scientists back on Earth resolve the long-standing question of why flames produce soot, and how we can eliminate it. PI, Richard Axelbaum, hopes that by understanding why soot formation is suppressed in his microgravity experiments, his team will be able to identify ways to reduce levels of it down here, given that soot is the second greatest contributor to global warming.

Source: © Richard Axelbaum/ NASA The spherical shape of a flame in microgravity.

Experiments on the ISS could help researchers understand how to suppressed soot on Earth.

Soot belches out of diesel engines, Soot particles remain suspended in the atmosphere rises from wood- and dung-burning as coated with organic matter. This coating results cookstoves and shoots out of oil in non-linear enhancement of solar light absorption refinery stacks. According to recent and subsequent heating of the surrounding air by these particles. (Image: Chakrabarty Lab) research, air pollution, including soot, is linked to heart disease, some cancers and, in the United States, as many as 150,000 cases of diabetes every year.

Beyond its impact on health, soot, known as black carbon by atmospheric scientists, is a powerful global warming agent. It absorbs sunlight and traps heat in the atmosphere in magnitude second only to the notorious carbon dioxide. Rajan Chakrabarty and William R. Heinson, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in Chakrabarty’s lab discovered something new about soot, or rather, a new law that describes its ability to absorb light: the law of light absorption. With it, scientists will be able to better understand soot’s role in climate change. The research was published as “Editors’ Suggestion” in Physical Review Letters.

Aerosol and Air Quality Research Lab finds new technique to make solar cells Shalinee Kavadiya, a former doctoral student; Dariusz Niedzwiedzki, an InCEES research scientist; Su Huang, research assistant professor; and Pratim Biswas, the Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, published a paper in Advanced Energy Materials titled “Electrosprayassisted Fabrication of Moisture-resistant and Highly Stable Perovskite Solar Cells at Ambient Conditions.”

The paper describes a novel electrospray deposition technique to fabricate a perovskite layer for highly stable and efficient perovskite solar cells in ambient humidity conditions. The technique is promising for the large-scale commercial fabrication of perovskite solar cells.

Research Collaborations CASE has extensive collaborations with universities, federal laboratories, government agencies, and private sector on key areas of aerosol science and engineering, including (1) Environment and Climate, (2) Health effects of aerosols, (3) Instrumentation, and (4) combustion aerosols and control technology. u n i v e r s i t i e s • nat i o na l l a b or atori es /government agenc i es • pri vate s ector

environment & health effects

combustion aerosols, control technology & advanced materials

Harvard University

University of Maryland

Columbia University

University of Utah

Carnegie Mellon University

West Virginia University

University of Chicago

Ghent University, Belgium

University of Utrecht

Tsinghua University, China

University of Colorado Boulder

Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

University of British Columbia

IIT, Bombay, India

University of Miami

University of Louisville

Technion, Israel

NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO)

Mongolian Univ. Science & Technology

University of Miami

University of the Witwatersrand

NASA Glenn Research Center

NASA Langley Research Center

University of Alaska-Fairbanks

ThermoAI Inc.

Naval Research Laboratory

University of North Carolina

Linde Gas North America LLC

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Missouri Science and Technology

Cabot Corporation

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

University of Miami

Electric Power Research Institute

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

St. Louis VA

Doosan Babcock

Max Planck Institute for Chemistry

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Air Liquide

Health Effects Institute

AECOM

UNICEF

Reaction Engineering International

climate Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Colorado State University University of Washington Texas A&M University University of Arizona Purdue University Stony Brook University

aerosol instruments, retrieval algorithms & measurement network Harvard University

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Advanced Particle Technology

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Kanomax FMT

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

NASA GMAO

AirPhoton

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Vital Strategies

Aerosol Dynamics Inc.

Bloomberg Philanthropies

Purdue University University of California, Davis

Aerodyne Research Inc.

Affiliated Centers

McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environment Partnership (MAGEEP)

Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization (CCCU)

Solar Energy and Energy Storage (SEES)

International Center for Energy and Sustainability (InCEES)

mageep.wustl.edu

cccu.wustl.edu

solarstorage.wustl.edu

incees.wustl.edu

response to covid-19

Airborne transmission

Aerosol researchers at McKelvey School of Engineering tackle novel coronavirus Researchers in McKelvey Engineering are at the forefront of aerosol science. With ongoing research from as high as 250 miles above earth at the International Space Station, down to remote marine environments, CASE has expertise from the broadest scale to the molecular level. Right now, that’s the kind of range in expertise needed to tackle COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus. WashU experts are putting their expertise to work.

AAQRL researchers in the lab of Pratim Biswas are working to better understand the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 and aerosolization of antiviral agents (studies on self-assembly and denaturing). This important fundamental study will aid in the development of aerosol delivery methodologies for antiviral drugs and targeting them at the appropriate location to be effective. The work is being done by Hao Zhou, a doctoral student.

Particles in masks Brent Williams is guiding one of two groups researching how well face masks can filter out particles, such as viruses and small droplets. Research teams are investigating low-tech solutions for the public; different materials for masks that compare to the highly efficient N95 masks; and the stability and performance of those N95 masks with extended use. They are collaborating with the School of Medicine and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts on mask design and fit.

Health care demand Rajan Chakrabarty has used computer modeling to determine how physical distancing relates to health care demand, both hospital beds and ICU beds based on different scenarios.

Assuming the United States does not plan social distancing forever, he said, “One thing we have found out based on our data sets is that you really have to be careful not to extend intermittent social distancing through a longer period than a 5-to-1 distancing/no-distancing period. Beyond this ratio, the benefit of social distancing diminishes to a negligible level.”

Long-term air quality Jay Turner and his team have been conducting long-term air quality measurements in a Louisville, Kentucky, neighborhood and will continue these measurements and the corresponding sample analyses in the lab during the COVID-19 pandemic, getting data on changes to air quality and exposures.

Pradeep Prathibha, a doctoral student in Turner’s lab, is analyzing samples from their 60-site neighborhood-scale sampling network.

Pollution reduction

Mortality rates Randall Martin and his group are applying satellite remote sensing to assess how air pollution is changing around the world in response to COVID-19. He also is collaborating with colleagues to understand how air pollution affects COVID-19 mortality rates.

Data from his group were included in a national study published by Harvard University on long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States.

The study, featured in The New York Times, found that an increase of only 1 microgram per cubic meter in PM2.5 — fine particulate matter that can embed in the respiratory tract — is associated with a 15% increase in the COVID-19 death rate.

Jian Wang and members of his lab are looking at reduction in the emissions of aerosol particles and their precursors while businesses are closed during the pandemic.

“We are going to take a look at the measurements at a surface station in the Azores, which is thousands of kilometers ‘downwind’ of North America,” he said. “We are interested in finding out if the ‘shut down’ leads to a decrease of aerosol concentration in remote marine environment and the effects of aerosol on marine clouds.”

education progr ams

Facilities

Washington University in St. Louis –IIT Bombay Joint Degree program A joint Master of Science in Aerosols and Air Quality program between Washington University and IIT Bombay has been established. During the one-year program, BTech graduates from IIT Bombay spend summer and fall semesters at Washington University and spring semester at IIT Bombay. At the end of the joint MS program, top students may continue their graduate study in EECE PhD program. The joint MS program also promotes grass-root collaborations between CASE and IIT Bombay faculty involving students as early as their junior year.

A 1000 sq ft. CASE shared laboratory is now operational. The CASE shared laboratory has state-of-the-art aerosol equipment and provides a facility for the development, evaluation, and calibration of novel aerosol instruments. During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the shared laboratory also enabled a number of experimental studies related to the COVID-19.

A sister laboratory facility at IIT Bombay was established in December 2019.

This is the first international satellite laboratory of CASE, and it facilitates the research and education of the joint Master of Science in Aerosols and Air Quality

CASE Distinguished Fellow Program The CASE Distinguished Fellow program was established in Fall of 2019. This program recognizes key individuals in the field of aerosol science and engineering. Fellows visit Washington University for 3 days or more.

During the visit, the Fellows interact with faculty and students, and present two lectures. One important aspect of the Fellow Program is to develop and strengthen collaborations between the Fellows and CASE faculty. The first CASE Distinguished Fellow was Dr. Anthony S. Wexler, distinguished professor from University of California, Davis.

CASE Partner Universities

Istanbul, Turkey • Bogazici University

Seoul, South Korea • Seoul National University • Yonsei University Beijing, China • Tsinghua University • Peking University • China Agriculture University

St. Louis, MO • Washington University

Shanghai, China • Fudan University Hsinchu City, Taiwan • National Chiao Tung University Mumbai, India • IIT Bombay-Mumbai Haifa, Israel Bangkok, Thailand • Technion, Israel • Chulalongkorn Institute of Technolgy Singapore • National University of Singapore

Hong Kong, China • Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

mageep aerosol network » National University of Singapore — B. Rajasekhar, J. Yu

» China Agricultural University — R. Dong, Y. Zhou

» Chulalongkorn University — A. Suriyawong

» Fudan University — Y. Zhang, J. Chen

» Seoul National University — M. Choi

» Hong Kong University of Science and Technology — I. Lo

» Yonsei University — T.G. Lee, J. Jeong

» IIT Bombay — C. Venkataman, V. Sethi

» Tsinghua University — J. Hao, J. Jiang, Y. Wu, S. Wang. S. Li, Q. Yao

» Technion — G. Grader, M. Shapiro

» Peking University — M. Hu

» National Chiao Tung University — H. Bai, C.J. Tsai

National & International Organizations

» Bogazici — O. Yenigun

Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering Campus Box 1180 • One Brookings Drive • St. Louis, MO 63130

eece.wustl.edu