Congratulations to Surya, who will be spending time over the next 18 months with the Data Science Institute to help answer important questions about low-cost sensor network optimization:
Drs. Naomi Zimmerman (UBC Mechanical Engineering) and Amanda Giang (UBC Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability) were awarded funding for their pilot project “Optimal placement of low-cost air quality sensors in Metro Vancouver to better predict air quality exposure”. This project seeks to develop efficient models for monitoring and predicting air quality in urban centres by leveraging anonymized 5G mobile location data with weather and air quality surveys. One key outcome is to identify locations for sensing of air quality—for example, what is the minimum number needed and where should they be installed for a given area. Ultimately the outcome is to enable data-driven public policy decision-making to support healthy outcomes as it relates to air pollution. This award will be supporting postdoctoral fellow Dr. Surya Dhulipala.
Read more about the award here!
This summer, Julian Fawkes is joining the iREACH lab to work on our UBC PLUME van. Julian recently completed his 2nd Year in Mechanical Engineering at UBC, and joined the lab as part of the NSERC USRA program. Welcome to the team, Julian!
This fall, iREACH is happy to welcome Melanie MacArthur into the group as a new M.A.Sc. student working on traffic-related air pollution and implications for child care facility siting. Prior to joining the group, Melanie completed a B.Sc. in Chemistry at Dalhousie University and had worked for two years at National Research Council Canada in the Biotoxin Metrology group. Welcome, Melanie!
I am pleased to announce that last week iREACH director Prof. Naomi Zimmerman has been named as a Canada Research Chair in Sustainability and was also named to an expert panel run by the Council of Canadian Academies on Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and shared mobility. In conjunction with the Canada Research Chair designation, Prof. Zimmerman was awarded funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to build a new mobile laboratory housed at UBC – the UBC PLUME (Portable Laboratory for Understanding human-Made Emissions) van.
It’s an exciting time around here, and all those at iREACH can’t wait to get to work!
Click here to read the CRC announcement and here to read about the CCA expert panel!
Sakshi recently travelled to Georgia Tech to present her work on using machine learning algorithms to improve land use models of air quality. Sakshi’s poster presentation was supported by a travel scholarship from the conference – congratulations Sakshi!
Read more about the conference here!
On Thursday May 23rd, the Mechanical Engineering Energy Thermofluids (MEET) group had a great barbecue on Spanish Banks beach – Thanks to Mrinmoy for capturing this great group photo!
A warm welcome to Katia, who is visiting UBC this summer from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. Katia is supported by the MITACS Globalink program, and is conducting research on how low-cost sensor devices can be used to quantify the relative contribution of vehicle emissions to air quality in Vancouver. Welcome Katia!
Congratulations to Sakshi on being featured by G+PS’s feature “Meet our Students”
Click here to read more!