Category: News

This article was originally posted on the UCI Newsroom and included in the Spring ’22 issue of the UCI Magazine.

Not long ago, smog was as much a part of the Southern California landscape as the Hollywood sign it sometimes obscured. Though less visible and greatly diminished, air pollution is still a part of our lives, says Jun Wu, a UCI professor of public health in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health.

“We still see a lot of adverse health effects,” she says. “Concentrations of fine particulate matter have even risen due to wildfires. And while outdoor pollution temporarily dropped during the COVID shutdown, we published a paper showing that indoor pollution increased, because with everyone staying indoors, there were more combustion byproducts from cooking, more chemicals from cleaning products and so on.”

Wu and her department colleagues and students track such data, particularly in underserved communities, to present stakeholders such as health officials and civic leaders with information and potential solutions.

“I look at environmental exposures of people to various agents, such as air pollution, noise, heat, wildfires, etc. and also at the health impact of those exposures,” she says.

For example, Wu is collaborating with Alana LeBrón, a UCI assistant professor of public health in the Department of Health, Society and Behavior, on a study of lead contamination in Santa Ana and its effects on children’s health and academic performance. In addition, she’s helping communities tackle concerns about air pollution and wildfire impacts, including industrial and firework emissions in Santa Ana.

Wu’s work isn’t all about dealing with problems: “I’m very excited to be exploring the beneficial effects that parks and other green spaces can have on better health outcomes for people – how they can help relieve stress, improve concentration and encourage physical activity. Trees can also absorb certain chemicals from the atmosphere, while a tree canopy provides shade. Unfortunately, the vulnerable communities that have more pollution are also the communities that have less green space, so the goal is finding ways to address that.”

AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships (STPF) was started in 1973 to provide opportunities to outstanding Doctoral scientists and engineers to learn first-hand about policy making while contributing their knowledge and analytical skills to the federal policymaking process. Fellows serve yearlong assignments in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government in Washington, DC. STPF awards more than 130 first year fellowships annually. In addition, approximately 35 congressional and 10 executive branch fellowships are selected and awarded by our science and engineering partner societies adding to a growing corps of over 3,400 strong policy-savvy leaders working across academia, government, nonprofits and industry to serve the nation and the world. The benefits of being a fellow are numerous and include a stipend, a yearlong series of professional development workshops, access to the STPF fellows’ network, professional opportunities for leadership and science communication, and more. 

The fellowship is a 12-month learning experience beginning on September 1 and ending on August 31. All AAAS S&T Policy Fellowship are based in the Washington, D.C. area in the first year of an assignment. At the mutual agreement of the host office, the fellow, and STPF, executive branch assignments may move to a different operating base in the second (renewal) year. Most executive branch fellowships are funded by the agencies and offices where fellows are placed. Congressional fellowships are funded by science and engineering partner societies that recruit and select those fellows.

Irene Martinez, PhD candidate of transportation system engineering, has become the official member of 2022-2025 ACP50 “Standing Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics”.

Farzana Khatun, PhD candidate of Transportation Science program, has been selected as one of the 10 finalists for the 2022 UCI Grad Slam. 

“Grad Slam is a systemwide competition that showcases and awards the best three-minute research presentations by graduate scholars. This competition not only highlights the excellence, importance and relevance of UCI graduate scholars and their research, but it is also designed to increase graduate students’ communication skills and their capacity to effectively present their work with poise and confidence. It is an opportunity to share accomplishments with the campus, friends of UCI, the local community, and the broader public.” See details here. 

The final will take place on March 3rd. Please register here.

J.D. Sarah L. Catz shared her view on self-drive cars on WalletHub. “Autonomous vehicles face many issues that are yet resolved. But every year the technology advances by leaps and bounds. In fact, never in my life have I witnessed such a rapid growth of technology. There have been so many incredible gains, both in the U.S. but also across that globe, that we are no longer talking 15 or 20 years from now. I truly believe we are talking 5 to 10 years.” See the story here.

During summer 2021, Farzana Khatun, a 5th year PhD candidate of Transportation Science, received the 2021 Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship (GDDF) from UCI. The fellowship aims to increase dissertation and thesis completion amongst doctoral and MFA students. This award is intended for students in their final year of graduate study who have a realistic expectation of degree completion during the 2021-2022 academic year.  Farzana is currently on the verge of rounding out her dissertation that addresses three crucial issues of current public transportation: 1) The impact of emerging technology and new mobility services (like Uber and Lyft) on transit ridership; 2) the effect of private car-oriented policies (like Assembly Bill 60) on transit ridership, and 3) the effect of an unprecedented situation (like the COVID19 pandemic) on transit ridership. Farzana’s research findings are informed by econometric models.