Environmental, Water Resources, and Coastal Engineering Seminar Series

Virtual seminar link: https://ncsu.zoom.us/j/92010077484?pwd=aFlOQmp5dHVKMmNnK0w0Qi9hREJWdz09

Abstract: Organic molecules in the atmosphere play a major role in the production of secondary pollutants such as ozone and particles. These, in turn, are central to some of the major environmental issues of our times (climate change, air pollution). Despite the vital role that these species play in our global environment, our understanding has been hampered by the complexity of this class of species and a fractured approach to studying their chemical evolution. In this talk, I’ll discuss the overall role of reactive organic carbon (ROC) in tropospheric chemistry, as well as recent progress and remaining challenges in understanding this role. I will also use field measurements from the CalNex, SOAS, and ATom field campaigns to contrast the abundance and role of ROC in terms of OH reactivity, ozone, and secondary organic aerosol production.

Biography: Colette L. Heald is the Germeshausen Professor of Civil and Environment Engineering & Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She received her undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University in Canada in 2000, and her PhD in Earth and Planetary Science from Harvard University in 2005. She held the NOAA Climate and Global Change postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California Berkeley from 2006-2007. Prof. Heald heads the Global Atmospheric Composition and Chemistry Modeling Group at MIT. Her primary research interests are the interactions between the biosphere and atmosphere and the evolution and impacts of atmospheric particles. She has published over 100 papers in the peer-reviewed literature. Colette is currently a member of the Advisory Committee on Geosciences for the National Science Foundation, the Science Community Committee for NASA’s ACCP mission, and an elected representative of the Atmospheric & Hydrospheric Sciences Section of AAAS. In 2015, she was awarded the James B. Macelwane Medal for early career contributions to the geosciences. She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.