Dr. H. Christopher Frey, the Glenn E Futrell Distinguished University Professor in CCEE, continues to collaborate on air quality research and education with several Ph.D. students whom he has advised. Most recently this was evidenced at the Fifth International Symposium on Regional Air Quality Management in Rapidly Developing Economic Regions, (5RAQM) held in Guangzhou, China in November.

Frey spoke at the conference on the role of portable emission measurement systems to answer technical and policy questions. Dr. Junyu “Allen” Zheng (Ph.D. CCEE 2002), a professor of environmental engineering at Jinan University in China, served as a secretary-general of the conference and delivered a talk on quantification of volatile organic compound emissions.  Dr. Joshua Fu (Ph.D. CCEE 2000), a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, spoke on assessment of the effectiveness of SO₂ emission control in China.

“The number of attendees at this year’s conference has more than doubled since the previous one held in 2014,” Frey said. “It’s encouraging that China is proceeding full steam ahead on air quality science and policy.” One of the highlights reported at this year’s meeting is that for the last four years, the ambient levels of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) have been decreasing, which is a major success story.

 

 

Frey is also an adjunct professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). HKUST Ph.D. student Zhiyuan Li spent the Spring of 2017 at NC State working with Frey on measurement and modeling of human exposure to air pollution during transportation. Wenwei Che, a research assistant professor at HKUST, spent the Spring of 2013 in Raleigh working with Frey when she was a Ph.D. student. Frey and Che are now working on measurement and modeling of human exposure to both indoor and outdoor air pollution and have co-authored several recent journal papers. Frey also works closely with colleagues in mainland China. For example, in 2016, Frey hosted Zhuangmin “Daisy” Zhong, a PhD student advised by Dr. Zheng at South China University of Technology, to learn from the NCSU experience in measuring real-world vehicle emissions. Zhong was one of the student organizers of the 5RAQM.

Frey’s collaborations with former students include work on a project called “PRAISE HK,” which was created to measure and model personal exposure to air pollution throughout Hong Kong. “This project has a large communications component aimed at using both traditional media and the internet, including YouTube to disseminate information,” Frey said. You can see one of Dr. Frey’s presentations here.