{"id":23,"date":"2016-05-20T22:38:39","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T22:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/?p=23"},"modified":"2016-06-03T13:58:03","modified_gmt":"2016-06-03T20:58:03","slug":"clearing-the-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/clearing-the-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Clearing the Air"},"content":{"rendered":"

But for one stroke of luck, Earth could be<\/strong> minus a big ally in the climate change fight: Lelia Hawkins discovered atmospheric chemistry by accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always had a passion for science, initially biology,\u201d says the assistant professor of chemistry. While an undergraduate in environmental science at University of California, San Diego, Hawkins took an elective in atmospheric chemistry\u2014and was quickly hooked. \u201cI fell in love with the idea that interesting, complex reactions were taking place in the air and that understanding them could lead to improved quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lelia<\/figure>\n

Now, several years and one prestigious NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant later, Hawkins is examining the nature of particulate air pollution to better understand how particles interact with light\u2014a key problem in addressing climate change.<\/p>\n

The Hawkins Lab is measuring the UV\/visible absorption spectrum of smog particles to see how secondary atmospheric brown carbon forms and transforms. Studying the persistence and nature of these formations, as well as the optical and chemical changes that accompany brown carbon aging, can elucidate brown carbon\u2019s role in atmospheric warming and ultimately help to improve climate models. To help streamline the research, the CAREER grant provided funding for an aerosol mass spectrometer, a valuable instrument that measures the chemical composition of particles locally and rapidly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chemical nature of secondary compounds is still very poorly understood,\u201d says Hawkins. \u201cFiguring out which compounds are responsible for the brown color of some particles has proven even tougher, since they represent an incredibly small, but important, fraction of material. This work will help us target those minor components by using frequent, local measurements of both composition and absorption extending over weeks to months.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an added benefit, the spectrometer affords her students the opportunity to use state-of-the-art instrumentation commonly limited to graduate work and industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving students use this equipment to understand chemical phenomena is truly rewarding,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s fun seeing them get excited about increased resolution, lower detection limits, faster response times, and seeing them gain confidence in operating sophisticated chemical instrumentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s essential training in the fight against climate change, the disastrous effects of which can be curbed, says Hawkins, but only if we act deliberately.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the changes scientists worry most about is the melting of polar ice, because that is not a reversible system on any kind of timescale relevant to humans,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce the ice is gone, we\u2019ll need much colder conditions for a very long time to get it back.\u201d She cites extreme drought in the developing world as another irreversible effect that could devastate populations for generations to come.<\/p>\n

Beginning her sixth year at Harvey Mudd, Hawkins has worked alongside a sizable sample population of the next generation of passionate chemists and\u2014luckily for us\u2014believes they will rise to meet what has become an existential challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents today don\u2019t want to just learn the chemistry, or the physics, math and biology of the problem,\u201d she says. \u201cThey want to understand why we have the problem. Our students are deeply interested in the societal aspects of the subjects we teach, and that is going to make them far more impactful. Understanding how some pollutant impacts the environment is nearly useless unless you understand how to effect change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone deserves a healthy planet, and that includes clean water and clean air.<\/p>\n

\u2013LELIA HAWKINS, 2015 CAREER GRANT AWARDEE<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hawkins credits mentor Kimberly Prather, UCSD\u2019s distinguished chair in atmospheric chemistry, for urging her to double major in chemistry and environmental science, equipping her with a breadth of knowledge to pursue complex graduate work in atmospheric chemistry and understand its impact on an increasingly global society. Now she\u2019s inspiring her Harvey Mudd undergraduates to do the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone deserves a healthy planet, and that includes clean water and clean air,\u201d says Hawkins. \u201cThe idea that one person, or one group of people, can impact the health of many motivates me to understand how air pollution forms and transforms.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But for one stroke of luck, Earth could be minus a big ally in the climate change fight: Lelia Hawkins […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}