Highlight
IGERT Trainees from Economics and Environmental Engineering Collaborate and Both Accept Faculty Positions in Pennsylvania
Achievement/Results
R. J. Briggs (Economics), a member of the first cohort of trainees in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program in Indoor Environmental Science and Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin has accepted the position of Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics in the Department of Energy and Minerals Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. R. J. credits his IGERT experience, including courses, IGERT internship, and collaboration with engineering faculty and students with making it easier to see novel research opportunities, incorporate diverse scientific perspectives in his work, and communicate his ideas across disciplines. These experiences should serve him well as he embarks on his own academic career as an economist in a department of engineering.
R. J.’s doctoral research focused on the health effects of indoor air pollutants. Combining indoor air science with econometric analysis, R.J. examined the relationship between respiratory health and the use of natural gas stoves as well as the effects of smoking bans on birth weight.
In addition to working with physical scientists and engineers during his IGERT internship at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, R. J. completed three IGERT indoor air quality courses in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering. In addition to his own Ph.D. advisor, IGERT faculty participant Rob Williams (Economics), R. J. also interacted with IGERT faculty participants Richard Corsi (Environmental Engineering) and Jeffrey Siegel (Architectural Engineering).
Trainee Michael Waring, also a member of the first cohort of trainees in the IGERT program on Indoor Environmental Science and Engineering, recently accepted a faculty position in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at Drexel University. Michael’s doctoral research focused on indoor ozone chemistry, including both homogeneous (in air) and heterogeneous (on surfaces) chemistry. He studied the amounts of ozone emitted from ion generating “air purifiers”, corresponding formation of formaldehyde, other oxidized gases, and secondary organic aerosols, and the effects of indoor surfaces on ozone-terpene chemistry.
Over the course of his IGERT traineeship, Michael completed an internship at NIOSH in West Virginia and worked with chemists who study the effects of ozone reaction products on occupational asthma. Because of the IGERT program, Michael also met and worked closely on an interdisciplinary project with trainee RJ Briggs. Specifically, they worked on a study related to the indoor air quality effects of a smoking ban in Austin restaurants and bars, including improvements in indoor air quality and economic effects on these establishments. R. J. and Michael are both excited about continuing their research on indoor environmental quality as faculty members in Pennsylvania. Because of their new proximity and successes working together as IGERT trainees, there is potential that they will continue to work together on future interdisciplinary research.
Address Goals
Both R. J. Briggs and Michael Waring developed extensive expertise related to indoor environmental science and engineering as IGERT Trainees. Their increase in knowledge of this subject and future roles as academicians who will pass this knowledge on to their future students reflects a success toward the strategic goal of learning. Their individual and collaborative research efforts have lead to new insights related to several issues relevant to indoor environmental science and engineering. These research insights address the strategic goal of discovery, in areas ranging from cooking and health, to indoor ozone chemistry, effects of smoking bans on indoor air quality and economic performance of bars and restaurants, and the effects of smoking bans on fetal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and birth weight.
