Achievement

Trainee Maggie Grabow, with IGERT Faculty Patz and Holloway, completed research written up in a manuscript entitled, “Air quality and exercise-related health benefits from reduced car travel in the Midwestern United States.” It has gone through second review by the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives, now pending final decision. The research was highly interdisciplinary involving the coupling of transportation emissions, regional air quality, and public health models to assess the public health benefits of removing short car commuting in the upper Midwest. The improvement in air quality would save $3.5 billion in avoided health costs. If 50% of these short trips were then made by bicycle, the exercise-related health benefits could reach $3.8 billion, for a total health benefit of >$7 billion annually for this green transportation scenario. This cross-sector study stemmed in part from collaboration made possible through our NSF IGERT.