EAS Spring 2024 Seminar Series - Into the Mist: Studies on The Viscosity and Plastics of Sea Spray Aerosol

Abstract: The world’s oceans are a major reservoir of biogenic and anthropogenic organic carbon components, such as plastics, which can become airborne in sea spray aerosol (SSA), the most abundant aerosol by mass globally. Physicochemical properties such as the viscosity of SSA are understudied but can affect gas-particle interactions and heterogeneous reaction kinetics, and thus the chemical lifetimes of pollutants in SSA. In this talk, I will discuss three major research thrusts in my group: (1) measurement and modeling of the biological and molecular drivers of SSA viscosity, (2) quantitative analyses of toxic plastic additives and other chemical pollutants in SSA sampled in coastal San Diego, and (3) the effects of chemical aging and particle viscosity on the lifetimes of toxic plastic chemical residues in model SSA matrices.

Biography: I am an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) since 2018. I did my postdoctoral research in Analytical and Atmospheric Chemistry at Purdue University and received my Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Stony Brook University in 2015. I received my M.Sc. in Chemistry from Purdue University in 2009 and my B.Sc. in Chemistry from Winthrop University in 2007. My research focuses on high-resolution analyses of aerosols in the environment. I study their photochemical and multiphase transformations, kinetics, and physicochemical properties. My works are supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences and Environmental Chemical Sciences Divisions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the NSF Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE) at UCSD, where I am a senior personnel and EDI committee member. I contributed to the UN Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), Working Group 38 (The Atmospheric Input of Chemicals to the Ocean), and Working Group 40 (Sources, Fate, and Effects of Plastics and Microplastics in the Marine Environment) and serve on the publications committee for the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR). I am a technical advisor for a scientific organization on campus, a freelance editor for ESL writers, and a guest editor. Outside of my research group, I am passionate about training the next generation of scientists. I serve on the Graduate Affairs Committee (GAC) at UCSD and instruct Analytical Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry, where I encourage my students to explore the intersection of science and policy.