Fernando receives NSF Career Award
March 26, 2018 – Dr. Fernando Garcia Menendez received a Faculty Early Career Development award, also known as the CAREER Award, from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award is one of the highest honors given by NSF to young faculty members in science and engineering. NSF will provide support the project, “Modeling and Educational Framework to Support Air Quality Management in a Smoky Atmosphere,” focused on developing computational tools assessments to help U.S. land managers lessen the impact to human health of air pollution from smoke, while at the same time restoring the natural fire cycle to improve ecosystem health.
Students present research at the CCEE EWC Graduate Research Symposium
March 2, 2018 – PhD students Sadia Afrin, James East, and Megan Johnson presented their current research at the annual Environmental, Water Resources, and Coastal Engineering (EWC) Graduate Research Symposium held at Hunt Library on Centennial Campus. Students from across the EWC group present posters at the student-organized symposium which are critiqued and awarded by a group of invited judges. The event also features a keynote speech by an invited speaker. This year Dr. Scott C. Hagen from Louisiana State University talked about transdisciplinary research on climate change impacts at the coastal land margin.
Sadia presented her research on the “Impacts of prescribed fire and meteorology on air quality in the Southeastern U.S. evaluated with a unified prescribed burning database,” James discussed his work examining the “Impact of climate model response on projections of future air quality under various climate scenarios,” and Megan reviewed her work “Estimating air pollution impacts of the 2016 Southern Appalachian wildfires.” James and Megan received honorable mentions for their presentations.
Fernando presents at American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting
December 14, 2017 – Dr. Fernando Garcia Menendez presented group research titled “Assessing the impact of fires on air quality in the Southeastern U.S. with a unified prescribed burning database” at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in New Orleans, LA. The presentation focused on the influence of prescribed fire on air quality in the Southeast and the challenges associated with assessing their impacts. In this research, Fernando is working closely with PhD student Sadia Afrin.
Prescribed fire in Florida from 2012-2016
Sadia receives best poster award at AAAR Annual Conference
October 21, 2017 – PhD student Sadia Afrin presented her research at the Annual Conference of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) in Raleigh, NC. Sadia received a best student poster award for her work titled “Development of a Unified Information System for Prescribed Fires and Air Quality in the Southeastern US”. The poster described an ongoing effort to develop an integrated information system for prescribed fire data in the Southeast by unifying available burn permit records. This research is part of a project supported by Joint Fire Science Program and includes collaborators from Georgia Tech and the US Forest Service.
Prescribed fire information workshop organized by NC State, Georgia Tech, and US Forest Service
August 8, 2017 – Dr. Fernando Garcia Menendez, Dr. Talat Odman (Georgia Tech), and Dr. Cassandra Johnson (USFS) hosted fire and air quality managers from federal and state agencies across the Southeast for the Southern Integrated Prescribed Fire Information System Workshop held in Atlanta, GA. This event served as a forum to provide input to the development of a unified prescribed fire record for the South and participate in the design of an integrated information system for fire and air quality data. During the workshop, issues and opportunities in generating a unified Southern prescribed fire database were discussed. Data and modeling needs related to prescribed fire and air quality were identified and a prototype of a unified database was introduced. The workshop is a component of a research effort supported by the Joint Fire Science Program.
Fernando speaks at Air & Waste Management Association Annual Conference
June 9, 2017 – Dr. Fernando Garcia Menendez presented his research at the Air & Waste Management Association 2017 Annual Conference & Exhibition held in Pittsburgh, PA. The presentation titled “Assessing key uncertainties in projections of climate change impacts on air quality” covered recent research done in collaboration with Dr. Rebecca Saari from the University of Waterloo and Dr. Erwan Monier from MIT exploring the potential impact of anthropogenic climate change on air quality.
Projections of climate impacts on air quality
Bret presents at NCSU Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
April 12, 2017 – Bret Pienkosz presented his research at NC State’s 26th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. In his poster titled “Projecting the effects of climate change and environmental policy on United States fine particulate matter concentrations under natural variability”, Bret described the work he has been doing as an Undergraduate Research Assistant and which he plans to develop into a journal publication. During the symposium, undergraduate students from NC State shared their research and creative works with the campus community and visitors.
Fernando delivers keynote presentation at Latin American Research Symposium
February 10, 2016 – Dr. Fernando Garcia Menendez was invited to deliver the keynote talk at the 3rd Latin American Research Symposium organized by the Latin American Student Association at NC State (LASA). During his presentation, Fernando discussed the impacts of climate change policy on air quality and public health, as well as the need for more research focused on Latin American cities. The symposium is the largest event LASA organizes each year, offering an opportunity for Latin American graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and others conducting research related to Latin America, to showcase their work and exchange ideas with fellow students and faculty.
