Wildfire Smoke, Atmospheric Chemistry, and Air Quality
I am a Postdoctoral Scholar at Rutgers University in Prof. Xiaomeng Jin’s group. I study how wildfire emissions and atmospheric chemistry shape air quality and health-relevant pollutant exposure. My work follows smoke from the fire through its first hours of chemical change to the aged mixture communities breathe days later.
I earned my Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Montana, where I worked with Prof. Lu Hu and Prof. Robert Yokelson on wildfire volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and smoke photochemistry. I received my B.S. in Atmospheric Science (Honors) from Lanzhou University and was a visiting student in Prof. Dan Jaffe’s group at the University of Washington.
From fire to communities
- At the source: Do fire-emission inventories estimate enough carbon monoxide (CO) and VOCs for the fires they detect?
- During the first hours: How quickly do smoke oxidation and ozone formation proceed?
- Days downwind: What remains when smoke reaches communities after days of travel and chemical change?
Across these stages, I also investigate which reactive VOCs and chemical pathways are missing from reduced atmospheric mechanisms.
To answer these questions, I integrate aircraft, surface, and satellite observations with GEOS-Chem, CMAQ, chemical box models, trajectory analysis, and data-driven methods.
Open science. Whenever permissions allow, I share the data and code behind my research on the corresponding publication pages.
In the media. I spoke with Montana Public Radio about what gives wildfire smoke its smell and why smell and the Air Quality Index do not always match.