Utah State University (inc)
Grant: $194,482 - National Science Foundation - Jul. 20, 2009
0% voted satisfied - 100% voted not satisfied - 1 vote(s) cast
Join the conversation: Post a comment about this award
Award Description: Amines are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted to the atmosphere from a number of sources including intense emissions from animal feeding operations (AFOs). In the atmosphere, amines act as precursors for aerosols, but the fates of amines released incident to large-scale food production have not been studied in a quantitative manner to determine their importance in atmospheric gas and aerosol chemistry. This project will take an integrated laboratory/field approach to identify and quantify the impact of amines and the role they play in aerosol formation reactions. During the first year, development of methodology for analyzing amine-derivatives will be accomplished and environmental chamber studies of reaction rates of amines with atmospheric oxidants will begin. Year two of the research plan will continue chamber studies with a goal of identifying condensed-phase species that are present in the product aerosols. Also in year two, ambient aerosols and gases will be sampled in AFO-impacted air sheds in Utah and California, and the molecular speciation of amine and amine-derivative compounds will be determined.
Project Description: The project has several broader expected impacts, including the education and training of two graduate students at Utah State University (USU) and one at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), to perform smog chamber studies of amine reactions. Undergraduate assistants at USU and UCR will assist with chemical analysis of aerosols and associated data analysis. In addition to personnel support, the studies of aerosol formation reactions from amines will yield new information on the atmospheric component of the biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen. Understanding the fundamental atmospheric chemistry of amines is critical for quantification of the fate of air pollutants associated with large-scale food production.
Jobs Summary: One graduate student researcher has been hired full time to date for this project (job created). The research position hired in the current quarter required a B.S. degree in chemistry and the job involves various laboratory and field sampling work related to the funded project. This is a newly funded position for a second year graduate student (pursuing a Masters of Science degree to be awarded in the first half of 2010). The finding has allowed the researcher to be employed full time on the project and to devote 100% of their effort to the project. The researcher previously was funded half time as a teaching assistant that only allowed a 50% research effort to be performed. The ARRA funding has allowed our laboratory to retain all existing researchers (currently 3 laboratory workers total, not including the laboratory director who is who is also the grant's principle investigator). Additional part time (seasonal) jobs will be created during the grant period and these will be reported in future quarterly progress reports. (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
This award's data was last updated on Jul. 20, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
No comments have been added for this project.