Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Investigating Environmental Justice and Managing Air Pollution Risk through Participatory Sensing

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。一些人求助于非政府空气质量监测网络(NAQMN)来评估他们暴露在空气污染中的情况。NAQMN包括低成本、联网的空气污染传感器，托管在家庭和学校，在可公开访问的网站上显示实时污染物浓度。NAQMN的自组织特性可能会导致传感器的空间分布高度不均匀，而获取传感器的障碍可能会系统性地剥夺一些社会群体的权利。这一点很重要，因为空气污染暴露会对健康造成负面影响，而且暴露往往因种族/族裔和社会经济地位而异。该项目的总体目标是评估患有哮喘儿童的家庭在扩大犹他州盐湖县NAQMN的同时如何使用传感器。如果不能平等地获得空气污染信息，公众就不能充分了解情况，这反过来又可能影响他们对污染暴露和健康的看法和行动。该项目与全国以及盐湖县的环境政策相关，盐湖县的环境污染经常超过国家污染标准。在最需要的地区增加20个传感器将增强盐湖县NAQMN的公平性。研究人员从历史上代表性不足的群体中招募一名学生作为研究助理，并通过多种渠道传播研究结果，包括在顶级期刊上发表文章，以及与NAQMN经理、研究参与者和政策制定者分享研究结果。该项目旨在：(1)评估盐湖县NAQMN分布中的社会空间不平等；以及(2)利用这些结果选择NAQMN覆盖范围稀少的当地环境正义社区，以审查参与式空气质量监测如何影响居民的理解和决定。这项研究首先使用统计分析来评估NAQMN(n=249)中的传感器是否在人口普查地区(n=236)的种族/族裔和社会经济地位方面分布不均，并确定“高度需要”传感器的地区。接下来，研究人员招募了20个生活在高需求地区的没有传感器的家庭和10个已经安装了传感器的家庭作为对照组。他向20个没有传感器的家庭提供连接到NAQMN的传感器，所有家庭都有一个患有哮喘的孩子。他进行了事前访谈、16次每周调查和事后访谈，以调查参与者如何使用传感器了解和管理空气污染风险。虽然其他人研究了空气污染对环境正义的影响，但很少有人评估NAQMN对环境正义的影响。该方法为评估其他地方的NAQMN提供了一种可移植的模式。该项目促进了人们对公众获取空气污染信息的民主化进程以及公民科学如何为决策提供信息的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Some people have turned to non- governmental air quality monitoring networks (NAQMNs) to assess their air pollution exposures. NAQMNs include low-cost, networked air pollution sensors hosted at homes and schools that display real-time pollutant concentrations on publicly accessible websites. The self-organizing nature of NAQMNs may produce a highly uneven spatial distribution of sensors, and barriers to acquiring sensors may systemically disenfranchise some social groups. This is important because air pollution exposure causes negative health effects and exposures tend to vary based on race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The overall goal of this project is to assess how families with children with asthma use the sensors while expanding the Salt Lake County, Utah NAQMN. Without equal access to air pollution information, the public cannot stay adequately informed, which in turn may affect their perceptions and actions concerning pollution exposure and health. This project is relevant to environmental policy nationally, and in Salt Lake County, which often exceeds national pollution standards. Adding 20 sensors in areas of greatest need will enhance equity in Salt Lake County’s NAQMN. The researcher recruits a student from a historically underrepresented group as a research assistant and disseminates findings via multiple outlets, including by publishing articles in top-tier journals and sharing findings with NAQMN managers, study participants, and policymakers. This project aims to: (1) assess socio-spatial inequalities in the distribution of a NAQMN in Salt Lake County; and (2) use those results to select local environmental justice communities of concern with sparse NAQMN coverage in order to examine how participatory air quality sensing shapes residents’ understandings and decisions. The research first uses statistical analyses to assess whether sensors in the NAQMN (n=249) are unevenly distributed with respect to race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status at the census tract level (n=236) and identifies tracts in ‘high need’ of sensors. Next, the researcher recruits 20 families without sensors who live in the ‘high need’ areas and 10 families that already have sensors as a comparison group. He provides sensors connected to the NAQMN to the 20 families without sensors and all families have a child with asthma. He conducts pre-interviews, 16 weekly surveys, and post-interviews to investigate how participants understand and manage air pollution risks with the use of a sensor. While others have examined environmental justice implications of air pollution, few have assessed the environmental justice implications of a NAQMN. The methodological approach provides a transferable model for assessing NAQMNs elsewhere. This project advances understandings about the process of democratizing public access to air pollution information as well as how citizen science can inform decision making.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.