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

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。一些人已经转向非政府空气质量监测网络（NAQMNs）来评估他们的空气污染暴露。NAQMNs包括安装在家庭和学校的低成本、联网的空气污染传感器，这些传感器可以在公众可访问的网站上实时显示污染物浓度。NAQMNs的自组织特性可能导致传感器的空间分布高度不均匀，获取传感器的障碍可能会系统性地剥夺某些社会群体的权利。这一点很重要，因为接触空气污染会对健康产生负面影响，接触程度往往因种族/民族和社会经济地位而异。该项目的总体目标是评估有哮喘儿童的家庭如何在扩大犹他州盐湖城县NAQMN的同时使用传感器。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接触污染和健康的看法和行动。这个项目与国家环境政策有关，在盐湖城县，经常超过国家污染标准。在最需要的地区增加20个传感器将提高盐湖城县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，并与NAQMN的管理人员、研究参与者和政策制定者分享研究结果。本项目旨在：(1)评估盐湖城县NAQMN分布的社会空间不平等；(2)利用这些结果选择具有稀疏NAQMN覆盖范围的当地环境正义社区，以检验参与式空气质量感知如何影响居民的理解和决策。该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区（n=236）的种族/民族和社会经济地位方面分布不均匀，并确定“高需求”传感器的地区。接下来，研究人员招募了20个居住在“高需求”地区的没有传感器的家庭和10个已经有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，这些家庭都有一个患有哮喘的孩子。他进行了预访谈、16次每周调查和后访谈，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。方法方法为评估其他地方的naqmn提供了一个可转移的模型。该项目促进了对公众获取空气污染信息民主化进程的理解，以及公民科学如何为决策提供信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.