Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mobility and Environmental Toxicity in Wildfire Response Communities

野火应对越来越重要，但在美国，为这些行业做出贡献的移民和移民工人的健康和福祉却没有得到很好的理解。这个为期12个月的论文研究项目使用定性和定量的方法来更好地了解在日益流动的环境行业中暴露于空气污染。这项研究提供了理解在移民工作环境中暴露于环境毒素的新方法，与之前研究住宅和固定环境中空气污染的方法形成对比。这个项目有可能帮助科学家了解工人、政策制定者和倡导者之间的联系和关系，他们正在应对更严重的自然灾害。除了资助研究生进行定性和定量数据收集和分析方面的培训外，本研究还解决了未被充分代表的群体在气候适应能力方面的需求。它让直接受影响的社区成员参与研究过程，并将数据提供给火灾管理公司和政策制定者。这个博士论文研究项目询问在职业环境中流动性和毒性暴露是如何相关的。气候灾害行业在多大程度上影响了人类流动和迁移的拉动因素，工人、科学和政策团体如何理解流动劳动力中的有毒物质暴露？研究人员将采用参与式观察和对消防人员及其朋友、家人和非一线政策制定者的半结构化访谈来跟踪暴露于空气污染的短期、长期和相关影响。此外，小规模参与式空气质量监测将突出广义空气污染模型与外来务工人员在灭火过程中经历的高度集中污染之间的差异。通过科学调查，将有毒接触的定性研究与定量的小规模空气质量监测相结合，该项目为了解流动和移徙劳动力的职业健康提供了一种新的方法方法。它有助于研究野火产生的空气污染对人类健康和福祉的更广泛影响。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。

Wildland fire response is increasingly important, but the health and wellness of migrant and immigrant workers who contribute to these industries in the United States is not well understood. This 12-month dissertation research project uses qualitative and quantitative approaches to better understand exposure to air pollution in an increasingly mobile environmental industry. This research offers new ways of understanding exposure to environmental toxins in a migrant work context, contrasting with previous approaches that have studied air pollution in residential and stationary settings. This project has the potential to help scientists understand the connections and relationships between workers, policymakers and advocates who are responding to more severe natural disasters. In addition to providing funding for a graduate student to train in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, this research addresses the needs of underrepresented groups in climate resilience. It involves directly affected community members in the research process and makes the data available to fire management companies and policymakers.This doctoral dissertation research project asks how mobility and toxic exposure correlate in occupational settings. To what extent do climate disaster industries influence pull factors in human mobilities and migrations, and how might worker, science and policy communities understand toxic exposure in a mobile workforce? The researcher will use participant observation and semi-structured interviews with fire responders as well as their friends and family and non-frontline policymakers to track the short, long-term, and relational impacts of exposure to air pollution. Additionally, small-scale participatory air quality monitoring will highlight differences between generalized air pollution models and the highly concentrated pollution that migrant workers experience in the course of firefighting. Through scientific inquiry that combines research into the qualitative dimensions of toxic exposure with quantitative small-scale air quality monitoring, this project provides a novel methodological approach to understanding occupational health for a mobile and migratory workforce. It contributes to research on the broader stakes of wildfire-produced air pollution for human health and well-being.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.