CAREER: Researching Chemical and Optical Properties of Secondary Organic Aerosol and Effective Practices for Environmental Science Education

这个CAREER项目的重点是研究大气中二次有机气溶胶的化学性质和光学性质之间的关系。二次有机气溶胶是由挥发性有机气体在大气中转化形成的化合物组成的小颗粒。这项研究是在一个环境室内进行的，随着室内条件的变化，可以测量气溶胶的组成和光学特性（例如它们如何散射或吸收光）。这些信息对于改进二次有机气溶胶直接辐射强迫的模式估计以及了解它们如何产生雾霾和影响气候至关重要。教师早期职业发展（Career）计划是一项基金会范围内的活动，提供国家科学基金会最负盛名的奖项，以支持那些通过杰出的研究，优秀的教育以及在其组织使命背景下将教育和研究结合起来，体现教师学者角色的初级教师。通过环境室实验研究了二次有机气溶胶（SOA）光学特性对母烃、氧化性质和程度、相对湿度和化学特性的依赖关系。氧化实验将涉及碳氢化合物的反应，碳氢化合物是受城市、生物质燃烧和生物源影响的重要SOA前体，以便更好地表示在不同环境中发现的环境SOA。测试的氧化方案将涉及不同来源的光氧化自由基和不同水平的氮氧化物（NOx），以在SOA生成和老化过程中跨越一系列无氮氧化物、中等氮氧化物和高氮氧化物条件。该项目的教育目标是支持当地高中教师和未来的STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）教师的专业发展，并提高高中学生的STEM相关技能。

This CAREER project is focused on investigating the relationship between the chemical and optical properties of secondary organic aerosol in the atmosphere. Secondary organic aerosols are small particles composed of compounds formed from the atmospheric transformation of volatile organic gases. This research is being conducted in an environmental chamber where the composition and optical properties of the aerosols (such as how they scatter or absorb light) can be measured as the conditions in the chamber change. This information is critical for improving model estimates of the direct radiative forcing of secondary organic aerosol and for understanding how they create haze and influence climate.The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. Environmental chamber experiments are being conducted to study the dependence of the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) optical characteristics on parent hydrocarbon, nature and degree of oxidation, relative humidity, and chemical characteristics. The oxidation experiments will involve reactions of hydrocarbons that are important SOA precursors influenced by urban, biomass burning, and biogenically influenced sources, in order to better represent the ambient SOA found in different environments. The oxidation schemes tested will involve different sources of photooxidation radicals and different levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) to span a range of NOx-free, intermediate-, and high-NOx conditions during the SOA generation and aging processes. The educational objectives of the project are focused on supporting local high school teachers and future STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) teachers in their professional development, and improving the STEM related skills among high school students.