BAAQMAP: Bay Area Air Quality Mapping and Analysis Project
Kristina Hill, Professor
Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
Applications for Fall 2024 are closed for this project.
Air pollution can have major effects on people's health, with impacts ranging from asthma to Type II diabetes. We wanted to support SF Bay Area disadvantaged communities by giving them data that tracks their exposure to pollutants like PM2.5. By making an interpolated surface of Purple Air sensor data for PM2.5, we are able to show statistically that people at Bay Area schools with more low-income kids and kids of color are more exposed to PM2.5 than schools with wealthier, whiter populations. We can also show that people near highways and airports are more exposed, and that people in those locations are more likely to be low-income or people of color.
This year, we would like our next steps to be (1) to create a mobile app that lets people see how much PM2.5 they've been exposed to in the past hour. Our intention is that this tool will serve school principals and parents who are deciding whether kids should be outside for recess or for sports events. We hope it will also lead to the installation of indoor air filters in schools with the highest PM2.5 exposure levels. (2) We also want to install air sensors outside and inside 5 homes, located in communities of color, to help people decide whether or not to open their windows when they cook. (3) We want to show how much PM2.5 people are exposed to when they move around the Bay Area during the day, using anonymized mobility data. And finally (4) we want to allow people to give "air quality reviews" and see them posted online, to help other people make decisions about whether to exercise in specific locations - like a Yelp app for air quality.
Role: The undergraduate participant in this project could choose (1) to help organize our monthly meetings with community activists who are the focus group for this project; (2) to help us install indoor and outdoor sensors at 5 homes; (3) to help analyze the mobility datasets; or (4) to experiment with how we can bring user reviews of air quality into our mobile app, so everyone can see them.
Students will also research existing policy and design practice interventions in the built environment that aim to reduce PM 2.5 exposure at schools and in communities living near airports, freeways/highways, and major PM emitting industries (refineries, cement processing plants, etc.). The students' research will help inform publications developed by the research team and help to identify potential networks to disseminate our research findings.
Qualifications: Either strong people skills, especially with community activists, or good data organization and analysis skills, or a combination of both. Experience working on urban economic or racial justice issues is a plus.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Charlene Kaloki, Staff Researcher
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Environmental Issues Biological & Health Sciences