Air Quality: Science for Solutions

10th Annual Conference: Thursday, March 26, 2026 at Brigham Young University

(Remote option available for oral sessions)

Important Dates

Abstract deadline: February 13

Early registration deadline: March 18

Conference Program

9:00 AM
Welcome & Activity (Darrell)
9:30 AM
Session 1: Exposure Assessment (Nancy)
Comparative Assessment of Wasatch Front Pollutants: Mortality Risk and Toxicity
Norlito Ranchez Jr.
Mapping Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Two Utah Cities Using Pines Needles as Passive Samplers
Autumn Jensen
Understanding the Effect of Wildfire Smoke and HVAC Settings on Indoor Air Quality Using Networked Sensors
Fiona Hopewell
10:30 AM
Break
10:50 AM
Session 2: Atmospheric Chemistry and Meteorology (Ryan B)
Summertime Ozone Formation in Salt Lake City Modeled During the 2024 Utah Summer Ozone Study
Carrie Womack
Urban Air Quality Coupled to Mountain and Lake Dynamics: Northern Wasatch Front Airborne Measurements in Summer 2024
Brian Carroll
Assessing Ozone Sensitivity to NOx and VOCs, Smoke, Heat, Drought, and Plant Stress in Utah and the Northern Wasatch Front
Patrick J. Reddy
11:50 AM
Lunch & Posters
1:40 PM
Session 3: Emissions and Source Characterization (Ryan T)
Characterizing NOx Emission Uncertainties in an Urban Valley Using Ground Based Column Observations and Transport Analysis
Haley Humble
Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicle Deterioration: Impact of Vehicle Age and Emission Control Technology on NOx Emissions
Amber Allen
An Observational Framework for Constructing Ozone Isopleths from Long-Term Monitoring Data: Demonstration in Salt Lake City, Utah
Callum Flowerday
Mobile Methane and VOC Measurements in the Salt Lake Valley: Source Characterization Using Hydrocarbon Ratios
Aaron G. Meyer
3:00 PM
Break
3:20 PM
Session 4: Air Quality and Policy (Randy)
Regulatory and Voluntary Changes Have Led to a Threefold Reduction in Methane Emissions Intensity in the Uinta Basin
Seth Lyman
Engineered Dust Mitigation at Great Salt Lake: Costs, Tradeoffs, and a Weight-of-Evidence Decision Framework
Kevin Perry
Understanding Utah’s Dust: Advancing Science for Public Health
Zachary Aanderud
4:20 PM
Poster Awards & Final Comments

Our Supporters

USU Engineering

UCAIR - Utah Clean Air Partnership

DAQ Logo

Conference Posters

Atmospheric Chemistry/Physics

1
Quantifying the Role of Atmospheric Oxidants in Mercury Oxidation Using an Environmental Chamber
Alexis Harper
2
Ozone in the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Region
Dan Jaffe
3
Spatial Variability of Ozone Formation Chemistry in Salt Lake City
Demetrios Pagonis
4
Dust Attribution in the Great Salt Lake Valley
Elizabeth Lowe
5
Investigation of Dust Events During the SNOWSCAPE Field Campaign
Gerardo Carrillo-Cardenas
6
Fuzzy, Genetic, Deep, Cosmetic: Machine Intelligence in Many Air Quality Applications
Michael Davies
8
Investigating Chemical Mechanism Influences on Ozone Production in the Northern Wasatch Front
Vanessa Sun
9
Quantifying VOC Interference in Atmospheric Hg⁰ Oxidation Experiments Using Thermal Desorption GC–MS
Zachary Giauque

Emissions Sources/Inventory

10
Greenhouse Gas Analysis of the Little Cottonwood Canyon Transportation Scenarios
Emma Reeves
11
A Fuel-Based Emissions Inventory for Heavy Duty Vehicles in Utah
Kirsten Steele
12
Analyzing Trends in Snowpack Composition Within Park City Resort
Noah Yohn
14
Characterizing Western U.S. Dust Movement by Mass Flux and Particle Size
Sarah Chan
15
Improving MEGAN Soil NOx Estimates for the Wasatch Front by Updating BDSNP and Adding HONO
Tejas Shah

Indoor Air Quality, Health Impacts, and Public Policy

16
Wildfire Infiltration into Salt Lake Valley Childcare Centers
Alexander Mass
17
Characterizing Indoor PM2.5 and PM10 in Utah K–12 Schools: Spatial, Temporal, and Occupancy-Driven Patterns
Jimmy Jackson Dimpor
18
Applying Machine Learning and Raman Spectroscopy to Human Lung Cells Exposed to Diesel Exhaust to Understand Induced Oxidative Stress
Morgan Christensen
19
Air Quality: Science for Solutions Participants' 2025 Random Survey Results
Randy Martin
20
The Effect of Personalized Monitoring Results on Home Occupants' Perceptions of Air Pollution Health Risk
Rebekah Paine
21
Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Indoor Radon in Schools and Their Relationship with Ventilation and Meteorological Indicators
Sofia Guerrero
22
Size, Cytopathic Effects, and Prevalence of Influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV in Healthcare Settings
Tanvir Ahmed

Meteorology

23
Climatology of Central Utah's Sevier Valley
Carson Utley
24
Forecasting Pyrocumulonimbus Events for NASA's Upcoming 2026/2027 INSPYRE Field Campaign
Derek V. Mallia
25
Temperature Inversions and Avalanche Conditions in the Central Wasatch
Haley Brenkmann
26
Meteorological Influences in Rising Summer Surface Ozone in Salt Lake City, Utah
Juan Rogel
27
Western U.S. Wildfire Smoke Transport Impacts on PM2.5 Concentrations in Northern Utah
Luke Robbins
28
Summer Temperature Extremes and Wildfire-Driven PM2.5 in the Western United States: A Comparative Case Study of 2004 and 2021
Walter Hogle

Modeling

29
Exploring Spatiotemporal Trends in Wildfire Activity and the Drivers of Increasing Plume Rise Heights Across California
Cambria White
30
A User-Friendly Tool for Estimating Great Salt Lake Dust Exposure for Communities Across Northern Utah
Derek Mallia
31
Developing a Machine Learning Model for Wilfitr Groeth Prediction
Ilinca Mocuta
33
Evaluating Numerical Wildfire Smoke Forecasts Across Utah
Kyler Pak
34
High-Resolution Modeling of Predicted Wind Velocities for Utah Dust Emissions
Kylie Brown
35
Evaluating Land Surface Data by Comparing NLCD Imagery with Google Earth
Myah Derderian
36
Developing Novel Approaches to Estimating Wildfire Smoke PM2.5 Exposure in the Western U.S.
Sishir Dahal
37
Evolving Wildland fire Smoke Impacts in Utah: A Long-term Analysis of PM₂.₅ Trends and Smoke Attribution
Srabani Karmakar
38
A Reusable U.S. Air Quality Shapelet Library for High Temporal Resolution Exposure Pattern Discovery
Sukrut Shishupal
39
High-Resolution Dust Emission Modeling over Northwestern Utah Using WRF–WindNinja Downscaling
Ty Hosler

Monitoring/Measurements

40
Ambient Particulate Matter Levels on High School Athletic Fields in Utah: Implications from a One-Year Monitoring Study
Aaron Hanson
41
Air Quality of Sevier Valley 2025
Chris Hercules
42
Design and Deployment of Arduino-Based Xpod Sensor Networks for Multi-Pollutant Characterization at Navajo Technical University
Allyn Allen
43
Evaluating Low-cost Sensors for Identifying High-emitting Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles
Amber Allen
44
Neighborhood-Scale Characterization of Particulate Matter Exposure in the Salt Lake Valley using A Network of Citizen-Hosted Low-Cost PM Sensors
Austin Pero
45
Local Air Quality Impacts of the Monroe Canyon Fire 2025
David Barlow
46
Ephraim Utah Air Quality Measurements 2025
Grey Bailey
48
Cavity-Enhanced Ozone Instrument in the Far UV
Jaden Olvera
49
Measurements of Solar Flux Using a Custom Spectral Radiometer
Jaden Olvera
50
How Active Snowfall Effects Harmful Particulates in the Air
James Boyack
51
Quantifying Methane in the Salt Lake Valley: Inversion Sensitivity and Error Characterization
James Mineau
52
Rural vs. Urban Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations in Utah
Jessica Mulder
53
Ozone Concentrations Along the Wasatch Front
Jordyn Bylsma
54
Targeted Spatial and Seasonal Assessment of PFAS in a Snowmelt-Dominated River–Reservoir System in Utah
Junhan Chen
55
Detecting Dust-Dominated Periods and Correcting PM2.5 Using Only Plantower PMS Sensor Data
Kamaljeet Kaur
56
COVID Alterations of Firework Pollution
Mekenzie Hutchinson
57
Community-driven Sensor Metadata Approaches for Exposure Health Informatics
Pavan Motagi
58
Vertically Resolved Temperature and Particulate Measurements in Richfield, UT
Randon Sandall
59
Harder than it looks: Developing methods for calibration of gas-phase formaldehyde
Seth Lyman
60
Heavy-Duty Diesel Emissions Monitoring Using Low-Cost Sensors
Spencer Larson
61
Understanding Alphasense OPC-N3 Sensor Aging and PM10 Measurement Reliability
Tristalee Mangin
62
PM2.5 Correlation with the Moisture in the Air and Ground
Tristan Stevens
63
Particulate Matter (PM2.5 and PM10) Concentrations in Communities near the Great Salt Lake During Summer 2024
Yiqing (Anne) Meng
64
Modular, Low-Cost, On-Road Emissions Measurement System with ML Calibration
Zachary Driskill