Shantanu Jathar

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Area of expertise: Air Quality Research: emissions, transformations, properties, and impacts of atmospheric aerosols on air quality, climate, human health and ecosystems.

The Laboratory for Air Quality Research studies the Emissions, Processes, and Impacts from Air Pollution Sources. An ongoing project is to develop a concentrator that increases the liquid collection of bioaerosols. The proposed REU research project will aim to develop a micro-fluidic system that draws the liquid containing the bioaerosols into a micro channel, expose the liquid to ultraviolet light, and measure fluorescence to record bioaerosol counts. In addition to developing the micro-fluidic system, the student will conduct a literature review and analyze and document their findings (via a presentation and/or report) from bioaerosols generated in the laboratory and those sampled in the ambient air.

The proposed summer REU research project will sample air to determine the presence and viability of targeted bacteria. The primary goal is to study the ability of bacteria isolated from the atmosphere to respond and survive environmental stress (e.g. desiccation, temperature, and UV), form aggregates, nucleate ice formation, and disperse from surfaces. This research will have field and laboratory research components as part of collaborative studies within the BROADN program.