Profs. Elie Bou-Zeid and Mark Zondlo Receive Dean for Research Innovation Funds

April 23, 2018

The department is pleased to announce that Professors Elie Bou-Zeid and Mark Zondlo have been selected to receive funding through Princeton's Office of the Dean for Research.  They will be receiving the Innovation Fund for the Campus as a Lab: Faculty Research in Sustainability, Energy and the Environment.  The use of Princeton's campus as a research laboratory is the focus of this fund, which aims to advance knowledge and practice in areas of sustainability, energy and the environment.

The title of their research is "Technological innovations to mitigate exposure to air pollution".

To better inform the public and campus community about regional air quality, this project will deliver local, up-to-the-minute air quality information via a cellphone app. The research, led by Elie Bou-Zeid and Mark Zondlo, associate professors of civil and environmental engineering, takes advantage of the University’s location in the heavily populated and industrialized greater New York region.

The problem the technology addresses is that while air quality data are available online from various government agencies, the data are regional rather than local, and users find them difficult to access. Bou-Zeid and Zondlo’s project will combine two advanced pollution-sensing systems to provide readings of local air quality, allowing users to see how pollution is affected by proximity to main roads and how pollutant concentrations vary by time of day. By accessing these data via a cellphone app, individuals can incorporate air quality into their daily decisions.

This initiative is made possible by support from the Office of the Dean for Research, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the High Meadows Foundation Sustainability Fund, the Princeton Environmental Institute, the Office of the Dean of the College, and Facilities.

Congratulations to Elie and Mark!

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