Location
Engineering : 027
Date & Time
November 7, 2016, 12:00 pm – 12:50 pm
Description
UMBC Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering Seminar Series presents:
Dr. Kirsten Koehler
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Advancing Exposure Assessment in the 21st Century
Monday, November 7th, 2016
12:00pm—12:50pm
Engineering, Room 027
Research Project: Personal Exposure Assessment
Human exposure to particulate matter air pollution is linked to increased mortality, exacerbation of asthma and COPD symptoms, decreased respiratory rate and lung function, and increased blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease risks.
Our exposure to environmental air pollution is involuntary and lasts from fetal development through every life stage. Most epidemiological research has focused on ambient air pollution, using data from fixed, outdoor air quality monitors to estimate the population’s exposure and then correlate these area-wide exposures with disease. However, air pollutant concentrations vary temporally and spatially outdoors and these monitors do a poor job of estimating exposures of individuals or indoor exposures. This may be especially important given that American adults spend 60-90% of their time indoors and air pollution concentrations often exceed those measured outdoors due to indoor sources. Thus, there is a need to better understand human exposure to air pollution indoors and outdoors and as a function of location and source.
