Bridging Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Justice Through Coursework

Oil and gas operations emit air toxics and a wide range of other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Many of these pollutants have been linked to increased risk of cancer, poor birth outcomes, and other serious adverse health effects. While there are many communities that reside near active oil and gas operations, there is a disproportionate exposure of several groups to oil and gas emissions, and this raises environmental justice concerns. We present an overview of an updated graduate course that is aimed at bridging the gap between atmospheric chemistry graduate training and community-scale air quality concerns. During spring 2022, students partnered with community members in Northern Colorado to design and deploy low-cost total volatile organic compound (VOC) sensors to two different neighborhoods with nearby oil and gas production. The low-cost sensors were used to trigger the collection of whole air samples during periods with higher concentrations of VOCs. Air samples from the triggered canisters were analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to provide a measure of approximately 50 VOCs, including several air toxics. An integrated canister was used to measure the average concentration of these species over a one-week period. The students conducted > 8 weeks of measurements at each location and analyzed the data throughout the semester. At the end of the semester, students made the final data public through a website available in multiple languages, conducted a community outreach event, and shared their findings with several stakeholders. This presentation will cover the structure of the course and recommendations for future efforts to use graduate coursework to respond to community air pollution concerns.