February 21 and 22 brought about the third annual winter research meeting for the
University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) hosted at the Michigan League. These meetings were created as a way for all the researchers working at the UMBS to meet others, learn about different research projects and to form new collaborations, sometimes between people who would normally not have anything in common.
The meeting began with an introduction by the director of the station, and was followed by a hand drawn poster session. One of the biggest challenges in science is finding a way to easily and clearly communicate the research you are doing. The people in charge of the UMBS think that one way to make your research simple is to hand draw a poster in under an hour. Then over the course of the conference, people would read over the basic idea of your project on your poster and if they see something interesting, they can approach you to discuss it. This often leads to new projects and advancements in the current one.
Our current project at the UMBS is: Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Greenhouse Gases and Atmospheric Particles in Northern Michigan, and is funded by MCubed, a program that takes three professors from different departments and has them all work together. Our team includes Dr. Andy Ault from environmental health sciences (EHS), Dr.
Kerri Pratt from chemistry, and Dr. Eric Kort from atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences (AOSS). Each professor brought one student/post-doc with them to the conference: Daniel Gardner (Ault), Nate May (Pratt), and Dr. Mackenzie Smith (Kort). While the three professors mingled with the other researchers, the students and post-doc took to the paper and made an artistic masterpiece.
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| Dr. Mackenzie Smith showing off our work of art. |
After the poster session, there was a series of presentations, from a wide variety of research fields, ranging from the reproductive cycles of microscopic organisms to harvesting invasive plant life for conversion to biofuel. Once the talks were done, everyone got together and discussed potential projects for the future and who wanted to be involved in each. The big overarching project for the future was to do burn plots: highly control fires designed to burn down small sections of the forest to measure how it affects the air, soil, water, and nearby plant life, as well as to measure all aspects of the regrowth.
The group of three professors - Andy, Kerri and Eric - were the only atmospheric researchers there - the rest were mostly biologists - and several of them were interested in potential collaborations.
Overall, we learned a great deal about the biological station, the people that worked there, and the wide range of projects that can be done in the future!
The Ault lab has just begun its first field study! The site is located north of Dexter, Michigan, which isn't too far away from the main University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, but it is a good start for field work. The site is owned by the university and is currently operated by Dr. Tim Dvonch, a professor in the Environmental Health Sciences department. The site is covered in several feet of snow, but has a wooden deck raised well above the ground to keep the instruments dry. This field study involves taking a Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI) out to the site and measuring the amount and composition of aerosol particles in the air. The MOUDI is placed inside an electrical box to protect it from the environment and has a hole cut out of the top to allow for the aerosol inlet to stick out.
The MOUDI works by using a pump to suck in air and pass it through a series of stages. The size of the holes from one stage to the next and the air flow rate are designed to have only particles of a particular size collide on the substrates. Anything smaller than selected will travel with the air to the next stage. The stages are also rotating - this allows for a uniform deposit of particles, and prevents large piles from forming directly underneath each orifice. On top of the MOUDI is a Cyclone, a specialized device that prevents
anything larger than 10 microns from passing through. This prevents bugs
or very large dust particles from clogging up all the tiny orifices. The cyclone is very heavy, and requires support or it will fall over with the MOUDI. By drilling another hole in the electrical box and setting the cyclone in the hole, we can stabilize the weight with the sturdy electrical box. The substrates are replaced twice each day for a day set and an overnight set. The substrates are placed in the fridge to prevent anything from happening between collection and analysis, and will be analyzed via SEM, TEM and Raman spectroscopy. 
One of Dr. Dvonch's graduate students - Pearl Nathan - is also doing testing at the site, and provided a great deal of help in setting up the instrument. While it is extremely cold, the snowy site is a beautiful location. The study will run from Saturday, March 1st to Sunday March 9th, giving us plenty of samples to analyze and determine the composition of the air out here in Dexter. 
