Nancy Passed Doctoral Qualify Exam

After the first year of Ph.D. program in Environmental Health Science Nancy took the Doctoral Quality Exam (DQE). She spent two weeks to prepare for this exam and Dr. Ault provided her lots of help. Two days before going to a field study in the University of North Carolina, she finished her defense. In June 11th, she has been informed by the Academic Degree Programs Committee that she has passd the exam.

Congrats!!!

UNC Field Study Update

The Ault and Surratt Lab's have been quite busy performing secondary organic aerosol (SOA) experiments. In this study, we have created SOA from 5 different sources, both biogenic and anthropogenic, and performed reactive uptake of IEPOX on each type. The study, appropriately titled IEPOXalypse, has already made some really exciting discoveries that we are excited to share with you all soon! Check below for some pictures of the study thus far.

 
Nancy and Andy working hard to set up equipment before starting our experiments.


Nicole, Yuzhi Chen, Nancy, and Yue Zhang smiling after a day of successful experiments.


Nicole and Nancy transferring data the old fashioned way - quite the learning experience! :)


Celebratory dinner with collaborators from the Surratt Lab and the Army.

Ault Lab Off to Chapel Hill!

The Ault Lab is headed to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for a 5 week field campaign with Jason Surratt's lab. In NC, we will be creating different types of secondary organic aerosols in the Surratt lab's environmental chamber. Nicole and Nancy are pictured after loading the truck with all necessary equipment from Michigan. Joining them is Alexa Watson, an undergrad in the Pratt lab and a single particle mass spectrometer expert. Good luck ladies!
 

Prof. Ault Featured Scientist for AAAR Scientist Spotlight in Spring Particulars

Prof. Ault was recently chosen as the Featured Scientist for the Aerosol Scientist Spotlight in the Spring 2018 issue of AAAR's Particulars newsletter. The Aerosol Scientist Spotlights highlights researchers making unique contributions in the field of aerosol science and technology. Prof. Ault discusses a number of topics including:
- How he got into aerosol science
- People that have influenced him
- Some of his group's work he's most proud of (Aerosol pH and applications of vibrational spectroscopy to aerosols (Raman, AFM-IR))
- Future research interests

Check it out!
https://www.aaar.org/publications/particulars/
Spring 2018 Issue (PDF)

Lake spray aerosol project highlighted in Michigan Sea Grant newsletter

Nicole's upcoming project analyzing lake spray aerosols created during harmful algal blooms on the Great Lakes was highlighted in the Michigan Sea Grant newsletter! Nicole's project, along with 3 other projects lead by graduate students, are described here. Check it out!

Nancy First Doctoral Seminar Talk

Today, Nancy gave her first doctoral seminar talk in Environment Health Science. Dr. Ault and all the lab came to support her. This talk is about her first project after she joined the lab and went very well. This is a great opportunity for her to learn and know how to make everyone without an aerosol background to easily understand.

After the talk, people are very interested in her research and asked many good questions. Professor Rita Loch gave her lots of good comments and encouragement. Hopefully, this kind of opportunity will have more in the future!

Nicole Becomes a PhD Candidate!

Nicole is the Ault Lab's newest PhD Candidate in Chemistry! She successfully passed her oral examination, titled Single Particle Chemical Characterization of Atmospheric Aerosols from Secondary Organic, Freshwater, and Urban Sources. Nicole uses electron microscopy, Raman micro spectroscopy, and single particle mass spectrometry to analyze both ambient and laboratory generated aerosols. Congrats!