• Apply •

• The Summer 2013 application period is now CLOSED •

We will begin reviewing applications in late January. Deadline for applications is February 18, 2013.

In addition to completing the ON-LINE APPLICATION, you must provide the following:

• A Personal Statement (1,000 words or less) describing:
  • Previous experience you have in research including individual projects for science.
  • Additional experiences that demonstrate your ability to work independently and to be self-motivated.
  • What you hope to gain by participating in a research program at the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research.
  • Your short- and long-term goals, and how a summer research experience will help you realize them.
• A copy of your academic transcripts (unofficial copies are encouraged).
• Two letters of recommendation. (Please ask the recommender to send a PDF as an attachment in an email to Shelley Pressley (spressley@wsu.edu); hard copies sent via the mail are not required.)

All information should be sent electronically to Dr. Shelley Pressley ( spressley@wsu.edu). This includes a PDF of your personal statement and a PDF of your transcripts. Please make sure the transcripts are legible. Please request your letters of recommendation be sent (as a PDF) electronically directly to Shelley Pressley.

If transmission of application materials is not possible electronically, please call to make alternative arrangements (Shelley Pressley 509-335-5443).

Information

Program Goals

The REU program goal is to provide undergraduate students in engineering and related fields an opportunity to participate in ongoing active research programs. Working closely with faculty and graduate students, the participants will gain hands onexperience with atmospheric chemistry measurements and modeling.

Who is eligible?

Participants must be currently registered at a two or four year college, and may not have received their Bachelor's degree prior to July 2013. Women and members of demographic groups traditionally underrepresented in engineering are particularly encouraged to apply. You must be a U.S. Citizen or permanent resident in order to receive NSF funding.

Students at all levels of their undergraduate work are sought for this program, and majors such as civil engineering, environmental engineering, as well as students from chemistry, physics, math, and other technical majors are encouraged to apply. Yes, we take Freshmen to Seniors, we do hope to have a broad mix of students at various levels of their college careers, so don't hold back from applying just because you haven't had any environmental engineering courses.

LAR REU participant Andrew Fink explains his results to Engineering Education student Kristen Kopczynski

Projects

Projects

Research Projects each summer are similar in nature to previous years. The list below is from previous years.

• Analysis of Modeled Atmospheric Deposition of Pollutant into Watersheds
• Canopy Modeling of Emissions and Chemistry in a Forest Environment
• Measurements of Atmospheric Trace Gases with the WSU Multi-Function Differential Optical Absorption Spectrometer
• Investigations of Kinetic Growth Limitations during Cloud Droplet Activation
• Development and Testing of Particle Number Flux Measurement System
• Improvement of forest fire smoke plume rise models using satellite data
• Analysis of Tracer Dispersion Data and Pollutant Emission Rates during a Prescribed Fire Event
• Ensemble Analysis on the Effects of Climate Change on Wildfire Atmospheric Emissions
• Atmospheric Chemistry of CH3OOH and PAN
• Measurements of Trace Gas and Aerosol Properties at the University of Michigan Biological Station during CABINEX
• Using MISR satellite data to improve air quality models in the PNW
• Measurements of Formaldehyde Fluxes in Houston, Texas
• Integration of satellite imagery and emissions data into ClearSky for enhanced modeling of agricultural burning and decision-maker support
• Predicting Ambient Aerosol Cloud-Forming Potential: CCN Closure Analyses at Urban and Forested Sites
• Assembly & Characterization of a Measurement System for Size-Resolved CCN Spectra
• Feedbacks and Trends in Isoprene Flux Dataset from UMBS
• Atmopsheric Chemistry Tracers of Diesel Exhaust Emissions
• Integration of satellite imagery and emissions data into the AIRPACT-3 regional air quality forecast system

Faculty

Faculty

	Shane Brown, Engineering Education Center, conceptual change theory, student misconceptions, research-based curriculum development, social capital and academic success (shanebrown@wsu.edu)			Serena Chung, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, air quality modeling, secondary aerosol modeling, aerosol radiative forcing, aerosol-climate interactions (serena_chung@wsu.edu)
	Steve Edburg, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, atmospheric transport and dispersion, turbulence, biogeochemical cycling (sedburg@wsu.edu)			Tom Jobson, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, trace organic gases in the atmosphere, trace gas instrumentation, tropospheric photochemistry, biogeochemical cycling, global climate change (tjobson@wsu.edu)
	Brian Lamb, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, CEREO Executive Committee and co-chair research committee, biosphere/atmosphere flux measurements, regional atmospheric chemistry modeling for air quality and climate change (blamb@wsu.edu)			Fok-Yan Leung, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, transport and chemistry of boreal forest fire emissions using global chemical transport models (GEOS-CHEM) and satellite data (MISR) (fyl@wsu.edu)
	Heping Liu, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, micrometeorology, boundary-layer meteorology, biosphere-atmosphere interactions and ecosystem-climate feedbacks (heping.liu@wsu.edu)			Shelley Pressley, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, trace gas measurements, eddy covariance flux methodologies, and graduate student recruiter (spressley@wsu.edu)
	Tim VanReken, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, biogenic secondary organic aerosol formation, aerosol/cloud interactions, instrument development, ice nucleation theory (vanreken@wsu.edu)			Joe Vaughan, Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, development of air quality modeling systems, and air quality forecast verification (jvaughan@wsu.edu)

What you do

What you do

Students will work on research projects ranging from air quality measurements in the laboratory or during field campaigns to running large scale air quality models. Each student will have a primary instrument, dataset or model they use during the summer. Students may work in collaborative teams with faculty and graduate students or more independently to accomplish specific research goals.

LAR REU participant Debbs Garvey describes her results to an undergraduate participant from another program

All participants will take a series of half-day workshops designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of atmospheric chemistry, measurements, and modeling.  Workshops include:

• Climate Change
• Atmospheric Chemistry
• Atmospheric Measurements
• Modeling
• Data Analysis and Visualization
• Aerosols
• Scientific Writing
• Poster Presentation

Near the end of the 9.5 week session, students will prepare a poster and present their results during a poster symposium for all of the WSU REU programs.

In addition you will:

• Visit the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a U.S. Department of Energy government research lab.
• Participate in ongoing research projects.
• Gain valuable research experience using cutting edge instrumentation or models and working in a team environment.
• Have fun, make new friends, see the Palouse!

What you get

What you get

In addition to gaining experience with instruments and/or models currently used in government labs, regulatory agencies, consulting firms, and graduate schools, you receive:

• A stipend of $4,700 for the 9.5 week session and free housing
• Travel assistance for travel to and from Pullman, WA

We will provide housing in an off campus facility, with a shared kitchen and recreation facilities for all students.

Contact

Contact

REU program questions and interested applicants:
Dr. Shelley Pressley
Washington State University
Dept Civil & Environmental Engineering
Laboratory for Atmospheric Research
Ph: 509-335-5443
Email: spressley@wsu.edu

Schedule

Summer Schedule 2013 (will be updated closer to May)

• May 30 - Start date, campus orientation
• May 31 - LAR orientation, Kick-off Pizza party at Sella's
• August 2 - End of Summer Poster symposium
• August 2 - End date

Workshops

Workshops

Half-day workshops are provided to the students during the first several weeks of the summer in order to provide context for the individual research project that students will be engaged in and to provide an introduction to the techniques the students will be using in their projects. The series of workshops will familiarize students with climate change research , atmospheric chemistry and meteorological concepts, measurement techniques, modeling,and analysis tools that atmospheric scientists use to understand the atmospheric physical and chemical processes. Lastly, students will learn about scientific writing and poster presentation in preparation for the end of the summer poster symposium.

Climate Change
This workshop will provide a general overview of climate change, or the significant changes in the chemical system that determines climate (deforestation, carbon dioxide and methane rising from preindustrial times, etc). We will also discuss how important those changes are. We will investigate the past climate of the Earth to see if predicted levels of climate change are unusual or would just be consistent with past changes. The overall goal of this workshop is to provide the student with analytical tools for understanding data presented in the scientific and popular press and to make the student aware of the implications of climate change - scientific, economic, and societal.

Atmospheric Chemistry and Boundary Layer Meteorology
Understanding the chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere is paramount to understanding air quality and the complex issues involved in global climate change. This workshop will provide basic concepts related to the impact of anthropogenic and biogenic emissions on atmospheric chemistry, such as, oxidation of atmospheric compounds, removal processes of pollutants, radical chain reactions, and particle formation. Concepts associated with meteorology will include physical aspects of atmospheric turbulence, boundary layer depths, and atmospheric transport and dispersion.

Measurements
Basic fundamentals of atmospheric measurements will be taught using our existing Air Quality Instrumentation Lab. This laboratory is used to instruct our undergraduate and graduate students in the operation of instruments used to measure the US EPA criteria pollutants (CO, O3, SO2, NO + NO2, PM2.5 and PM10), in addition to meteorological parameters. All instruments are located in a controlled laboratory environment and connected to an inlet located on the roof of the building. This workshop will provide demonstration and hands on experience in calibrating an instrument, conducting ambient measurements, and reducing the data into engineering units. The group will then collectively pool their data to analyze relationships between pollutants during the data analysis workshop.

Modeling
Three-dimensional forecasting models provide a system for understanding the relationship between smaller scale anthropogenic and natural emissions and large-scale air quality issues. To introduce the students to a state-of-the-science air quality forecasting system, we will leverage our existing AIRPACT-3 modeling system for the Pacific Northwest. AIRPACT-3 is an automated daily air forecasting system developed by LAR and has been operational since 2001 (Vaughan et al., 2004; Chen et al., 2007). For the modeling workshop, we will have a lecture introducing the various components of the forecasting system, such as meteorology, emissions, and chemistry. The students will be able to examine the input into the model and the forecasting results, which are automatically displayed on the web. The hands-on portion of this workshop will involve comparing model results for the Pullman site with observations collected during the measurements workshop. From this, students can learn about air quality issues in the Pacific Northwest.

Data Analysis and Visualization
Students will be introduced to one data analysis and visualization tool (i.e. IGOR Pro Wave Metrics software) that is widely used in atmospheric sciences. IGOR uses a high-level language and interactive environment that offers advanced data analysis and visualization capabilities with various numerical packages allowing for faster computation than traditional programming languages. The data analysis workshop will provide the students with a practical, hands-on introduction to the basic aspects of this program. After the initial introductory to the basics, the students will use real ambient chemical data that they have collected during the measurements workshop to perform data analysis and graphical displays. At the end of the workshops, the students will feel comfortable using the basic features of the program and will be able to teach themselves more advanced features using the program's built-in help manuals.

Scientific Writing and Presentation
An introduction to scientific writing and preparing a good presentation (either oral or poster format) will be offered during this workshop. Students will explore the different types of documents that are written as part of academic research, as well as practice their oral presentation skills during this workshop.

Site Visits

Site Visits

Left: Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory. Right: PNNL Gulfstream (G-1) aircraft.

During the first two weeks of the program, a day-trip will be organized to the US Department of Energy (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is approximately a 2.5 hour drive from WSU. The purpose of the visit will be to tour aerosol chemistry labs at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) national scientific user facility used by LAR faculty, and to visit the DOE Research Aircraft Facility (RAF). The EMSL contains state of the art equipment for measuring the chemical composition of particles and should provide an eye opening experience. Students will see an ion accelerator used to determine the elemental composition of particles collected on filters, visit an environmental electron microscopy lab, and see advanced research equipment such as a single particle mass spectrometer. We will coordinate the timing of the visit with the RAF so that students can see and climb aboard the G-1 aircraft as it is being equipped for atmospheric chemistry field research.

Fun things to do

Fun things to do

Pullman is located in the Palouse, also known as the Dry Pea and Lentil Capital of the Nation. Information about the city of Pullman, local area businesses, and cultural events are available here and at the WSU Visitor Center.

There are countless opportunities for fun during the summer in Pullman. Outdoor activities include biking, hiking, white water rafting, camping etc. Washington State University's Outdoor Recreation Center (ORC) is a great resource for these activities, offering guided trips, general information, and equipment rental. Idaho is only 8 miles to the east and there are also great opportunities for outdoor adventures ( general information about Idaho).

The Student Recreation Center offers recreational activities on campus.

Popular events during the summer include:

• Combine Demolition Days in Lind, WA (more)
• Sprint Boat Races in St. John, WA

Helpful links

Helpful links

• National Science Foundation
• Office of Undergraduate Research
• Undergraduate Programs and Funding (at WSU and beyond)
• National Conferences on Undergraduate Research
• Council on Undergraduate Research — Registry of Undergraduate Researchers

2011

2011 REU Students

REU students for 2011 (l to r): Etta Axtell, Bobby (Yuhao) Wu, Ayrton Bryan, Andrew Gabel, ShanKara Johnson, Kyle Morse, Matthew Woelfle, Paige Pruisner, Elaina Shawver, David Erickson, Kayla Warden

2010

2010 REU Students

REU students for 2010: back row l to r: Karl Dunkle Werner, Michael Wade, Daniel Wagner, Eric Jones Patrick Lampe, Cassandra Sanders Melissa Johns, Brett Basarab, Jacob Oberman front row: Ivy (Ling) Tao, Diane Romonosky, Stephanie DeJong

2009

2009 REU Students

REU students for 2009 (l to r): Pierre Wong, Andy Monplaisir, Riley Start, James O'Malley, Kerry O'Donnell, Tracy Yelden, Tanvi Ratani, Andrew Fink, Debbs Garvey, Kenneth Christian, Ryan Collins (not pictured: Chelsea Rosenkrance and Patrick O'Keefe)

2008

2008 REU Students

LAR 2008 Undergraduate Research Participants: (L to R, backrow) Matt Zebovitz, Patrick O'Keeffe, Drew Polley, Tim Olson, Michael Thompson, Joe Westergreen, Logan Callen, Pierre Wong; (L to R, front row) Celia Faiola, Erika Ottenbreit, Heather Hamilton; (not pictured) Liam Corcoran, Mandi Hohner, Riley Start

2007

2007 REU Students

(L to R): Nathan Burley, Tyler Lewis, Matt Erickson, Brock Andrews, Brandon Little, Rob Gibson (not pictured): Teresa Coons, Josh Van Wie, Liam Corcoran

2006

2006 REU Students

2011

2011 Publications/Presentations

Undergraduate researcher listed in bold text.

• Chung, S.H., Basarab, B., and VanReken, T.M., Regional impacts of ultrafine particle emissions from the surface of the Great Lakes, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11, 16207-16244, 2011.
• Mwaniki, G.R., Pressley, S.N., Rosenkrance, C., Wallace, H.W., Jobson, B.T., Erickson, M.H., Grivicke, R. Lamb, B.K., and VanReken, T.M. Wintertime Particulate Nitrate Formation in Idaho's Treasure Valley Region, submitted Atmospheric Environment.
• Steiner, A. L., Pressley, S. N., Botros, A., Jones, E., Chung, S. H., and Edburg, S.L. Analysis of coherent structures and atmosphere-canopy coupling strength during the CABINEX field campaign, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11, 11921-11936, 2011.
• Abraham, R. G., Chung, S. H., Lamb, B. K., Tao, I.L., Avise, J. C., Stavros, E. N., Strand, T. T, Larkin, S., McKenzie, D., Guenther, A.B., Wiedinmyer, C., Duhl, T., Salathe, E. P., and Zhang, Y., Wildfire Impacts Upon US Air Quality for Current and Future Climate Conditions. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December, 2011 (Poster).
• Erupe, M., Mwaniki, G., Rosenkrance, C., Pressley, S., Kanawade, V., Lee, S., Slade, J., Shepson, P., and VanReken, T. Processing of Aerosols within a Mixed-Hardwood Forest Canopy: Results from the 2009 CABINEX Experiment. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December, 2011 (Poster).
• Faiola, C.L., Wagner, D., Allwine, E., and VanReken, T.M., "Effects of Acute Ozone Exposure and Methyl Jasmonate Treatment on White Pine Monoterpene and Sesquiterpene Emission Rates", 13th Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry, AMS 91st Annual Meeting, January 2011 (Poster).
• Johns, M., G. Allwine, C. Clements, R. Grivicke, P.O'Keefe, C. Krull, N. Larkin, R. Mickler, T. Strand, H. Thistle,M. Rorig, D. Seto, R. Solomon, K. Yedinak, B. Lamb Analysis of Pollutant and Tracer Dispersion During a Prescribed Forest Burn conference: American Meteorological Society National Meeting. January 23-27, 2011 (Poster).
• Johnson, S., Vaughan, J., and Lamb, B. Evaluation and Analysis of the AIRPACT Regional Air Quality Forecast System for Ozone in the Pacific Northwest, Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Conference of Research Experiences for Undergraduate Student Scholarship, October 16-17, 2011, Arlington, VA. (Poster)
• Pressley, S.N., Steiner, A.L., Chung, S.H., Edburg, S.L., Jones, E., and Botros, A., Analysis of coherent structures during the 2009 CABINEX field campaign: Implications for atmospheric chemistry, American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, January, 2011. (Poster)
• Woelfle, M., Herron-Thorpe, F. and Vaughan, J., Using Remote Sensing Satellite Products to Detect Aerosol Distribution during Forest Fire Episodes, Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Conference of Research Experiences for Undergraduate Student Scholarship, October 16-17, 2011, Arlington, VA. (Poster)

2010

2010 Publications/Presentations

Undergraduate researcher listed in bold text.

• Chung, S.H., Basarab, B., and VanReken, T.M., Modeling the production and regional impacts of freshwater "marine" particles in the Great Lakes Region. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December, 2010 (Poster).
• Faiola, C.L., Wagner, D., Allwine, E., and VanReken, T.M., "Effects of Acute Ozone Exposure and Methyl Jasmonate Treatment on White Pine Monoterpene and Sesquiterpene Emission Rates", 2010 AGU Fall Meeting, December 2010 (Poster).
• Fink, A., Vaughan, J.K.* ClearSky-FETS Rerun Tool. 2010. NW-AIRQUEST Annual Meeting 2010; March 31- April 2, 2010; Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Portland, OR. (Oral) *Presented at this conference
• Fink, A., Vaughan, J.K.*, Hinds, J., Lamb, B.K. ClearSky-FETS Rerun Tool. 2010. Annual Region 10 Burn & Smoke Management Meeting; April 12-14, 2010; Coeur d'Alene Tribal Conference Center. (Oral) *Presented at this conference
• Johns, M., G. Allwine, C. Clements, R. Grivicke, P.O'Keefe, C. Krull, N. Larkin, R. Mickler, T. Strand, H. Thistle,M. Rorig, D. Seto, R. Solomon, K. Yedinak, B. Lamb, Analysis of Pollutant and Tracer Dispersion During a Prescribed Pine Forest Burn Conference: PNWIS--Pacific Northwest International Section of the Air and Waste Management Society. Nov 3-5 2010. (Oral)
• Mwaniki, G.R., Rosenkrance, C., Pressley, S.N., Wallace, H.W., Lamb, B.K., Jobson, B.T., and VanReken, T.M., "Explaining the Excess Nitrate Observed in PM2.5 during Wintertime Conditions in Idaho's Treasure Valley", AAAR 29th Annual Conference, October 2010 (Oral).
• Mwaniki, G.R., Rosenkrance, C., Pressley, S.N., Wallace, H.W., Lamb, B.K., Jobson, B.T., and VanReken, T.M., "Explaining the Excess Nitrate Observed in PM2.5 during Wintertime Conditions in Idaho's Treasure Valley", AWMA Pacific Northwest International Section 2010 Annual Meeting, November 2010 (Oral)
• Pressley, S.N., Steiner, A.*, Chung, S.H., Edburg, S.L., Jones, E., and Botros, A. Analysis of coherent structures during the 2009 CABINEX field campaign: Implications for atmospheric chemistry. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Franciso, California, December, 2010 (Oral). *Presented at this conference
• Pressley, S., Lamb, B., O'Keeffe, P., Allwine, E., Michal, J., Spogen, S., Mount, G., Johnson, K., Measurement of ammonia fluxes at a cattle feedlot using micrometeorological and spectroscopic techniques. (2010) American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA. (Poster)
• Tao, L., Lamb, B., Chung, S., Gonzalez, R. Ensemble Analysis on the Effects of Climate Change on Wildfire Atmospheric Emissions. (2010) Poster symposium for HHMI Science Horizon Summer Research Scholarship at Bryn Mawr College. (Poster)
• Wallace, W.H., B.T. Jobson, M.H. Erickson, S.H. Pressley, J.L. Rausch, K. O'Donnell, Vertical Profiles of NOx, O3, and Volatile Organic Compounds in a Deciduous Forest Canopy, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Franciso, California, December, 2010 (Oral)

2009

2009 Publications/Presentations

Undergraduate researcher listed in bold text.

• Lamb, B., Vaughan, J.*, Fink, A., Hinds, J., Peterson, R., ClearSky Reruns for Accomplished Agricultural Burning by Automated FETS Access, FETS Project Meeting, August 31-Sept 1, 2009, Boise, ID. (Oral) *Presented at this conference
• Mwaniki, G., Rosenkrance, C., Pressley, S., Wallace, H., Jobson, T., VanReken, T. Measurements of Aerosol Chemical and Physical Properties during Wintertime Conditions near Boise, Idaho. AAAR 28th Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN. Oct 2009 (Oral)
• O'Keeffe, P., Pressley, S., Allwine, E., Lamb, B., Johnson, K., Michal, J., Spogen, S. Measurement of Ammonia Fluxes at a Cattle Feedlot Using Relaxed Eddy Accumulation. PNWIS Annual Conference, Cle Elum, WA, Nov 2009 (Oral)
• Vaughan, J.K., Fink, A., Hinds, J., Peterson, R., and Lamb, B. Online Gaming and Automated Accomplished-Burn Reruns: Updates to the ClearSky Agricultural-Burning Decision Support System, Pacific Northwest and International Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association Meeting, Nov. 4-6, 2009, Suncadia Resort, Cle Elum, WA. (Oral)