>> Development of Indoor Air Quality Education and Information Materials

This project has developed a multi-media training material (combining text, animation, pictures, and audio-visuals) on indoor air quality and asthma. The modules include the risk factors for asthma, a virtual home showing locations of asthma triggers, resource guide, and a home assessment tool. Questions are included at the end of some modules to test the grasp of material covered. A large report.. >> more

>> A Community Based Participatory Research Intervention for Childhood Asthma Using Air Filters and Air Conditioners

This project examines the efficacy of air particulate filtration in the home for asthmatic children in Detroit.

>> Emissions of Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) from Industrial and Commercial Sources in the Great Lakes Region

This research aims to better understand the distribution of mobile BFRs in residential, commercial and industrial buildings and to estimate emissions from urban sources into ambient air that may ultimately be deposited into the Great Lakes region

>> Emissions of PBDEs from Urban Sources in the Great Lakes Region

This research aims to better understand the emissions of PBDEs from residential buildings and to estimate emissions from urban sources into ambient air that may ultimately be deposited into the Great Lakes region

>> Understanding Exposure to Volatile Organic Air Toxics

This research characterizes the distributions and determinants of air pollutant exposures of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in representative urban populations along an urban/industrial gradient, and investigates microenvironments and other factors affecting exposures

>> A Community Based Participatory Research Intervention for Childhood Asthma Using Air Filters and Air Conditioners

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood in the United States. Many important triggers of asthma, including allergens and airborne particulate matter (PM), occur in the indoor environment. This intervention is a randomized controlled trial of the efficacy of air filters (AFs) alone, and AFs together with air conditioners (ACs), to reduce indoor PM and improve health status of children.. >> more

>> Environmental Impacts on Arab-Americans in Metro Detroit

The "South End" neighborhood in Dearborn, one of the most polluted areas of Michigan, serves as an immigrant reception area for a low-income, predominantly Arab American population. The focus of this study is to assess the exposures of the Arab American population, especially in this area, to environmental contaminants in their home and neighborhood. Specific aims of the project include: (I). Create.. >> more

>> Microscale Integrated Sampler-Injector (MISI) for a microGC

The goals of this project are to design, fabricate, and evaluate the performance of a prototype MISI, assess performance relative to theoretical models of diffusional transport and adsorbent capacity for vapors commonly found as contaminants in indoor working environments, and interface the sampler with an array of microsensors to determine the feasibility of incorporating the MISI into a microanalytical.. >> more

>> Multi-Transducer Arrays Enhance Determinations of Vapor Mixtures

In most applications of microfabricated sensor arrays to multi-vapor analysis, the devices employed operate on the same transduction principle. It stands to reason that arrays incorporating sensors that operate on different transduction principles should enhance response diversity by probing different aspects of the vapor-interface interaction and, thereby, improve vapor discrimination. This study.. >> more

>> Multi-Transducer Arrays for a uGC Detector

In this project we are exploring alternative detectors for the WIMS uGC that consist of arrays microsensors that operate on different transduction principles. Chemiresistors (CR), thickness-shear mode resonators (TSMR) and film bulk acoustic resonators (FBAR) are being studied. Each is coated with a film of a functionalized thiolate-monolayer-protected gold nanoparticle (MPN), which serves as the.. >> more

>> Rapid Determination of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Markers at Parts-Per-Trillion Levels

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a complex mixture of compounds collectively classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a carcinogenic substance. The complexity of ETS and the presence of confounding sources of some ETS constituents in many environments have impeded accurate exposure assessments and have led to efforts to find surrogate measures of ETS contamination levels... >> more

>> Representative Publications

>> Role of Diesel and Other Vehicular Exhaust in Exacerbation of Childhood Asthma

This project examines the relationship between ambient and indoor exposure to diesel exhaust and other air pollutants and the response of children with asthma living in the Detroit area.

>> Role of Diesel and Other Vehicular Exhaust in Exacerbation of Childhood Asthma

The burden of childhood asthma disproportionately affects children living in poverty and in urban centers, many of whom are minority ethnic groups. For those living in urban environments with high traffic densities, there is increasing concern about potential adverse respiratory health effects of exposure to diesel and other vehicular exhaust. Epidemiologic studies have shown associations between.. >> more

>> University of Michigan/Fogarty International Center Southern Africa Program in Environmental and Occupational Health

Our group has been continually funded by the Fogarty International Center since 1996 to strengthen capacity through training and research in Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) in the 14-nation Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region. The major strategy for sustainable capacity building is to leverage regional strengths in South Africa to support the development of academic research.. >> more

>> The Settlers Primary School Study.

Our group conducted this study, the first ever to investigate associations between exposures to common ambient air pollutants and respiratory health status conducted among children in the South Durban industrial basin.