Particulars - Spring 2012

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Letter from the Editor

Sherri Hunt

Welcome to another issue of the Particulars! The past several months have been packed full of exciting aerosol science activities. This issue contains several highlights that we hope will inspire new questions and ideas for your aerosol research.

There are many paths to becoming an aerosol scientist, and in this issue, we interview two people: one who is just joining the community of aerosol scientists and another who has been in the field for some time. We hope you'll enjoy learning more about both of them.

In the last issue, I requested that people send me their ideas about the next big questions in aerosol science. I know there are many more great ideas out there, so I want to give you another chance to send them in. Remember there is a 300 word limit, but these can be as short as you like. You can even just fill in the subject line. So after you've finished reading this newsletter, please send me (hunt.sherri@epa.gov) your aerosol science thoughts. Entries are due by April 30, 2012.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks again to all of you, my co-editors, and special guest writer Evan Couzo!

President's Message

William W. Nazaroff

Although it is not my favorite topic (I'd really rather write about aerosol science!), I want to use this space to share some information with you about financial aspects of AAAR. Let's start with our annual conference.

We are midway through a 9-year rotation of conference venues. The machinery was put in place before I joined the board, so I can't provide deep details about considerations leading to the current model. But I can summarize what we are doing and provide a bit of rationale.

We are rotating through three cities, one eastern (Orlando), one midwestern (Minneapolis), and one western (Portland). We will hold our conference three times in each of these cities. We have already signed the contracts with the venues through Portland in 2016. Signing contracts early allowed us to negotiate better rates and also to reduce our administrative costs.

AAAR will bid to host the 2018 International Aerosol Conference in St. Louis. Only the earliest conversations for our annual conferences in 2017 and then for 2019 and beyond have taken place. The membership pulse suggests that Minneapolis and Portland are sufficiently attractive that they would be good candidates to continue in a rotation. We will return to Orlando in 2014, but (in all likelihood) not again afterward.

Finding a good conference site for AAAR is a tricky business. We are mesosized, too small to be attractive to major cities and too large to be accommodated in most hotels. We need a lot of conference space relative to the number of hotel rooms that we occupy.

The financial aspects of securing conference space trigger a complicated dance. Commonly, we obtain a deep discount on the meeting space costs in exchange for guaranteeing that we will occupy a certain minimum number of hotel rooms during the conference. That approach provides a savings in registration fees, but means that contracted room rates are not available at the lowest possible cost. At Orlando, because there were no easy alternatives for attendees, we readily make our contracted room block. However, many attendees are dissatisfied because, in effect, they are forced to pay for a better room than they might have preferred. (The isolation of that venue is a related strong negative.) In Minneapolis and Portland, conditions are more attractive. But in these cities we risk not making our contracted room blocks because of the many alternative hotel possibilities. There are no simple answers to the challenge. The board and the AAAR staff are aware and concerned about the issues and we are all doing the best we can to serve members' interests.

AAAR's annual conference budget is designed for break-even operation. Roughly 75% of our revenue derives from registration fees. Student participation is highly subsidized. To a good approximation, the average registration revenue per participant is $400, the average paid per regular member is $530, and the average paid per student is $130. (Note that these are costs for the conference only. The registration fee also includes a year's membership in AAAR.) Conference costs per participant are roughly constant, whether the participant is a student or a regular member. So, students are being subsidized by about $270 each by the regular members who are being charged an extra $130. Taking into account other items in the conference expense budget that support students, the total annual investment in our future leaders during their student years is ~ $75k.

Overall, AAAR is in a financially strong position. Part of that strength derives from adhering to a longstanding investment policy, most recently updated a decade ago. (You can download the full investment policy on the members' only page of the AAAR website.) Among other features, the investment policy articulates a goal "to maintain investments greater than one year of operating expenses." These resources are maintained in a long-term reserve fund whose purpose "is to provide financial stability and cash flow to support the mission of AAAR."

For the past decade, AAAR leadership has focused on building the long-term reserve fund to the target level. The strong downturn in the stock market in late 2008/early 2009 caused the reserves to decline to below our goal, which precipitated some belt tightening in the conference budget. With the rebound of the financial markets over the past few years, AAAR's long-term reserve fund has reached the point where it appears to be securely above the target.

With one goal met, we can begin to ask how cash flow generated by the long-term reserve fund might be used to further the mission of AAAR. Some early ideas include (1) improving accessibility to the conference by reducing registration fees; (2) further developing the AAAR webpage; and (3) producing recordings of AAAR tutorial lectures that would be made available for continuing education purposes. I expect that this theme will become a focus for the AAAR board in the coming years.

We'd love to have your input. What are your thoughts?

31st Annual Conference Update (back to top)

Sergey Nizkorodov, Chair

Dear AAAR Colleagues,

I cannot contain my excitement about the upcoming 31st AAAR Annual Conference, which will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, on October 8-12, 2012. The preparations for the conference started already at the previous AAAR meeting, and are by now well on the way. Thanks to the efforts by Philip Silva, our tutorial chair, the conference will feature a full slate of tutorials, which always have been one of the special highlights of this conference. Donald Dabdub has given a very impressive facelift to the abstract submission website. We have received an outstanding number of 639 abstracts; we expect to receive some 150 additional abstracts during the later-breaking poster submission window in August. Xiaoliang Wang, the young investigators committee chair, has organized an exciting special event on Monday night - a technical writing workshop for the aspiring aerosol scientists. Barbara Turpin, the development committee chair, has been hard at work generating funds for the conference. Francisco Romay, the exhibits chair, has been working on organizing the conference technical exhibition. A number of other people have been hard at work to make this conference a reality.

Following the tutorials and the technical writing workshop on Monday, the plenary talks, special symposia, poster presentations, platform presentations, and special events will take place from Tuesday morning through Friday noon. The plenary lectures at the start of each morning will be given by distinguished scientists with expertise spanning multiple areas of aerosol science and technology. This year, we are fortunate to have Jonathan Abbatt (University of Toronto), Allen Goldstein (University of California, Berkeley), Paul Wagner, (Universität Wien), and Charles Weschler (UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School) present their vision of aerosol science and its potential to change the future at the plenary lectures.

We will have three special symposia this year covering different aspects of aerosol science: (1) synthesis of functional materials using flames, plasmas and other aerosol methods; (2) aerosol nucleation: from clusters to nanoparticles; (3) the indoor microbiome. In addition, the program will include the customary sessions on aerosol chemistry, aerosol physics, urban aerosols, aerosols clouds and climate, remote and regional atmospheric aerosols, carbonaceous aerosols, aerosol source apportionment, combustion, nanoparticles and materials synthesis, aerosol control technology, health-related aerosols, history of aerosol science, indoor aerosols, aerosol exposure, aerosol instrumentation and methods, and aerosols and homeland security. The technical program will feature parallel platform and poster sessions with several scheduled breaks for informal exchange. The exhibit area, open Tuesday through Thursday, will provide opportunities to engage with and learn from leading companies offering instrumentation and services in aerosol science and technology.

This year's conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. The hotel is situated in downtown Minneapolis, close to many attractions and restaurants this city has to offer. Those of you who attended the previous AAAR conference at this location in 2009 will surprised by the changes in the decorations: the hotel is currently under extensive renovations, which are scheduled to finish in May 2012. I would like to remind you to book the hotel now - there are other unimportant (i.e., not aerosol-related) events taking place in Minneapolis at the same time, and the hotel space may be limited. The local attractions include the Minneapolis Zoo, the Como Park, the Mall of America, the Walker Arts Center, the Guthrie Theater, and the Orpheum Theatre. Minneapolis is home to the University of Minneapolis, the hub for premier aerosol research. It is also home to several companies specializing in aerosol technology.

We eagerly look forward to meeting you in Minneapolis in October at the 31st Annual Conference of the American Association for Aerosol Research!

Who Are These Aerosol Scientists? (back to top)

Evan Couzo

Anthony Wexler is a professor at the University of California, Davis, studying the formation and transport of particulates in the atmosphere.

This is supposed to be light reading for scientists and academics who spend their lives buried in academic journals, so is it okay if we throw out all jargon and restrict words to five syllables or less?

Ah, anti-establishmentarianism.

Where did you grow up and what sorts of things did you do as a child?

I've lived in many, many places. I was born in San Francisco, and we've lived in the Castro Valley near Oakland; Framingham, MA; and Livingston, NJ, before moving back to California.

I loved playing football when I was growing up. And then soccer - it wasn't popular until I was older. I didn't play in any kind of organized way, just messing around with friends. I was geeky, too. I had my chemistry set, and, of course, tried to light the house on fire. I made hydrogen gas once using the DC power supply from a model train set. I inverted a flask over the cathode and collected a bunch of hydrogen, then went down to the living room with a match. I told my parents I could light this gas on fire, and they said "okay." Well, I put the match in and it went out because it was pure hydrogen. I waited and thought I'd just try it again. By that time oxygen had mixed in and ... POW!

When you take your professional hat off, what sorts of activities do you enjoy doing?

In the winter, I love cross-country skiing. I also try to get to yoga twice a week. My hobby is construction, as in houses. I bought a wrecked house up in the mountains, which I though would be a lot of fun to work on. I do the electrical, plumbing, carpentry - stuff I'm not licensed to do. I try to do it to code, but I probably mess up a bunch of stuff.

[Editor's note: Be sure to ask Tony why fixing a leaky toilet might involve multiple trips to the hardware store, busted valves, and, ultimately, a plumber.]

What were your favorite subjects in high school and college?

Math and science. Yeah, I was geeky.

So your entry into atmospheric science was pretty straightforward?

That's a long story, actually. After high school, I didn't even know what engineering was. I thought I'd go into physics, but, by the time I finished the physics major at Berkeley, I wasn't excited about it anymore. I needed something with societal relevance, and pure science wasn't going to cut it.

At that time - the mid 1970s - there was an energy crisis because of the oil embargo. That got me into solar energy, and I got a degree in mechanical engineering at MIT so I could do solar stuff. I worked for five years doing solar energy consulting.

Then my wife wanted to go to medical school at USC. I either had to leave her or the energy company, so I decided to leave the company. We went down to southern California. At this point, I had no direction in life, but I needed to make money. I figured working at USC's medical school would get us a tuition break, and I got a job doing mathematical modeling of the kidney and how it makes urine...knowing nothing about the kidney or mathematical modeling! The faculty there suggested getting a PhD. This was a big revelation for me. I again looked for a societally relevant thing, and ended up working with John Seinfeld at Caltech while continuing my work on kidneys. At the end of my PhD, I had three papers on kidneys and three papers on atmospheric pollution.

Can you offer any advice to graduate students who might feel like a character in an Alfred Hitchcock movie?

My graduate education was pretty good, but I was older and that helped. Part of grad school is a growing up experience. I had been out for ten years between my masters and PhD. I had the kidney job, and I had a son. I was practically a single parent because my wife was so busy with her residency. Going straight through your education is in some ways harder because you don't have the maturity. It's hard to give advice about maturity.

Thanks for your time, Tony. Before we end the interview, how about a little word association?

Graduate advisors.

Navier-Stokes.

Equation.

WD-40.

Lubricant.

Puppies.

Cute.

************************************************************************

Matt Dawson is a PhD student at the University of California, Irvine, studying under Barbara Finlayson-Pitts.

What are you working on right now?

I'm looking at aerosol particle formation in the atmosphere. Specifically, I'm looking at particle nucleation from methanesulfonic acid and amines. Both have a variety of biogenic and anthropogenic sources. It's interesting work because this is something that hasn't really been studied, and it might help to explain some of the discrepancies between atmospheric models and observations. My contribution to the research revolves around lab experiments that attempt to understand the formation chemistry.

What were you doing before you came to UC Irvine? It's been said you took a non-traditional path to get there.

Definitely non-traditional. I actually never went to college after high school. I worked for ten years in construction, mainly commercial wall covering and painting. Eventually, I went back to school - first community college for two years, then the University of Pittsburgh to study chemistry.

What brought you back to school?

I don't really have a good answer for that. I guess I was just ready for a change. Construction work was fun, but not that challenging. I wanted to try community college first to see how it went. I knew one of the sciences would be what I liked the most. I had a chemistry professor at the community college that was great, and helped me decide on chemistry as a major.

What are your post-graduate school plans?

I'd like to keep doing lab work - it's enjoyable work. I'm planning to look for a postdoc after I graduate in atmospheric science, probably involving aerosols.

How is your work experience helping you? Did you face struggles a student following a more traditional path might not have?

Going back to school after you've been out for a long time...there was a strong possibility I wouldn't make it. In undergrad, it probably made me work harder. Having a regular job helps you learn how to deal with competing responsibilities. It helped with the transition back to school. I would say grad school is a blend between school and an actual job, so having the job experience helped. My memory has gotten progressively worse, though. It's harder to retain the stuff I've learned.

Do you have a favorite particle?

I'm partial to the MSA (methanesulfonic acid)/amine particle because we've spent so much time together. It's an interesting system; we've been finding that the models that are typically used to describe particle formation don't really seem to apply.

Important Announcements (back to top)

for more information contact Deanna Bright at info@AAAR.org

Student Travel Grant Challenge -
DEADLINE - June 15, 2012

The American Chemistry Council has contributed $5,000 to the AAAR 2012 conference. If our membership can match this money dollar for dollar to raise a total of $10,000 for student travel grants, The American Chemistry Council will contribute ANOTHER $5,000. If we can succeed, AAAR will be substantially increasing the amount allocated to student travel grants for the 2012 annual conference.

Contributions can be made easily at -

http://www.aaar.org/index2.cfm?section=Donation&content=Donate

Awards and Fellows Nominations -
DEADLINE - June 15, 2012

FELLOWS

Requirements for appointment as a Fellow:

Active contributor in the field of aerosol science and engineering for more than 15 years
Significant number of publications in the field of aerosol science and technology
Demonstrated service to the Association as an elected officer, or chair of committees
Has promoted the discipline of aerosol science and technology

Logistics of Appointment as a Fellow:

Nominated by a member of AAAR. The nomination should include a maximum 3 page letter highlighting the major accomplishments of the nominee, the impact of the same on the field of aerosol science and technology, and ways in which the nominee has served AAAR and the field of aerosol science and technology. Supporting letters from two other AAAR members are also to be submitted which do not exceed 2 pages each.
Selections based on a simple majority vote of all existing AAAR Fellows
Nominations will be received once a year and submitted to the Management Office

AWARDS

Please visit the AAAR Awards page for information on requirements for each award:

Sheldon K. Friedlander - recognizes an outstanding dissertation by an individual who has earned a doctoral degree. The dissertation can be in any discipline in the physical, biomedical, or engineering sciences but has to be in a field of aerosol science and technology.

Benjamin Y. H. Liu - recognizes outstanding contributions to aerosol instrumentation and experimental techniques that have significantly advanced the science and technology of aerosols.

Thomas T. Mercer - Sponsored by AAAR and the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine (ISAM), the Thomas T. Mercer Joint Prize recognizes excellence in the areas of pharmaceutical aerosols and inhalable materials.

David Sinclair - recognizes sustained excellence in aerosol research and technology by an established scientist still active in his/her career. The individual's research must have a lasting impact in aerosol science.

Kenneth T. Whitby - recognizes outstanding technical contributions to aerosol science and technology by a young scientist. The purpose of the award is to encourage continued work in the field and ongoing support of such endeavors.

Board and Working Group Recommendations -
DEADLINE - May 8, 2012

The AAAR Nominating Committee is soliciting recommendations for candidates for the Board of Directors and Working Groups.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

There are a total of five (5) positions open for the 2012-2013 Board of Directors:

Vice President Elect
Secretary Elect
Directors (3)

Vice President Elect will serve one (1) year as Vice President Elect, one (1) year as Vice President and one (1) year as President.

Secretary Elect will serve one (1) year as Treasurer Elect and two (2) years as Secretary.

Directors will serve a three (3) year term.

WORKING GROUPS

One (1) Vice Chair is needed for each AAAR Working Group below:

Aerosol Chemistry
Aerosol Physics
Atmospheric Aerosols
Combustion & Material Synthesis
Control Technology
Health Related Aerosols
History of Aerosol Science
Indoor Aerosols & Aerosol Exposure
Instrumentation

Working Group Vice Chairs will serve one (1) year as Vice Chair and one (1) year as Chair.

All terms for Board of Directors and Working Group positions will begin at the 2012 AAAR Annual Conference in Minneapolis, MN.

Self-nominations are encouraged. It is not necessary for you to contact or confirm willingness to serve. The Nominating Committee is only seeking recommendations at this time. The members of the AAAR Nominating Committee are Gilmore Sem (Chair), Chris Sorensen and Tony Wexler.

2012 Annual Conference

Keep an eye on the conference website for important updates. Registration will open in late May or early June. We will open the application process for the student programs in July. Remember to make your hotel reservations now so you don't miss out on the AAAR rate.

Website 2012 Annual Conference - http://2012.aaar.org/

Student Info tab - http://2012.aaar.org/student-information

Hotel Reservations site (use code g-10AS)

https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=8156733

Aerosols in the Spotlight (back to top)

Investigation of Ultrafine Particle Deposition to Vegetation Branches in a Wind Tunnel

Deposition onto vegetation is an active removal mechanism for ambient ultrafine particles (UFP), and important to help distinguish the difference between UFP concentrations at emission sources, and UFP concentrations at receptor sites. However, the understanding of this mechanism is limited and UFP deposition is difficult to predict. In a new study from Duke University, Professor Andrey Khlystov and PhD student Ming-Yeng Lin measured removal efficiency of UFP and pressure drop induced by vegetation branches in a wind tunnel for two evergreen species: pine and juniper. They found that removal efficiency was a strong function of particle size, being higher at smaller sizes; and that removal efficiency decreased with increasing air velocity and decreasing packing density. Branch orientation did not appear to affect removal efficiency. Theoretical results using a single-fiber filtration theory were in good agreement with experimental data. The calculated pressure drop across branches was also found to agree well with measured values. The data suggests that pressure drop measurements can be used to gain a simple first-order estimate of removal efficiency of UFP.

Measured and best-fit modeled penetration efficiency as a function of size (top panels) and quantile-quantile plots of residuals for analysis of goodness of fit of particle penetration predicted by filtration theory (lower panels) at two wind speeds for juniper (packing density = 0.055, Orientation 1).

In Case You Missed It (back to top)

Synthesis of Silica Aerosol Gels via Controlled Detonation

Chris Sorensen treated 2011 AAAR attendees to wonderful plenary talk detailing his 30+ years of work with soot from flames, which ended in an unexpected bang - controlled detonation to produce carbonaceous aerosol gels. Sorensen and co-authors extend this research to silica gels in their recent article published in Aerosol Science and Technology. (Dhaubhadel, Rieker et al. 2012)

(MEMBERS: Log in through AAAR to see full text)

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02786826.2011.651175

Aerosol Exposure Assessment: A Scientific Journey

James Vincent describes the history of exposure assessment of particulate matter as a scientific journey from the past, through the present and into the future. He charts the pioneering scientific developments that have resulted in the current aerosol sampling criteria and exposure standards. He then contemplates the future of aerosol exposure assessment in the context of dose measurement, inhalable particles and ultrafine particles. (Vincent 2012)

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2012/em/c1em10586h

Aerosol Choices Matter to Climate

Approaches to offset global warming through geoengineering include the injection of fine particles into the atmosphere. In a study of atmospheric model simulations published in Nature Climate Change, Ferraro and colleagues show that different patterns of stratospheric temperature result from differences in aerosol composition and size distributions of the injected aerosol. Importantly, they show that many scenarios ultimately result in substantial stratospheric heating. (Ferraro, Highwood et al. 2011)

http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v2/n2/full/nclimate1407.html

Seinfeld and Smith Win Prestigious 2012 Tyler Prize

John Seinfeld and Kirk Smith won "The Tyler Prize", an award given to researchers and authors who "confer great benefit upon humankind through environmental restoration and achievement." Seinfeld received the award for his lifetime efforts to study the complicated interactions between primary and secondary pollutants. Smith's research focuses on preventing the adverse health effects caused by smoke from burning biofuels in the developing world. Each researcher will receive a $100,000 cash prize and a gold medal.

Mel First, 1914-2011

Melvin W. First, Sc.D, CIH, PE, died 13 June 2011 at the age of 96. Dr. First was a researcher and Professor of Environmental Health Engineering at the Harvard School of Public Health for almost 60 years. He was actively involved in research until a week before his death. His dissertation research evaluated the performance of cyclones, which translated into a career focusing on the control of workplace dusts. Many scientists in AAAR can trace their academic roots to Dr. First. (Leith and Rudnick 2012)

- Dhaubhadel, R., T. Rieker, A. Chakrabarti and C. Sorensen (2012). "Synthesis of Silica Aerosol Gels via Controlled Detonation." Aerosol Science and Technology 46(5): 596-600.

- Ferraro, A. J., E. J. Highwood and A. J. Charlton-Perez (2011). "Stratospheric heating by potential geoengineering aerosols." Geophysical Research Letters 38(24): L24706.

- Leith, D. and S. N. Rudnick (2012). "Melvin W. First, 1914-2011." Aerosol Science and Technology 46(1): 124-125.

- Vincent, J. H. (2012). "Occupational and environmental aerosol exposure assessment: a scientific journey from the past, through the present and into the future." J. Environ. Monit. 14(2): 340-347.

Aerosols in Policy Headlines (back to top)

New Ways the US Could Target Soot

The House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming listened to new ways to control soot. Their interest stems from research showing that soot plays a major role in global warming by darkening ice when landing on it. Diesel engines are a major soot producer in the West, whereas open burning and cook stoves are the main sources in developing nations. The Waxman-Markey bill, passed last summer by the House, directs the EPA to clean up the diesel engines regulated by the Clean Air Act (9% of the 11 million diesel engines) through rules covering new vehicles and engine repairs. Testimony was presented to expand standards to cover all diesel engines. The Waxman-Markey bill also includes a program for US aid to foreign nations to build cleaner burning stoves.

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/03/new-ways-the-us-could-target-soo.html?ref=hp

Tighter Pollution Rules for Gasoline: Refiners Urge Delay; Automakers Say They Need Cleaner Fuels

Through the Control of Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles: Tier 3 Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards rule (Tier 3), the EPA plans to further reduce the federal cap on gasoline fuel sulfur to within the range of 20-30 ppm and reduce the federal average gasoline fuel sulfur to approximately 10 ppm. In an effort to dissuade the move, the American Petroleum Institute commissioned a study, which shows that reduction in sulfur could add 6 to 10 cents per gallon to gas at the pumps. Automakers state that an unfair proportion of the burden to meet increased fuel-economy standards falls to them without lower sulfur fuel.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/03/22/epa-low-sulfur-rule-could-hike-cost-of-making-fuel-industry-says/

Stroke Risk Increased with Moderate Levels of Fine Particulate Matter

In a study of more than 1,700 stroke patients in the Boston area over 10 years, researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found a 34% increase in the risk of ischemic strokes on days with moderate air quality compared with days when the air was rated good by the EPA. On moderate air quality days, PM levels were near but within the regulatory limit.

http://www.boston.com/Boston/whitecoatnotes/2012/02/stroke-risk-increased-when-air-pollution-was-moderate-boston-area/3I5q2KF1jpAZjfZyas4w1O/index.html

AAAR Specialty Conferences & Symposia - Ideas Welcome! (back to top)

One element of the AAAR's mission is to periodically host specialty conferences, special symposia and workshops. These include special symposia that are held in conjunction with the AAAR annual conference and independent specialty conferences. The independent specialty conferences allow AAAR members to increase the dissemination and discussion of important new topics. Another model for AAAR sponsored or co-sponsored scientific events are smaller one or two day workshops focusing on specialty topics.

The AAAR board of directors encourages members to step forward with ideas for future specialty conferences and symposia. The AAAR board and staff have considerable expertise at organizing scientific meetings and can assist by sharing best practices from past meetings.

Three independent specialty conferences have been held since 2000. These include "Air Pollution and Health: Bridging the Gap from Sources to Health Outcomes" held in San Diego, CA in March 2010; "Particulate Matter Supersites Program and Related Studies" held in Atlanta, GA in February 2005; and "Particulate Matter: Atmospheric Sciences, Exposure and the Fourth Colloquium on PM and Human Health" in Pittsburgh, PA in April 2003. The specialty conferences have had dedicated conference chairs/co-chairs and conference committees that have brought these events to life. We want to thank past specialty conference chairs/co-chairs who include Cliff Davidson, Robert Phalen, Paul Solomon and Maria Costantini. Paul Solomon has chaired/co-chaired each of these three specialty conference!

Special symposia are held as part of the AAAR annual conference and are focused on specific topics aligned with AAAR's scientific mission. These are designed to bring new participants to the annual conference and highlight emerging research areas. Special symposia are convened by AAAR members and often feature invited speakers. Recent special symposia have focused on nanotoxicology, single-particle techniques, nanoscale physics, specific field campaigns, aerosol-precipitation studies, drug delivery, geoengineering, energy materials and biological aerosol detection. Current special symposia for the AAAR 2012 annual conference, which is being held October 8-12 in Minneapolis, MN, include aerosol nucleation, functional materials synthesis and indoor biological aerosols.

If you have any ideas for future specialty conferences, special symposia or workshops, please contact AAAR headquarters at info@aaar.org.

AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (back to top)

Don't miss our 105th Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Antonio, TX from
June 19-22!

Call For Abstracts

The Air & Waste Management Association ( A&WMA) is pleased to announce a call for abstracts for the Visibility & Air Pollution Specialty Conference to be held in Whitefish, MT September 24-28, 2012

This international conference will provide a technical forum on advances in the scientific understanding of the effects of aerosol on Class I areas, urban, regional, continental and global scale haze and radiation balance.

Join nationally recognized professionals to discuss subjects including but not limited to:

* Aerosols and Class I area and Urban Visibility

* Regional Haze

* Climate Forcing

* Aerosol, Haze and Radiation Balance Monitoring Assessments

* Regional Haze Rule

* PM Visibility and SO2/NOx Secondary Standards

* Black Carbon

Abstracts of 300-400 words must be submitted by May 25, 2012 to visibility2012@awma.org. For more information visit http://visibility.awma.org

Two or more professional courses, designed to provide both a technical foundation and a timely refresher, will be offered on-site prior to the conference. There is also a photo contest planned, as well as a mid-conference field trip to the Glacier National Park Class I area.

For More Information on the Technical Program Contact:

Malissa Wood

E-mail: mwood@awma.org

Phone: +1-412-904-6012

Now Accepting Exhibitors & Sponsors!!

LIMITLESS opportunities are available at the Visibility & Air Pollution Specialty Conference to get optimal exposure as an exhibitor and/or sponsor. Exhibition and/or sponsorship are the ideal way to show your company's commitment to the environment, and to get your organization's name in front of the industry's leading professionals.

Please visit the Conference Web site or download the Exhibitor Prospectus for more information. The Exhibition sold out in 2008! We have limited space this year so please don't hesitate to reserve your space now!!

Download the Sponsorship Flyer to find out more about sponsorship opportunities.

For More Information on Exhibitors and Sponsors Contact:

Alison Lizzi

E-mail: alizzi@awma.org

Phone: +1-412-904-6003

"Particulars" Staff

Sherri W. Hunt, Editor

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

hunt.sherri@epa.gov

Kathy Erickson

Banner Engineering

KErickson@bannerengineering.com