MODELING ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY

ENVR 890-04/ENVR 296-004 (Undergraduate)

Spring Semester, 3.0 Credit Hours

Description:

Air pollution is an important scientific problem that must be understood to protect human health. Ozone, a component of air pollution, is formed through the interaction of hundreds of nonlinear chemical reactions involving dozens of chemical species. Scientists turn to computer models to simulate this complex chemistry and understand ozone formation. For computer models to accurately predict air pollution it must replicate atmospheric reaction processes. Computational restraints prevent a fully explicit chemical representation of the atmosphere. Instead, a simplified chemical system must be derived that reduces the number of chemical reactions. Through this course we will study and evaluate how these simplified chemical systems predict ozone formation. We will begin with a detailed discussion of atmospheric ozone chemistry and then proceed to an investigation of a condensed chemical mechanism. Our investigation will begin with one of the first chemical mechanisms used for photochemical modeling, the Carbon Bond chemical mechanism.

Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering

ENVR 451, Fall Semester, 3.0 Credit Hours

Description:

Gain an understanding of the fundamentals of chemical reaction engineering with a focus on chemical reaction rates, and reaction mechanisms. In the course we will cover mole balances, rate laws, chemical kinetics, and reactor design. These principles can be applied to any environmental system where chemical transformations must be described.

Text:"Elements of Chemical Reactor Engineering." H. Scott Fogler, Prentice Hall, 4th Edition, 2006

UNIFYING CONCEPTS

ENVR 401, Spring Semester, 3.0 Credit Hours

Description:

Unifying concepts of environmental systems, including conservation principles, modeling, economics, and policy with applications from throughout natural, engineered, human systems. Interfaces among scientific, engineering, and policy aspects of the field. This course is made up of several modules prepared by various faculty members throughout the department that a student takes in series. I have developed a module that is intended to provide an introduction to the relevant physical and chemical processes that influence the production of ozone through case studies and discussion groups.