Summer Teacher Training Program in Environmental Chemistry
AirUCI offers a two-week summer Environmental Chemistry program for science teachers in grades 7-12.   Details

Chemistry Professor John "Mickey" Laux of Orange Coast College is also a main organizer of our teacher workshop along with UCI Chemistry Professor Sergey Nizkorodov.  Dr. Laux is seeing our results firsthand in his classes at OCC.  One of his top three General Chemistry students out of 140 in Spring 2009 told him she was NOT a chemistry person in high school until she took a class with Valerie Thompson, one of the high school teachers who attended our 2007 workshop.  Valerie was so motivating to this student that she changed her major to chemistry, and Valerie recommended that she take Mickey's class at OCC due to the impact of our program on Valerie's class syllabus.  This is one of several anecdotes that illustrate how the dividends of our workshop are coming full circle and broadly impact 3000-4000 science students annually throughout the region — at least 35,000 students to date! Watch Dr. Laux teach one of our classes

The next workshop will be held June 28 - July 9, 2010.  For further details, contact Professor Nizkorodov at nizkorod@uci.edu or (949) 824-1262 or contact Melissa Sweet at msweet@uci.edu or (949) 824-2628..    

AirUCI Community Day
Our annual day-long symposium to present the results of our new research to the public and to provide tours of the laboratories will not be held in 2009.  We hope to present Community Day in March 2010.  For further information, contact Melissa Sweet at msweet@uci.edu or (949) 824-2628. 

For a general idea of the event, see 2005 Community Day details

Local Outreach

AirUCI  researchers are available for local classroom presentations on topics related to atmospheric chemistry, such as air quality and how it can relate to climate change, careers in chemistry, etc.  These presentations are ideal for classes in Chemistry, Environmental Science, or other grade 7-12 science courses.  To arrange a classroom visit, contact Melissa Sweet at 949-824-2628.

On July 25, 2008 Girls Inc. sponsored by the SAGE program brought 65 girls aged 12-15 to UCI for a day of science.  UCI Iota Sigma Pi chapter treasurer — and AirUCI researcher — Nicole Barrentine worked to organize a kaleidoscope event with funding provided by  Iota Sigma Pi and AirUCI.  The girls got to build their very own kaleidoscopes using materials purchased by Iota Sigma Pi and in the process were introduced to the science of optics.

On May 20th, 2008 AirUCI graduate researcher Chris Harmon was a judge at the California State Science Fair on the campus of the University of Southern California. 

AirUCI graduate researchers Chris Harmon and Adam Bateman gave classroom presentations on Chemistry in the Atmosphere on February 25, 2008 at Dana Hills High School in Dana Point, CA.

On May 25, 2006, AirUCI researchers Huda Shaka and Jennie Thomas presented a talk entitled Chemistry in the Atmosphere to the AP Chemistry class at Northwood High school in Irvine.

Professor Barbara Finlayson-Pitts, director of AirUCI, spoke at the ACS Orange County Section dinner and High School Awards banquet on Thursday, May 11, 2006 at Concordia University in Irvine.  Her talk, entitled Chemistry, Careers, and Climate Change, was directed to the students in attendance and touched on areas of AirUCI's research while discussing career opportunities in the field of atmospheric chemistry.

AirUCI hosted a visit from representatives of the National Academy of Engineering and the California Air Resources Board on April 5, 2006.  They brought with them several researchers from China, and the entire group toured our labs and heard an overview of our research and our institute. Details

On April 5, 2006, AirUCI hosted students from Dana Hills High School in Dana Point.  The students spent more than two hours touring our labs and viewing research project demonstrations presented by the AirUCI team.  They also met in our conference room to hear Dr. Barbara Finlayson-Pitts and Dr. Sergey Nizkorodov present an overview of our research and our institute.  This event was organized by Dr. Lisa Wingen.

AirUCI researchers Jennie Thomas, Huda Shaka, and Chris Harmon visited Dana Hills High School in Dana Point on March 29, 2006 and gave a 90-minute presentation to 70 students about atmospheric chemistry.  They gave demonstrations of aerosol formation in the atmosphere and a PowerPoint presentation, and they also provided good insight into what it's like to work at the EPA and potential career paths for chemists.

In March, 2006, AirUCI researcher Huda Shaka judged two local science fairs.  On March 1st she was at the School Science Fair at New Horizon Elementary School in Irvine.  On March 2nd she judged the Irvine Unified School District Science Fair at University High School, Irvine.  Huda was acting as a representative of AirUCI and the Outreach committee of the Iota Sigma Pi chapter at UCI (Women in Chemistry Sorority).

On November 19, 2005, Professor Sergey Nizkorodov offered a workshop entitled “Educating High School Students about Energy Use, Air Pollution, and Climate Problems” at the Orange County Science Education Association (OCSEA) Fall conference.  The workshop was aimed at high school science teachers, and several grade 9-12 California curriculum content standards in Earth Sciences were addressed.

Dr. Lisa Wingen, AirUCI Project Scientist, gave a presentation on August 10, 2005 to a group of teachers from the Summer Science Institute.  The teachers reviewed 8th grade California standards in physical sciences.  After her presentation, Dr. Wingen led a tour of our labs that included demonstrations of our various research apparatus and brief descriptions of our research. 

On August 5, 2005, AirUCI researcher Huda Shaka addressed a workshop organized by Dr. George Miller of UCI through the UCI Center for Science in the Public Interest program.  The title of her presentation was "Acids and Bases in the Atmosphere" and the audience was made up of high school Chemistry teachers. 

AirUCI researchers Jennie Thomas and Huda Shaka were judges at the California State Science Fair, held on May 24, 2005 at the California Science Center in Exposition Park, Los Angeles.  Huda judged the Environmental Sciences division and Jennie judged the Chemistry division.  On May 25 and May 31, Huda and Jennie also visited the AP chemistry classes at Northwood High School in Irvine, CA and gave presentations on atmospheric chemistry.  More info