ABOUT THE AirUCI INSTITUTE

We're a research team based at the University of California, Irvine and our focus is 
to probe a new type of chemistry that occurs in the atmosphere at the interface
between air and water molecules.

AirUCI (or Atmospheric Integrated Research for Understanding Chemistry at Interfaces)
is funded by the National Science Foundation (Divisions of Chemistry and Atmospheric
Sciences) as one of only seven EMSIs (Environmental Molecular Sciences Institutes).
Headed by UCI Chemistry Professor Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts, this EMSI represents a
partnership between six faculty at UCI and international researchers from the
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel,
and the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, together with renowned researchers from
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and the Environmental
Molecular Sciences Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Lab. 

Chemical reactions that play key roles in the formation of smog, acid rain, and in global
climate change occur between gases, as well as inside liquid droplets that are present in
the atmosphere in the form of airborne particles, fogs, and clouds.  These reactions also
occur directly at the molecular interface between air and these atmospheric droplets, with
important implications for air quality and climate. 

AirUCI integrates this research, education, and outreach to 7-12 schools, community colleges,
and the public in the context of probing this unique interfacial chemistry.  The scientific team
combines theory, experiments, and computer modeling of air quality to provide new insights
into how this chemistry at interfaces impacts the atmosphere in regions from polluted to remote. 
Our research offers new insights into the ramifications of air pollution—locally and across the
globe—as public officials debate environmental policy.

AirUCI provides continuing professional training and curricular support in both fundamental
chemistry and atmospheric sciences to regional high school and middle school science teachers in
our annual Summer Teacher Workshop.  We also present a yearly Community Day open house
for the general public to hear an overview of our research and tour our labs.  These outreach
efforts have been rewarded with an overwhelmingly positive response from attendees, many of
whom have written to their legislative officials in support of our work and this use of their tax dollars.

For more information, visit us at www.chem.uci.edu/airuci.