Typical syllabi are below for the following courses:
EAS 6795: Atmospheric Aerosols
EAS 6430 / CEE 8823: Experimental Methods In Air Quality
CEE / EAS 6790: Air Pollution Physics and Chemistry
All web material for students in these courses is on Canvas
EAS 6795: ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS
Instructor: Rodney Weber
Course Objective: Introductory course geared to understanding the fundamental concepts of aerosol physics with applications to atmospheric aerosols.
Text Book: Hinds, Aerosol Technology: Properties, behavior and measurement of airborne particles, 2nd Edition
Reference Books: Seinfeld and Pandis, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2nd Edition), Friedlander, Smoke, Dust, and Haze.
Syllabus
Introduction
Topic 1: Dynamics of Single Particles (Hinds Chapters)
Continuum vs Non-Continuum Dynamics (1 & 2)
Drag – Stokes Law, Slip correction (3)
Gravitational Settling (3 & 5)
Motion In External Fields (Electrical)/Aerosol Charging, Charge Distribution (5&15)
Brownian Motion and Particle Diffusion (sampling losses) (7)
Phoretic Effects (8)
Aerosols & Fluid Motion (filtration, impaction, sampling inlets, inhalation) (5,9,10)
Non-Spherical Particles (3)
Optical Properties (16)
Midterm
Topic 2: Describing Aerosol Populations (Hinds Chapter 4 and S&P Chapter 8)
Size Distributions and Moments (N, A, V…)
Discrete/Continuous
Lognormal Distributions
Particle Statistics
Atmospheric Aerosols, size distributions/modes (S&P Section 8.2)
Topic 3: Processes (Hinds and Seinfeld & Pandis)
Homogeneous Nucleation (13 and S&P Chapter 11 for great details)
Growth: Condensation/Evaporation (CPCs) (13 and S&P Chapter 13)
Coagulation (12 S&P Chapter 13)
Final Test
EAS 6430 / CEE 8823: EXPERIMENTAL METHODS IN AIR QUALITY
Instructors: Rodney Weber and Prof. Jennifer Kaiser
Description: Introduction to experimental and field methods with a focus on measurements of atmospheric gases and particulates associated with poor air quality.
Educational Objectives: Upon completion of this course, the student should have knowledge of the theory behind commonly used and research-grade atmospheric instrumentation. as well as practical lab/field skills and data analysis.
Grades: 6 Lab experiments all of equal grade (i.e., 100/6 = 16.7%).
Lecture: There will be 1 lecture per week.
Labs: Lab experiments will take place mainly in the ES&T penthouse lab. Sign up for labs will be arranged by TA. Lab reports due dates are shown below. Ideally 2 students per lab group, where each student is expected to submit their own lab report. Note, below is a typical lab schedule, but changes may be made depending on availability of instruments during a particular semester.
| Week | Lecture Date | Lecture (Professor) | Lab Available |
| 1 | 1/6 | Class intro (Weber/Kaiser) | |
| 2 | 1/13 | Intro to measurement techniques, Uncertainty, LODs, Error Characterization, Trace gas measurements part 1 (Kaiser) | Measurement of O3/NOx/CO |
| 3 | 1/20 | None (MLK Holiday) | |
| 4 | 1/27 | Trace gas measurements part 2 (Kaiser) | |
| 5 | 2/3 | Spectroscopy: Fundamental Principles (Kaiser) | HCHO IR |
| 6 | 2/10 | Spectroscopy: Atmos. Instrumentation (Kaiser) | |
| 7 | 2/17 | Measurements of Particle Size Distr. (Weber) | Particle Size Distributions |
| 8 | 2/24 | Particle Size Distributions Theory (Weber) | |
| 9 | 3/2 | Measurements of Particle Composition (Weber) | Particle Composition |
| 10 | 3/9 | Particle Composition Theory (Weber) | |
| 11 | (Spring Break) | ||
| 12 | 3/23 | Measurement of particle optical properties (Weber) | Particle Optics |
| 13 | 3/30 | Optical Properties Theory (Weber) | |
| 14 | 4/6 | Mass Spec: Fundamental Principles (Kaiser) | Mass Spec |
| 15 | 4/13 | Mass Spec: Atmos. Instrumentation (Kaiser) | |
| 16 | 4/20 | Final Lecture for questions to finish labs (Weber/Kaiser) |
CEE / EAS 6790: AIR POLLUTION PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
Instructors: Rodney Weber, A.G. (Ted) Russell
Objective. This course is a graduate level introduction to air pollutants, and in particular their atmospheric dynamics and impacts. The student, upon completion of this course should have a knowledge of which air pollutants are of concern, their source, fate, atmospheric transport and transformation and policies developed to help manage the problem. Topics include: air pollutants of interest, air pollution impacts, sources of air pollutants, atmospheric transport (including dispersion and deposition), atmospheric chemistry, aerosol dynamics, control strategy development and air pollution management.
Textbooks: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: from Air Pollution to Climate Change, J.H. Seinfeld and S. Pandis (S&P), Wiley Interscience, (most recent edition) D.J. Jacob (PU Press) Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry.
(note the order of topics can change year-to-year)
| Lecture | Instructor | Reading |
| Introduction, | AR/RW | |
| Pollutants of Interest Air pol. impacts | AR | S&P 1.1-1.72 EPA Reports3 |
| Pollutant sources | AR | EPA Reports3 |
| Chem Intro, Photolysis, Radicals | RW | DJ 9; S&P parts of 3&4 |
| Intro, Photo stationary state, OH | RW | DJ 11; S&P 6.1, 6.2 |
| CO, HCHO chem | RW | DJ 11; S&P 6.3, 6.4 |
| CH4, role of NOx, | RW | DJ 11; S&P 6.3, 6.4 |
| NOx Day/night, Trop O3 budget | RW | DJ 11; S&P 6.5, 6.6 |
| Smog, high/low NOx | RW | DJ 12 |
| Smog, isopleth | RW | DJ 12 |
| Smog, VOC reactivity, summary | RW | DJ 12; S&P 6.3, 6.4 |
| Intro Strat O3, Chapman, radicals | RW | DJ 10; S&P 5.1- 5.4 |
| O3 hole, CFCs, PSC | RW | DJ 10; S&P 5.8-5.9 |
| Intro, to aerosols, physical properties | RW | S&P 7.1-.3, 10.3-.4 |
| Particle water, Aqueous phase chem | RW | S&P 7.4, 7.5 |
| Complete unfinished topics/review | RW | |
| Trop & Strat Chemistry | RW | |
| Air pollution meteorology | AR | S&P 16.2 |
| Atmospheric stability | AR | S&P 16.2 |
| Atmospheric stability | AR | S&P 18 |
| Micrometeorology: turbulence. | AR | S&P 18 |
| Micrometeorology: turbulence. | AR | S&P 18.10 |
| Pasquil Stability classes, etc. | AR | S&P 18 |
| Atmospheric diffusion | AR | S&P 18.9-13 |
| Gaussian plume equation & model | AR | S&P 25, 26 |
| Air Quality Models | AR | S&P 25, 26 |
| Air Quality Models | ||
| Air Quality Management/ Regulations | AR |