Investigators and Program Directors

Research Interests

Research interests lie in the study of multiphase atmospheric chemistry. Particular interest is in understanding the processes controlling the fate of inorganic and organic pollutants in the environment. Active research programs include:

• Anthropogenic Pollutants Transport Studies - Air-mass movements transport potentially toxic environmental pollutants long distances from the emission points, causing regional, international, and global problems. Acid precipitation is one such problem of regional concern and is responsible for adverse environmental effects such as modification of lake ecology, damage to forests, increased leaching of nutrients from soil, and corrosion of materials, to name a few. The principal thrust of the research has been to characterize thoroughly the chemical composition of atmospheric wet precipitation (cloud, rain, and snow) in northeastern United States, quantifying the annual deposition of acidic species, and relating it to the precursor emissions upwind. This research will allow a better understanding of pollutants impact on the quality of atmospheric and aquatic ecosystems.
• Aquatic Chemistry - Assessing the impact of anthropogenic and natural stressors in the Finger lakes at the selected sites in New York State is designed to assess and understand fundamental relationships between sources, transport, and the resulting deposition of pollutants (nutrients and toxic metals) to Finger Lakes. Included in this investigation is the study of the speciation of selenium and arsenic in these lake waters. The toxicity of these elements depends on the species presents. Besides, these pollutants serve as indices to assess the impact of coal used by Electric power generating utilities of the mid-western USA. Information will be useful for future modeling of the Finger Lakes Basin such as mass balance and toxic loading estimates.
• Carboxylic Acids - Carboxylic acids are one of the dominant classes of organic species found in the atmosphere. The important role these acids play in the global environment is investigated. Research is directed at a comprehensive understanding of carboxylic acids in the gas-, aqueous-phase, and airborne particulate matter. Specific objectives include the nature and ambient levels of these acids in both urban and non-urban environments, their phase distribution, and anthropogenic and biogenic sources, and fate in the atmosphere.
• Field Study of Ozone and Its Precursors in the Atmosphere and Its Application to Global Warming Models - Importance of O3 , precursors (CO, NOx , non-methane hydrocarbons), intermediates (carbonyls) and aerosols in tropospheric change, and the need to determine their spatial, temporal, and seasonal variabilities at the regional scale, gives an impetus to study these species in urban and rural environments of northeastern United States. Knowledge of their distributions will improve our understanding of source-sink relationship, which in turn are important to validate predictions on climate and atmospheric changes.

Contact Information

Phone: (518) 474-0516
Fax: (518) 473-2895
E-mail: khwaja@wadsworth.org.