Wind uncertainty and capacity planning during the energy transition

PI: Richard Sweeney, Associate Professor, Economics Department

Collaborator(s):
Yi Ming, Institute Professor of Climate Science and Society, Schiller Institute & Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Project Brief:
Addressing the climate crisis will require massive investment in wind and solar power. Unlike traditional fossil fuel generation, the amount of potential wind and solar energy available, and thus the level of generation capacity required to keep the lights on, varies greatly across space and time. Optimally selecting locations is further complicated by the fact that wind and solar patterns are also impacted by the changing climate.

This project will use the latest climate information to guide wind energy investment required to meet both production and reliability goals. Specifically, we will combine historical data on wind speeds with historical climate model simulations to model the relationship between climate outcomes and wind speed realizations at a highly spatially disaggregated level. We will then generate future projections of wind patterns over the next 30 to 50 years. Finally, we will use these future wind projections to characterize the optimal wind energy investment profile for two important US power markets: Texas and New England.

Leveraging Video-based Social Networking Platforms to Disseminate Research on Energy, the Natural Environment, and Health: Evaluations of Practice

PI: Betty Lai, Associate Professor, Counseling, Developmental & Educational Psychology Department

Collaborator(s):
Mo Jones-Jang, Associate Professor, Department of Communication

Project Brief:
Scientists are not trained to communicate research findings with the public. Most Americans know Dr. Fauci, but few Americans can name any other living scientist. A 2017 poll found that 81% of Americans were unable to name a single living scientist (Research America, 2018). Among Americans that could name a living scientist, the majority named just three men: Stephen Hawking, Bill Nye, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Teaching scientists how to communicate findings from taxpayer-funded research is a good return on investments. Yet a critical barrier to training scientists in research communication is the lack of evidence-based practices for how scientists should engage the public. Taking this paucity of knowledge as impetus for research, this proposal seeks to develop systematic guidance for scientists on how to engage the public through video-based platforms.

This project will develop evidence-based practice guidelines for video-based science communicationthrough these aims:

Aim 1: Conducting a systematic review of the science communication literature.
Aim 2: Evaluating science-based video content of top creators on video-based social networking platforms.
Aim 3: Experimentally manipulating and testing science communication strategies identified in aims 1 and 2 to evaluate their effectiveness.

¡VAMOS! The Feasibility and Acceptability of Pre- to Post-Migration Research with Venezuelan Migrant Parents

PI: Christopher Salas-Wright, Professor, School of Social Work

Collaborator(s):
María Piñeros-Leaño, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Summer Hawkins, Professor, School of Social Work

Project Brief:
Since 2015, more than 7 million Venezuelans—very often parents with young children—have left their once prosperous nation, the vast majority resettling in low-to-moderate resource communities in South America. Critically, although developmental science makes clear that early childhood is a vital stage, one in which exposure to stress and trauma can have lifelong implications, we know little of the experiences of Venezuelan crisis migrant parents with young children. In this pilot study, we will conduct formative mixed methods research to demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of conducting research with Venezuelan migrant parents that includes data collection both prior to migration (in Venezuela) and shortly after arrival in the receiving context (in Colombia). The expected scientific impact of our study runs along two tracks, one methodological (i.e., innovation in how migration research is conducted) and one substantive (i.e., the importance of the health of South-South migrant parents). The proposed research will facilitate new interdisciplinary collaboration between three Boston College faculty members in partnership with Corporación Nuevos Rumbos, a research organization located in Bogotá, Colombia.

Impact of the Stabilized Criegee Intermediates Chemistry on Tropospheric Formic Acid Distribution

PI: Junwei Lucas Bao, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry

Collaborator(s):
Yi Ming, Institute Professor of Climate Science and Society, Schiller Institute & Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Project Brief:
The impacts of acidic precipitation and secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) on the environment are of global concern. Formic acid, a dominant tropospheric carboxylic acid, is produced from the oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Formic and acetic acids are significant contributors to atmospheric free acidity. Formic acid distribution affects the atmospheric oxidative capacity and SOA formation. Therefore, understanding its distribution is crucial for atmospheric scientists. A significant gap remains between the observed abundance of formic acid and our understanding of its sources and sinks in the troposphere.

Recent studies point out the importance of stabilized Criegee intermediates (CIs) in resolving the formic acid distribution puzzle. CIs are created by the ozonolysis of VOCs. CIs are versatile. They either consume atmospheric acidic species or produce them by influencing the hydroxyl radical population. CIs are highly reactive in the troposphere. It is challenging to study the chemistry-atmosphere interactions by considering all pathways simultaneously due to the complexity of the reaction network involved and the varying spatial and temporal distribution of acids. We aim to untangle the complex reaction network, pinpoint the critical pathways for CIs, and deepen our understanding of their roles in global tropospheric formic acid distribution through first-principle simulations.

Developing Aptamers to Create a Platform for Rapid, Multiplexed, Sensing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in Water

PI: Michelle Meyer, Professor, Biology Department

Collaborator(s):
Kenneth Burch, Professor, Physics Department,
Philip Landrigan , Professor, Biology Department & Director, Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good

Project Brief:
Pollution of the oceans and other waterways is widespread and often poorly controlled. Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are released into the environment during manufacture, use, and disposal, and they collectively impose significant threats to public health and agriculture. In order to combat this contamination, it is necessary to pinpoint its source as well as track changes over time. However, monitoring such compounds remains costly and challenging as samples must be shipped from the source to a laboratory for analysis. What is needed is an easy to use, cost effective, field deployable, multiplexing, and robust device that allows sensing of API contaminants. This project will achieve this objective by leveraging GEMS (Graphene electronic multiplexed sensor) developed by the Burch Laboratory. GEMS are sensors that couple the unique electrical properties of graphene with biological probes to enable sensitive detection of specific compounds. Furthermore, GEMS require only inexpensive electronics and are the size of a penny. To extend the GEMS platform to detect APIs of public health relevance in the Global South, the Meyer lab will develop optimized biological probes for APIs identified in partnership with Dr. Landrigan and the Global Observatory on Planetary Health.