[Home] [People] [Instruments] [Facilities] [Projects] [Publications] [Contact] [Links&More]
Project Title: Optical Sensing of Air Pollution Using Computed Tomography
Name: Professor Michael Yost
Department: Environmental Health
Box Number: 357234
Office Address: F226 Health Sciences
Office Phone: 685-7243
E-mail address: airion@u.washington.edu
Our Laboratory is developing a variety of optical remote sensing
(ORS) methods to measure air pollutants (gasses and aerosols)
using light beams. These remote sensing methods use infrared (or
visible) light to rapidly measure air pollutants directly in the
atmosphere, over distances of a kilometer or more. These measurements
usually are expressed as path-averaged concentrations, so the
readings don't tell the location of concentration peaks along
the beam path. We have worked to over come this limitation by
applying computer aided tomography (CAT) to measurements from
multiple beam paths, to create a map of the pollutant concentration
over an area. In essence, this creates a "CAT-scan"
map of the pollutants in the air.
Currently we are conducting computer simulations and experiments
to test this tomography method. We have projects for students
interested in working on computer programming of reconstruction
methods, optical measurements, and hardware development (tunable
lasers, UV, or infrared spectroscopy).
This research would be well suited for students with a background
in engineering, computer sciences, atmospheric sciences, physics
or chemistry. A year of chemistry and organic chemistry or laboratory
work in physics, computer sciences, or analytic chemistry would
be desirable. Flexible hours are possible, between 3 to 10 hours
per week would be a typical work load. For more information, please
check the ORS lab web site at http://weber.u.washington.edu/~orslab/