Tracey Holloway
I use computer models and satellite data to evaluate strategies for cleaner, healthier air in the U.S. and worldwide.
”* Excited to be starting work with the NASA Air Quality Applied Sciences Team -- learn more about this effort here http://acmg.seas.harvard.edu/aqast/index.html
Associate Professor, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies; Director, SAGE (Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment)
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Breathe in, breathe out. How much do you know about the air around us? First, the good news – most of it is oxygen and inert nitrogen, gases we can’t see or feel, but that keep us alive and healthy. Unfortunately, we also breathe exhaust from cars, particles from unpaved roads, smoke from diesel trucks. Air pollutants like these are clearly linked to sickness and death, so most people agree that less is more.
My goal as a scientist is to evaluate strategies for cleaner, healthier air in the U.S. and worldwide. I use computer models of the atmosphere to calculate how energy choices, transportation policies, and other factors – combined with weather conditions and atmospheric chemistry – could improve the health of the air we breathe. The models we use operate like a “virtual atmosphere,” where we can test out what-if questions, to estimate the impact of technology and policy investments on environmental outcomes.
I advance this work at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, where I am an Associate Professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and serve as Director of SAGE, the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment in the Nelson Institute (on sabbatical 2011-2012). I am also on the NASA Air Quality Applied Science Team, where I work with colleagues across the country to link satellite measurements of air quality with real-world science and policy needs.
While clean air benefits our day-to-day health and happiness, the strategies that have helped reduce air pollution are also relevant from broader sustainability challenges. Energy efficiency, for example, improves air quality, reduces carbon emissions, and even saves money – win-win-win. And, while climate policies have stalled in the U.S., air pollution control in the U.S. boasts a successful track-record going back over 40 years. My research aims to target problems and identify solutions so we can all breathe easier.