Event Description
Please join the Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering Department in welcoming Ray Wells, from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for a special guest lecture.
Multifaceted Approach to Understanding Indoor Air Quality
An improved understanding of indoor air chemistry would significantly benefit human health. It is estimated that at least 15% of new-onset asthma cases can be attributed to workplace exposures. The 2011 American Thoracic Society report on work exacerbated asthma identified 1) better exposure assessment methods to identify and characterize the complex exposures in workplaces and 2) investigating pathophysiological mechanisms such as neurogenic inflammation and epithelial response to oxidant stress as two of the major research gaps for addressing work exacerbated asthma reduction. Unfortunately even though indoor air is identified as a significant link between occupational lung disease and its prevention/reduction, it has been poorly understood or characterized. Research in gas-phase and surface-phase chemistries, improved field and analytical sampling methods and mechanism-based toxicology may all be used to improve indoor air quality.
Ray Wells is a Research Chemist in the Exposure Assessment Branch in the Health Effects Laboratory Division at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown, WV.
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