EAS Seminar Series-Gaige Kerr

Description

Air pollution inequality in the United States: The view from space

Researchers, citizen scientists, and activists alike have focused attention on the disproportionate exposure to outdoor air pollution experienced by marginalized population groups in the United States, particularly by Black and Brown communities. In this talk, I present several recent studies that document this disproportionate exposure and the associated burden of disease as well as probe the emission sources and activities responsible for this form of environmental injustice. I focus specifically on two ubiquitous air pollutants–nitrogen dioxide, a component of smog, and fine particulate matter, commonly referred to as soot–and leverage novel, high-resolution datasets that combine the strengths of satellite remote sensing and detailed computer models. My results span the causal chain, linking policy and land-use practices with public health and economic damages, and can inform the development of policies that equitably reduce health-harming pollution. 

Gaige Kerr (he/him) is a senior research scientist in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Dr. Kerr researches air pollution, and projects he has led span topics ranging from understanding the emission sources of pollution to assessing the health impacts experienced by impacted populations, with a special emphasis on understanding associated ethnoracial and socioeconomic disparities. His research uses a wide variety of tools and methods, including remote sensing, atmospheric chemistry models and other numerical models, exposure assessment, and spatial statistical techniques. He received his BSc with honors in Atmospheric Science from Cornell University and his MA and PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Johns Hopkins University.