Air Quality Research Center

Dr. Nicholas Spada utilizes nuclear methods for characterizing aerosols as a function of size and time to better understand their impact on human health and the global environment. Since 2004, he has worked with the DELTA Group of UC Davis to develop and implement DRUM sampling and analysis technologies, utilizing synchrotron facilities at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Stanford’s linear accelerator facility. These techniques are applied to local, environmental justice cases; regional networks to determine persistence of ultrafine metals; and over a decade of measurements at the Greenland Summit Station to identify long-transport contributions to the Arctic environment.