The southeast Atlantic (SEA) region, characterized by persistent stratocumulus clouds, has one of the highest uncertainties in aerosol radiative forcing and significant variability across climate models. During the austral spring (August to October), biomass burning emissions from neighboring southern African fires introduce considerable variability into aerosol forcing assessments in the SEA, prompting several international field campaigns. Despite this, the region's year-round prolific production of marine aerosols and their potential impact on regional climate dynamics through interactions with low-level marine clouds have been largely overlooked. To address this, our study employs the GEOS-Chem atmospheric chemical transport model (version 13.3.3) to analyze the seasonally varying role of marine aerosol sources and to identify key uncertainties in aerosol composition at cloud-relevant altitudes across the SEA (40°W-20°E, 0-40°S). We simulate aerosol optical depth (AOD) and speciated aerosol concentrations, evaluating them against ground-based Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOD data and measurements from aircraft campaigns such as ORACLES and CLARIFY conducted in 2017. Additionally, we conduct multiple nested grid simulations at a horizontal resolution of 0.5° by 0.625° to explore the sensitivity of marine aerosols to various emission sources. 

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Prof. Helen Nguyen was recently awarded as 2024-2025 Fulbright Scholar and Specialist. The ceremony in which Helen was honored took place a week ago in Jakarta Indonesia. Helen received a certificate as a US Fulbright scholar to ASEAN from the US deputy chief of mission to ASEAN and specialists in different fields in all countries of ASEAN attended this ceremony.   This prestigious award highlights Helen's impactful contributions to addressing one of the most pressing challenges in public health today—antimicrobial resistance. Her work fosters invaluable collaborations across Southeast Asia. Once again, congratulations, Helen! We are grateful for everything you do and for bringing our program to such high levels of recognition on the global stage.

The following are excerpts from https://cee.illinois.edu/news/Nguyen-named-Fulbright-Scholar-Specialist

Prof. Nguyen was selected as a 2024-2025 Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright Specialist. With these awards, she will spend six months studying antimicrobial resistance in Southeast Asia (SEA). 

“I strongly believe that science should be focused on concrete solutions and working together with the people that these solutions intend to serve,” Nguyen says. “Fulbright gives me this valuable opportunity to go with my passion doing solution-driven science and contribute to building the education and research capacity in Southeast Asia.”  

This year marks Dr. Shaoying Qi’s 25th anniversary with EE&S at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Shaoying was honored at the awards ceremony on Wednesday, November 20, with a commemorative plaque celebrating this milestone. Shaoying has demonstrated remarkable leadership and dedication, always ensuring the success of our lab's operations and research, while mentoring and supporting our students and postdoctoral researchers. Please join me in congratulating Shaoying on this well-deserved recognition and thanking him for his invaluable contributions!