Chemical Engineering

Across AMS

Connecting Air Quality, Climate, and Health

For Jeffrey Pierce, the path to becoming an atmospheric scientist was not entirely planned. It began with an interest in math and science, an influential chemistry teacher, and an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at Northeastern University. It was during graduate school, when he discovered research on air pollution at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), that his scientific direction became clear. “I found out that some of the professors there worked on air pollution, and right away, I knew I wanted to work with them,” Pierce said. That decision launched a career focused on the complex interactions between atmospheric particulate matter, air quality, climate, and human health. Pierce is the recipient of the Walter Orr Roberts Lectureship, recognized for highly impactful, policy-relevant interdisciplinary research on the influence of atmospheric particulate matter on air quality, climate, and human health.