Spring 2026 Updates
- Cesunica Ivey
- Jun 8
- 4 min read
The spring semester was a big moment for many lab members, who are now UC Berkeley alumni! Congratulations to all graduates! Peruse their accomplishments and other lab updates below.
2026 Graduates Akirah, Dr. Ji, Dr. Quevedo, and Lauren 2026 Graduates Akirah, Dr. Ji, Dr. Quevedo, and Lauren AQMEL toasts 2026 graduates
AQMEL Graduations
Dr. Yi Ji and Dr. Duncan Quevedo were hooded in last month's College of Engineering PhD ceremony. Congratulations, and we wish them the very best in their next adventures!
Dr. Ji's dissertation addresses wildfire smoke exposure at regional, urban, and individual scales, titled "Assessing the Impact of Wildfire Smoke on Ambient Air Quality, Indoor Air Quality, and Personal Exposure: Insights from Rural Nevada, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area." View her work published in ACS ES&T Air in 2025 and 2026! She also supported the lab's review of time-activity patterns, which can be used to reduce exposure misclassification (Yu et al. 2025).
Dr. Ji presents her exit talk
Dr. Quevedo's dissertation addresses air pollution modeling improvements using statistical approaches and model optimization for gaseous chemistry and aerosol microphysics, titled "Exploring Measurements, Model Acceleration, and Model Benchmarking Towards Informing Improved Air Quality and Climate Policy." View his published work in ACS ES&T Air in 2024 and 2025! He also led the lab's contribution to a collaborative study on PM2.5 formation regimes in California alongside researchers at UC Riverside (Collins et al. 2026).
Akirah graduates from the M.S. Environmental Engineering program and will continue on to PhD studies. Lauren graduates from the B.S. Society and Environment program, and will enroll at Yale School of the Environment in the fall for graduate studies. Christopher graduates with a double major in environmental sciences and business. He will continue his career in climate financing after graduation. Carly graduates from the B.S. Environmental Sciences program, and will attend Stanford for graduate school. Congratulations Akirah, Lauren, Christopher, and Carly!
Akirah, Dr. Ivey, and Jasmine at African American Studies Graduation Akirah, Michael, and Jasmine celebrate at African American Studies commencement Lauren graduates and heads to Yale
Research Updates
Dr. Duncan Quevedo led contributions to a collaborative project on PM2.5 formation regimes across California. The project was sponsored by CARB and determined historical and present-day emission and meteorological regimes to guide the development of PM2.5 reduction strategies in non-attainment regions of CA. His contributions included historical modeling of PM2.5, its components, and drivers of formation across California, and sub-hourly sensitivity modeling of experimental data from UC Riverside’s field campaigns in Bakersfield, Riverside, and Wilmington, CA. The final report is available here on CARB's website.
Dr. Yi Ji led a paper, with contributions from Christopher Devlin, on indoor exposure to smoke from the 2025 Palisades and Eaton Fires, contributing timely feedback around smoke exposure mitigation during and after wildfires. Infiltration estimates indicate exacerbated indoor conditions for the most environmentally vulnerable populations. She presented the findings at the LA Fires Conference in January 2026 in Los Angeles, CA.
Dr. Yi presents a poster at the LA Fires Conference in 2026 Graphical abstract for Ji et al., 2026
Sumu continues community outreach with Healthy Martinez for personal monitoring near the Martinez Refining Company. In her work, she resolves sub-hourly PM2.5 exposures using wearable sensors, and time-resolved speciated PM2.5 provides insight on source-specific exposures.
Sumu and Dr. Ivey with Healthy Martinez and Mayor Brianne Zorn Healthy Martinez table at the 2026 John Muir Earth Day Celebration in Martinez
Akirah launched her research on the air quality impacts of concentrated animal feeding operations in California. She presented preliminary analyses at the ARCS Fellows Research Symposium in San Francisco and at the culminating poster session for CE 190.
Dr. Ivey and Akirah at the ARCS Fellows Symposium Akirah presents her research at the CE 190 poster session Akirah presents her research at the CE 190 poster session
AQMEL hosted two URAP cohorts this semester. The Marin City team was led by Alisha, and Sumu led the Martinez team. URAP students contributed to personal monitoring and GIS analysis for Martinez and indoor monitoring of H2S and VOCs in public housing in Marin City. We thank the URAP students for their hard work!
Dr. Ivey published an invited viewpoint as part of ES&T's 60th Anniversary issue, titled "Tracing Environmental Equity and Air Pollution Research at ES&T." The article summarizes the body of literature in ES&T and other relevant journals that addresses environmental equity with respect to air pollution sources, spatial disparities, mitigation strategies, and novel methods for equity characterization.
Dr. Ivey contributed to an editorial for her ERL focus issue on "Innovation in Environmental Engineering for Community-Engaged Research." The closing editorial highlights the timely contributions from eight perspectives and 13 research letters that present community-driven approaches and outcomes for redressing environmental injustices for air, water, and soil quality.
Other Lab Updates
AQMEL researchers welcomed four guest speakers to Berkeley this semester. Dr. Gretchen Goldman, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, was a keynote speaker for the 2026 Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center (BASC) Symposium. She shed light on the trajectory of science policy in the U.S., and she educated students and faculty on how to participate in science advocacy within federal policy.
Prof. Anu Ramaswami, director of the M. S. Chadha Center for Global India at Princeton University, visited as a distinguished lecturer for CEE and Global Metropolitan Studies. She presented her latest work in India regarding extreme heat and well-being, offering sustainable solutions for gaps in worker protections.
Dr. Marcela Loría Salazar, assistant professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, visited as a BASC seminar speaker and presented her work on radar monitoring of dust and smoke in the central U.S. Dr. Amanda Giang, associate professor of the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and mechanical engineering, also visited as a BASC seminar speaker. She presented insights on her community-engaged research on air quality, permitting, and source mitigation.
We thank Dr. Goldman, Prof. Ramaswami, Prof. Loría Salazar, and Prof. Giang for enlightening the UC Berkeley community with their timely and impactful research!
Dr. Goldman with CEE PhD Students Prof. Ramaswami with PhD Students Dr. Loría Salazar with AQMEL Prof. Giang with CEE PhD students
Dr. Ivey, Alisha, and Akirah served on the inaugural Leadership Team of the Collective for Inclusive Engineering. This spring's events included a workshop on mentoring undergraduate researchers, a roundtable discussion on current events, and a culminating ice cream social for PhD students and postdocs across the College of Engineering.
Congratulations again on all of the wonderful accomplishments this spring, and have a safe and fun summer 2026! 💫
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