Turning air-quality research into community action
Meredith Hastings will expand undergraduate research opportunities through Breathe Providence, a community-scale air pollution monitoring initiative she launched in 2022.
Turning air-quality research into community action
Meredith Hastings will expand undergraduate research opportunities through Breathe Providence, a community-scale air pollution monitoring initiative she launched in 2022.
George Ide Chase Professor of Physical Sciences and Professor of Environment and Society and Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences Meredith Hastings will expand undergraduate research opportunities through Breathe Providence, a community-scale air pollution monitoring initiative she launched in 2022.*
About the IBES Catalyst Research Awards
These annual awards provide funding for faculty-led, solutions-driven environmental research that crosses disciplines and has the potential for meaningful societal impact.
Breathe Providence operates 29 low-cost air-quality sensors across the city, with an emphasis on neighborhoods facing elevated environmental and health burdens. Undergraduate researchers will develop projects in response to questions identified by Providence residents and community partners, conducting data analysis, developing education and outreach initiatives, and/or contributing to community-driven policy research.
Breathe Providence is about making air quality research responsive and accessible to the people breathing that air every day. Bringing undergraduates more deeply into that work gives them the chance to see how scientific research can be deeply driven by community priorities and contribute to meaningful change.
*This award is supported by IBES' Student Transformative Engagement Pathways program.