2023 Esselen Award Ceremony Honoring Professor Kimberly A Prather

NESACS Honors the 202 Gustavus J. Esselen Awardee, Professor Kimberly A Prather, Followed by the Presentation of the Esselen Award and the Esselen Address

This meeting will feature Professor Kimberly A. Prather, Distinguished Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of California, San Diego, as our speaker and awardee. She will receive the Gustavus J. Esselen Award  for Chemistry in the Public Interest for her work to advance our understanding of the major sources, composition, and reactivity of atmospheric aerosols.

The title of Professor Prather's talk is:

Tiny Critters, Huge Impacts: How microbes impact climate and health

To predict future climate, we must understand the impacts of placing unprecedented human-induced stressors on the coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Current models simplify the factors controlling marine aerosol composition and associated cloud processes because the overall impacts of each of these interdependent processes are difficult to unravel. One challenge involves understanding how marine microbial emissions alter atmospheric chemistry and air quality. While field studies have studied the impact of ocean biology on clouds and climate, such efforts have been limited due to the additional complexities from pollution being added to the environment from humans.

This lecture will provide an overview of unique ocean-atmosphere-in-the laboratory studies conducted in the NSF Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE; https://caice.ucsd.edu). CAICE experiments were designed to determine the composition of the marine atmosphere with a major focus on the factors controlling the chemical mixing state, cloud formation, and ice nucleating ability of marine aerosols. Over the past decade, CAICE scientists have successfully transferred the full physical, chemical, and biological complexity of the ocean-atmosphere system into the laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. This presentation will highlight results obtained using this uniquely controlled approach, including accounting for previously unexplained changes in clouds in regions with phytoplankton blooms. This lecture will also discuss how these results can be used to improve climate models. Additionally, the next steps that will be taken to probe the future climate scenarios using the new Scripps Ocean-Atmosphere Research Simulator (SOARS) will be discussed. SOARS will use wind and waves to simulate the complex marine atmosphere boundary layer under varying scenarios of temperature (from tropical to polar), atmospheric gas phase concentrations, and ocean pH.

Finally, the latest research investigating the factors controlling the ocean-to-atmosphere transfer of bacteria, viruses, and trace gases to the atmosphere will be discussed. These studies are aimed at developing a better understanding of the impacts of coastal air quality on the health of residents living in and around coastal regions. Serving as a bridge between human and environmental health, these field and lab studies are serving to better understand how the changing ocean and atmosphere microbiome are affecting air quality and climate.

THE PUBLIC IS INVITED - RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED

Schedule of Events

Esselen Award Meeting

Friday, April 14, 2023

Harvard Faculty Club, Harvard University

20 Quincy St., Cambridge, MA

5:30 PM Social Hour

6:30 PM Dinner

8:00 PM Award Meeting and Presentation of the Gustavus J. Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest to Kimberly A Prather

Please visit www.nesacs.org/awards_esselen.html for more information on the selection process, the history of the Award and the life and career of Gustavus John Esselen, as well as additional information about Professor Kimberly Prather. Professor Prather's biography can also be found on the NESACS website.

NESACS would like to thank the chair of the Gustavus John Esselen Award Committee of NESACS, Dr. Katherine Mirica, the Esselen Family, and Ms. Jeananne Piper Grady  for her skillful organization of arrangements for, and invitations to this event.

Registration is required and a ticket will be necessary for admission to the networking reception, dinner, and the award meeting. The deadline for registering is noon, April 7, 2023

The Award meeting will be live streamed starting at 8 PM and will be available through Zoom at no charge. Reservation is required to attend virtually, select the ticket option for Meeting only and upon registration a Zoom link for the presentation will be emailed to you. You may also register for the Zoom live streaming here: Esselen Award Live Stream

Registration or other questions? Please contact: [email protected]

 FAQs

What are my transport/parking options getting to the event?

MBTA closest stop is Harvard Square, with many bus lines (1, 68, 83) providing access via Mass Ave. or Broadway. Please visit www.mbta.com

Free Parking is available in the Broadway Street garage (3rd level or higher); enter from Cambridge St. via Felton St.

Garage parking is located on Felton Street (1.5 block NE of 20 Quincy) as well as the Holyoke Street garage, between Holyoke and Dunster streets (5 blocks West of 20 Quincy). There is street parking around Harvard Square, but the 2 hour time limit might not be enough for the dinner or the meeting.

Where can I contact the organizer with any questions?

With any questions whatsoever, please contact NESACS at [email protected]

Is my registration/ticket transferrable?

Yes, please contact [email protected], before April 7, 2023.

Host or Publisher The Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society