I am a Full Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (ESE) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). The ESE Department resides within the Gillings School of Global Public Health and is primarily oriented toward graduate education. Its research scope spans water, air, and the sublayer environments and is focused on their interactions from an engineering and science perspective. There is an emphasis on associated heath and policy implications, which makes the department’s scope broader and more diverse than many of its peers. Within the department, I work within the two interdisciplinary programs of “Air Quality and Atmospheric Processes” and “Human Exposure and Health Effects.” My research is primarily conducted within interdisciplinary teams where this diversity of expertise, coupled with my engineering background, has allowed me to develop novel engineering solutions for public health problems.
I joined the faculty at UNC in 2005. I received a Ph.D. and a M.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. in chemical engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly called the University of Missouri at Rolla). My Ph.D dissertation involved computer simulations of atmospheric chemistry processes that influence ozone formation at the regional level. The results of my research were incorporated into the plan for Houston to attain the federal one-hour ozone standard.
My wife, Natalie, and I have two children, Guillermo and Maya. I love playing bass guitar with my local Jamaican band The Unsustainables, playing my records on the air, rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals, rarely miss a World Cup soccer game, and enjoy long bicycles rides in the country.
If I hadn’t studied chemical engineering, I would have studied music. Besides my family and work, jazz and reggae music are my passions. I have been a radio DJ since 1995, hosting jazz and Jamaican shows at various college and community stations. Right now, I host an occasional show on the UNC radio station, WXYC 89.3 F.M.
You can always listen to my radio shows here.