Date: September 18-19, 2023
Host: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Background
Air quality is a serious issue affecting health, mortality, and human productivity in the megacities of Africa. Africa is the least studied region of the world, and megacity air quality has received little attention from the global air pollution community relative to other regions. For example, the scientific insights in improving air quality in the US have been applied successfully in Mexico City. This success, however, has not been extended to Africa where indoor and urban air quality remain poor, and the depth of air quality problems is largely unquantified. Rapid urbanization, industrialization, and continued use of biomass as a domestic energy source will continue to worsen air quality across the continent. The complexity of megacity exposures, the challenges in resources, and the large spatial scales that are involved demand new interdisciplinary and multi-institutional approaches to measure, predict, and provide actionable air quality data to African communities. This proposed workshop will bring together an interdisciplinary team that draws on East African, European, and U.S. experts in both atmospheric measurements, modeling, and space/time statistics. The workshop will develop a plan to submit an NSF Center proposal whose goal will be to develop transformative technologies to provide actionable air quality data at community spatial scales in African megacities.
Goals of Workshop
The goal of the September workshop is to develop a NSF proposal, in collaboration with UK, African, and other European scientists, for a comprehensive field study focused on East African Air Quality.
Agenda
Workshop Agenda 9/18-9/19 Download
Social Mixer 9/17/23 7 – 9 pm EST at Brixx Wood Fired Pizza (Directions)
Conference Location
Friday Center, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 USA
We will be in the Bellflower room.
Parking requires a pass. Email vizuete@unc.edu to request a pass link.
Hotel Block Information
A block of rooms are being held at the Courtyard by Marriott and will be available for reservations on 9/1/23. Please email cherellewhitfield@unc.edu for the link for the group rate.
Directions
The Friday Center is a walkable 0.3 miles from the Courtyard by Marriott
If you interested in visiting the main campus there is a free bus that runs from the Friday Center.
Organizers
William Vizuete, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Solomon Bililgn, North Carolina A&T
Funding
Made possible through funding from the National Science Foundation AGS-2332417