CREATE-AQI (Community Resilience through Engaging, Actionable, Timely, High-Resolution Air Quality Information ) is helping to to protect children from air quality hazards, particularly during outdoor activities, by placing an outdoor air quality sensor at every high school in Utah, developing automated location-specific air quality forecasts, providing air quality alerts to individuals making decisions about outdoor activities, and providing indoor air quality sensors to childcare facilities across Utah. We are delighted to be one of 19 winners of the 2023 NSF CIVIC Innovation Challenge. The outdoor sensor nodes will measure particulate matter that can be present at high concentrations during winter inversion, high wind events, and wildfires. The indoor sensor nodes will measure particulate matter and carbon dioxide, and these will help us understand the impacts of poor outdoor air quality on indoor air quality. Researchers from the University of Utah are working with key civic partners, including Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services, Utah’s Asthma Program, the Utah Athletic Trainers Association, Utah High School Activities Association, the Utah Board of Education, the Utah Parent Teachers Association, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to use this new information to protect children’s health. You can see our real-time, air-quality measurements here, here, and on the Salt Lake County’s map.
SmartAir is developing novel strategies that integrate social-norm messaging with real-time air quality and vehicle data to inform driving behavior. SmartAir relies on strong partnerships between the University of Utah, Intermountain Healthcare, Utah State University, Bear River Charter School, the Salt Lake City School District, Utah Clean Cities, and UCAIR.
AirU is bringing air quality sensors and fun, engaging teaching modules that open up the black box on how these sensors work.