Selin Group: Pollution, Impacts and Policy at MIT

The Selin Group research focuses on using atmospheric chemistry and integrated modeling to inform decision-making strategies on air pollution and climate change.

The research aims to inform sustainable management approaches to atmospheric pollutants, through understanding the processes and interactions of global environmental contamination from a systems perspective. Specifically, we develop new tools to better understand and quantify the pathway by which emissions of toxic substances travel and transform in the atmosphere to impact humans and the environment away from sources. The ultimate goal of my work is to inform efforts to manage pollution. This research addresses fundamental scientific questions about the atmospheric behavior of contaminants, while addressing the engineering challenge of designing analytical tools to inform management strategies. Research addresses a conceptual system in which human activities create emissions, pollutants are then transported near and far, leading to human exposure and eventual health impacts. These human and environmental impacts lead to economic consequences and policy responses (including regulation) which can then modify emissions. Research examines all of the aspects of this system.