News

May 17, 2022: Xuehui Guo successfully defends Ph.D. dissertation

Xuehui Guo successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, entitled "Ammonia Emissions, Deposition, and Variability through In Situ, Ground-Based, and Remote Sensing Observations" She will be pursuing postdoctoral work at the University of Virginia. Congratulations, Xuehui!

Sep 9, 2021: Daniel Moore awarded NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship

Daniel Moore was awarded Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) grant for quantifying agricultural nitrogen emissions, particularly fertilizer emissions, from satellite platforms with the IASI, CrIS, and TROPOMI instruments. Congratulations, Dan!

Aug 22, 2021: Vlad Sevostianov awarded the prestigious 2021 DoD National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship

Vlad Sevostianov has been awarded the prestigious 2021 DoD National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship. Vlad’s Ph.D. research will focus on the syntheses of new sensing technologies and approaches with in-situ field measurements and remote sensing measurements. Congratulations, Vlad!

Aug 15, 2021: Vlad Sevostianov joined the group!

We welcome Vlad Sevostianov to our group, the CEE Department, and Princeton University. In addition to being a Fulbright Scholar, Vlad conducted undergraduate research with Prof. Scot Martin at Harvard University using low cost sensors and drone-based platforms for VOC measurements. We are thrilled to have him work with us for his Ph.D. studies - welcome!

Aug 6, 2021: Field sampling for agricultural waste and wastewater emissions in California and the Mid-Atlantic

We recently finished our first phase of field sampling for agricultural waste and wastewater emissions in California and the Mid-Atlantic, in collaboration with Prof. Francesca Hopkins’ group at UC-Riverside. The two groups deployed novel mobile laboratory platforms for comprehensive sampling of greenhouse gases, carbon and nitrogen species, and air pollutants from numerous individual emission sources within these sectors. This is the first of four phases over the next two years to examine diurnal, site-to-site, seasonal, and management practice differences in overall emissions.

Feb 22, 2021: Nathan Li's paper about low-cost CH₄ sensors was featured as editor's pick in Optics Express.

Read the news and the paper.

May 8, 2019: Levi Golston awarded NASA post-doctoral fellowship

Levi has been awarded a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) fellowship at Ames Research Center. His project will be "Surface-Atmosphere Fluxes using Unmanned Systems".

December 10, 2018: NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day

'The Seasonal Rhythms of Ammonia' featured as today's image of the day, prepared by Prof. Mark Zondlo and Rui Wang.

October 23, 2018: Hawaii field campaign featured on the Princeton Home Page

Read more about our field work, the 2018 Kilauea eruption, and future analysis plans including linking information from ground-based networks, model, and satellite, here.

September 14, 2018: Science article featuring our work on ammonia

Prof. Mark Zondlo was quoted about research to better understand ammonia emissions, here.

December 14, 2017: Andlinger Center feature spotlight on Mark Zondlo

Prof. Mark Zondlo and his recent research projects were featured in the Andlinger Center news, where Mark currently serves as associate director of external partnerships. In the spotlight were our new electric vehicle mobile sensing platform, including a video of the system in action, as well as work sensing methane on drones. Read the article here!

May 23, 2017: Xuehui Guo awarded NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship

Xuehui’s NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) project is entitled “Understanding Tropospheric Ammonia through Remote Sensing Measurements.”

March 31, 2017: Vehicular ammonia research featured on the Princeton Home Page

The story, “Vehicles, not farms, are likely source of smog-causing ammonia,” can be read at: https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/03/30/vehicles-not-farms-are-likely-source-smog-causing-ammonia.

June 22, 2016: Da Pan awarded 2016 PEI-STEP Fellowship

Da’s Princeton Environmental Institute Program in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (PEI-STEP) proposal is titled “Investigation of Monitoring Strategies of Atmospheric Ammonia for Ammonia Regulation in the United States.”

November, 2015: Zondlo group research featured in Optics and Photonics News

The story by Patricia Daukantas covers many aspects of our recent and ongoing research, including Toolik Lake methane measurements, mobile laboratory studies during CARE-BEIJING, methane emissions from CNG vehicles, open-path ammonia sensing during DISCOVER-AQ, and ongoing work to study fugitive methane emissions from natural gas infrastructure. Read the full story at Air-Quality Monitoring in the Mid-Infrared.

September 4, 2015: Levi Golston selected to join PECS

Levi was one of ten students selected to the Princeton Energy and Climate Scholars, an interdisciplinary group broadly covering climate change and its intersection with energy systems.

August 8, 2014: MIRTHE REU Student Victor Fu wins best poster at 2014 MIRTHE Workshop

Victor Fu, an undergraduate at University of Southern California and MIRTHE REU student working in our group during summer 2014 was awarded the best poster award at the 2014 MIRTHE Summer Workshop in Princeton, NJ. His poster was entitled "Spatial Surveys of Methane Emissions from Natural Gas Powered Vehicles in Beijing, China during the CAREBeijing Field Campaign." Congratulations, Victor!

Feburary 21, 2014: David Miller successfully defends Ph.D. dissertation

David Miller successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, entitled "Ammonia and Aerosol Emission Impacts: New Insights with Open-path Measurements." Congratulations, David!

October 15, 2013: Participated in EDF Barnett Coordinated Campaign

We participated in EDF Barnett Coordinated Campaign October 15, 2013 to examine fugitive emissions in the near-field from gas/oil sources

September 25, 2013: Mobile platform featured in NASA DISCOVER-AQ article: Mobile Laboratories Measure Air Quality in Houston

Our multi-gas mobile measurement platform, known as PAC-MAN, was featured in an article on mobile laboratories in Houston during the NASA DISCOVER-AQ field campaign in September 2013. Click here to view the article.

August 8, 2013: MIRTHE REU Student Jake Buglione wins best poster at 2013 MIRTHE Workshop

Jake Buglione, an undergraduate at Villanova University and MIRTHE REU student working in our group during summer 2013 was awarded the best poster award at the 2013 MIRTHE Summer Workshop in Princeton, NJ. His poster was entitled "Autonomous Atmospheric Sensing using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platform." Congratulations, Jake!

August 1, 2013: Minghui Diao successfully defends Ph.D. dissertation

Minghui Diao successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, entitled "Ice Supersaturation and Cirrus Cloud Formation From Global In-situ Observations." She will be pursuing postdoctoral work at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Congratulations, Minghui!

March 12, 2013: Lei Tao awarded first prize in Princeton Engineering Innovation Forum

Dr. Lei Tao, postdoctoral research associate, was awarded first prize in Princeton Engineering Innovation Forum. Congratulations, Lei!

March 12, 2013: Minghui Diao awarded NCAR Advanced Study Program post-doctoral fellowship

Minghui Diao has been awarded the NCAR Advanced Study Program (ASP) post-doctoral fellowship. Congratulations, Minghui!

February 27, 2013: Mobile sensing platform featured in Environmental Monitor article

Our multi-gas mobile measurement platform with open-path QC laser sensors was featured in an article entitled "Mobile air sensor lab takes a California road trip" by Environmental Monitor, which focuses on application and technology news for environmental professionals. Kang Sun, 4th year Ph.D. student, David Miller, 5th year Ph.D. student, and Lei Tao, postdoctoral research associate were featured for their measurements during the 2013 DISCOVER-AQ field campaign in California. Click here to view the article.

October 15, 2012: MIRTHE SLIP Project featured in School of Engineering Video "Using Mid-Infrared Lasers"

A video narrated by David Miller, 5th year Ph.D. student, on behalf of the MIRTHE Student Led Independent Project research team featuring the Beltsville, Maryland field deployment of multiple MIRTHE sensors, appeared on the Princeton University homepage. Click here to view the feature story and here to watch the video.

August 10, 2012: Princeton Undergraduate and MIRTHE REU Student Levi Stanton wins best poster at 2012 MIRTHE Workshop

Levi Staton, an undergraduate in Civil and Environmental Engineering and MIRTHE REU student working in our group during summer 2012 was awarded the best poster award at the MIRTHE Summer Workshop in Baltimore, MD. His poster was entitled "Development and Field Testing of an Open-Path 8 µm Quantum Cascade Laser Methane Sensor at Toolik Lake, Alaska." Congratulations, Levi!

August 10, 2012: MIRTHE-NSF High School Student Victor Fu wins most amusing poster flash presentation at 2012 MIRTHE Workshop

Victor Fu, a high school student working in our group during summer 2012 was awarded for the most amusing poster flash presentation at the MIRTHE Summer Workshop in Baltimore, MD for his presentation, "Design of an 8 um Quantum Cascade Laser Sensor for Integrated Long Path Length Methane Monitoring." Congratulations, Victor!

May 15, 2012: Kang Sun awarded NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship

Kang Sun, a third year Ph.D. student, has been awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Graduate Fellowship on his project "Validation of TES Ammonia Using an Open-Path Quantum Cascade Laser Based Spectrometer." Atmospheric ammonia plays critical roles in the formation of unhealthy particulate matter, and Kang's high-resolution measurements will be coupled to global but coarser NASA satellite measurements to help improve our understanding of air quality. Congratulations, Kang!

April 30, 2012: Minghui Diao receives 2012 Walbridge Fund Graduate Award

Minghui Diao, 4th year Ph.D. student, was awarded the 2012 Walbridge Fund Graduate Award. She was one of three students selected and receives funding to support her thesis work and field analyses of DC3/SEAC4RS. The Walbridge Fund Graduate Award provides research funding to one or more Princeton University graduate students pursuing innovative research on energy, climate change science, modeling and policy, or closely related topics. Congratulations Minghui!

April 30, 2012: Dr. Amir Khan and David Miller featured in CLEO press release

Dr. Amir Khan, postdoctoral researcher and David Miller, 4th year Ph.D. student, were featured in a CLEO press release "Portable Gas Sensors Improve Atmospheric Pollution Measurements" highlighting their work on compact, low-power, open-path, portable trace gas sensors for robotic helicopters and operation under various field environments. This work will be presented at the CLEO 2012 conference in San Jose, California. Click here to view the press release. Congratulations Amir and David!

April 27, 2012: The Second MIRTHE SLIP Field Deployment Completed

David Miller, 4th year Ph.D. student, led the second field deployment of the MIRTHE SLIP project in collaboration with the Maryland Department of Environment at the Howard University-Beltsville atmospheric monitoring site. David is an investigator with a consortium of MIRTHE student and post-doc researchers who performed a suite of measurements relevant to the nitrogen, carbon, and water cycles at this site.

December 5, 2011: Garnet Abrams featured in PEI Article on AGU Talk

Garnet Abrams, an undergraduate student conducting research on the tropical distribution of relative humidity, was featured in an article on the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) website on her recent successful AGU Fall Meeting talk. Garnet, who participated in the HIPPO field campaign during the summer 2010, used chemical tracers to help understand the bimodality of tropical humidity. Click here to view the article. Congratulations, Garnet!

November 2, 2011: The First MIRTHE SLIP Field Deployment Completed

David Miller, 4th year Ph.D. student, led the first field deployment of the MIRTHE SLIP project as part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study. David is an investigator with a consortium of MIRTHE student and post-doc researchers who performed a suite of measurements relevant to the nitrogen, carbon, and water cycles at a field site on the UMBC campus. The second phase will occur in spring 2011.

October 4, 2011: Minghui Diao selected for PECS

Minghui Diao, 4th year Ph.D. student, was selected as one of six graduate students to join the Princeton Energy and Climate Scholars (PECS) this fall. PECS, now entering its fourth year, includes graduate students seeking Ph.D.'s from a wide range of departments across Princeton. As a PECS fellow, she receives funds for her research, conference travel, and helps to organize a symposium on campus.

September 19, 2011: Garnet Abrams awarded AGU Student Grant

Garnet Abrams, an undergraduate student conducting research on the water vapor measurements from the HIPPO field campaign, was awarded a Student Travel Grant to give a talk on the distribution of water vapor at the Fall AGU Meeting. Less than 0.5% of all oral presentations are given by undergraduate students at AGU. Congratulations, Garnet!

September 1, 2011: Ph.D. student Minghui Diao flies to Antarctica

Minghui flew from Christchurch, New Zealand, to inside the Antarctic Circle and back on the NSF Gulfstream-V research aircraft to study ice supersaturation in the polar wintertime. She was one of eight scientists onboard the aircraft as part of the fifth and final deployment of the NSF HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations field experiment.

August 19, 2011: Garnet Abrams flies to near North Pole

Garnet, a summer undergraduate and current senior thesis student, flew onboard the NSF Gulfstream-V research aircraft to analyze ice supersaturation over the Arctic. She was one of eight scientists who flew from Anchorage, Alaska, to 85 degrees North and back, porpoising from the stratosphere to 500 feet above the broken sea ice. She was part of the fifth and final deployment of the NSF HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations field experiment.

June 16, 2011: David Miller to lead MIRTHE research project on carbon, nitrogen, and water cycling in collaboration with Baltimore Ecosystem Study

David Miller will lead a team of five student investigators awarded the MIRTHE Student-Led Independent Project grant entitled, "A Multi-Sensor Field Deployment for Assessing Anthropogenic Influences on Carbon, Nitrogen, and Water Cycling" in collaboration with the Baltimore Ecosystem Study. Joining David from the Zondlo group will be third year Ph.D. student Kang Sun, Dr. Lei Tao and Dr. Amir Khan. The team will explore the air-surface exchange of a comprehensive suite of trace gases with Zondlo group measurements of ammonia, nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide in collaboration with water vapor isotopologue and nitric oxide measurements from Professors Smith, Wysocki, and Gmachl research groups.

May 31, 2011: Emma Bedard receives Michelle Goudie Senior Thesis Award

Emma Bedard, a senior undergraduate in Chemical and Biological Engineering, has been awarded the Michelle Goudie '93 Senior Thesis Award in Energy and Environment. Congratulations, Emma!

April 11, 2011: Minghui Diao receives outstanding student paper award from AGU

Minghui Diao, a third year Ph.D. student, has been selected to receive the Outstanding Student Paper Award by the Atmospheric Sciences section of the American Geophysical Union for her presentation entitled "Ice Supersaturated Regions Formed by the Inhomogeneities of Water Vapor Field in the Upper Troposphere in START08 and HIPPO Global Campaigns" at the 2010 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco. Her presentation was recognized as among the best of a strong group of student presenters. Congratulations, Minghui!

December 1, 2010: David Miller becomes MIRTHE SLC Co-President

David Miller, a third year Ph.D. student, has become MIRTHE SLC Co-president. MIRTHE SLC officers represent the interests of students and post-docs in the MIRTHE engineering research center.

August 6, 2010: MIRTHE-NSF High School Student Caitlyn Puzio wins best poster at 2010 MIRTHE Workshop

Caitlyn Puzio, a high school student working in our group during July 2010 was awarded one of the best poster awards at the MIRTHE Summer Workshop in Houston, TX. Her poster was entitled "Quantum Cascade Lasers for Trace Gas Detection of Atmospheric Ammonia." Congratulations, Caitlyn!

July 15, 2010: VCSEL Hygrometer featured in School of Engineering Video "Earth's Last Frontier: The Atmosphere"

A video narrated by Professor Zondlo and featuring Minghui Diao on the VCSEL Hygrometer's measurements in the Hiaper Pole to Pole Observations (HIPPO) campaign appeared on the Princeton University homepage. Click here to view the feature story and here to watch the video.

June 18, 2010: David Miller becomes MIRTHE SLC Secretary

David Miller, a rising second year Ph.D. student, has been elected as MIRTHE SLC Secretary for the 2010-2011 academic year. MIRTHE SLC officers represent the interests of students and post-docs in the MIRTHE engineering research center.

July 31, 2009: Minghui Diao awarded best student presentation at AGU 2009 Joint Assembly

Minghui Diao, a rising second year Ph.D. student, has been awarded "best student presentation" by the Atmospheric Sciences Section of the American Geophysical Union at the AGU 2009 Joint Assembly in Toronto, Canada. Minghui's talk was entitled, "In-situ measurements of ice supersaturations in the upper troposphere in START08 campaign". Congratulations, Minghui!

June 1, 2009: Minghui Diao awarded NASA fellowship

Minghui Diao, a first year Ph.D. student, has been awarded a NASA Earth Systems Science Graduate Fellowship. Minghui will be examining the climatologies of ice supersaturated regions in and near the tropopause and the distribution of water vapor in the tropical troposphere. She also will be involved in calibrations, quality control, and field support of the NSF G-V VCSEL hygrometer. Congratulations, Minghui!

February 4, 2009: First detailed, global snapshot of water vapor

An article in Princeton's Engineering Quadrangle blog highlights our recent water vapor measurements from the surface to the stratosphere ranging from the Arctic to the Antarctic during recently completed HIPPO #1 field campaign. This was the most detailed examination of the vertical and meriodional distribution of water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere.

January 29, 2009: NSF Press Release on HIPPO Global field experiment

The Zondlo group is participating in the most comprehensive survey of water vapor and other greenhouse gases from nearly pole to pole and from the Earth's surface to the lower stratosphere. A press release from the National Science Foundation on the HIPPO Global campaign as well as other media articles from Scientific American and Reuters are included in the italicized links.

September 1, 2008: David Miller awarded NSF fellowship

David Miller, a first year Ph.D. student, has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. David will be developing a quantum cascade laser-based sensor for tropospheric ammonia measurements and deploying this instrument to better understand aerosol particle physics and chemistry. Congratulations, David!

July 14, 2008: REU student David Tersegno on Princeton's homepage

David Tersegno, a 2008 student in MIRTHE's summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, was highlighted in an article on Princeton University's homepage for his work with atmospheric laser hygrometry.

July 2007: REU student Michael Curry first undergraduate researcher onboard NSF G-V research aircraft

Michael D. Curry, a rising junior at St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, became the first undergraduate student to conduct research onboard the National Science Foundation's new Gulfstream-V research aircraft. See the detailed press release.

December 2006: REU student Katherine Brubaker presents at Fall AGU meeting

Katherine Brubaker, a rising senior at St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, presented the results of her summer NSF REU research at the Fall American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, California. AGU estimates that less than 1% of all presentations are given by undergraduate students.