Dordt engineering faculty member investigates meteorological effects on air pollution transport in India

Dordt University Assistant Professor of Engineering Dr. Jonathan Gingrich and engineering and computer science double major David Lukens are spending the summer investigating meteorological effects on air pollution transport in India.

The research is a continuation of Gingrich’s Ph.D. dissertation; Gingrich received a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2022.

Air pollution is the largest environmental risk for mortality worldwide, killing about 7 million people a year. The major cause of death related to air pollution is heart disease. “We breathe particulate matters from air pollution into our lungs, and they get absorbed in the bloodstream, which, over a long period of exposure, can increase the risk of developing heart disease,” says Gingrich.

India has some of the worst air pollution in the world. While working on his dissertation Gingrich collaborated with the India Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi and was able to go to southern India, where he set up a network of low-cost monitors to help determine the origin of the air pollution. He and other researchers soon noticed that entire regions – not just emissions from cities – could be the cause of pollution. Factories, cars, and natural sources like dust storms could be culprits, but Gingrich and his fellow researchers also noticed that burning agriculture plots and firewood also might have an impact.

Continuing his research, Gingrich examines satellite data collected by IIT that give an estimate of the particulate matter concentrations. “They’ve developed a product that estimates daily particulate matter concentrations for 1 kilometer by 1 kilometer squares for all of India. We’re combining that data with a model that tracks air pockets as they move by wind to Delhi, our city of interest.”

This summer, Gingrich and Lukens hope to answer the questions, “Is there a correlation between the rural areas from where the air pockets originate, and Delhi, based on wind direction and location? How much of an effect, then, do rural areas have on urban areas for air pollution?”

To help answer these questions, Lukens is assisting with the computer modeling. “David is a gifted computer scientist, and he is also developing the skills to contextualize the data findings with what is happening on the ground in Delhi.”

Lukens, who plans to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical engineering with a focus on control systems, says that understanding the sources is important for knowing how to reduce pollution. “It’s important to know if changes need to be made on the city or region level, or both,” he says. “This project requires data analysis, which I enjoy.”

With recent air pollution issues in places like New York City and Los Angeles making national news as well as wildfire smoke becoming a common occurrence in the summertime, people are beginning to recognize that air pollution isn’t a faraway issue. “We’ve done a lot of work here in the United States to improve air pollution,” adds Gingrich. “But pollution doesn’t happen in a vacuum; there’s still more we can understand so we can help prevent its harmful effects.”

About Dordt University

As an institution of higher education committed to the Reformed Christian perspective, Dordt University equips students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community to work toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life. Located in Sioux Center, Iowa, Dordt is a comprehensive university named to the best college lists by U.S. News and World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Times Higher Education, Forbes.com, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review.