Welcome to the Pratt Lab blog! Dr. Kerri Pratt is an assistant professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Earth & Environmental Sciences and faculty associate of the Program in the Environment at the University of Michigan. We study the chemical interactions of atmospheric trace gases, particles, clouds, and snow, with a focus on the Polar Regions and wintertime environments. Our interdisciplinary research has relevance to climate change, air quality, and human health. As an analytical chemistry lab, we primarily apply novel mass spectrometry techniques to our field research. We invite you to follow our adventures in (and outside!) the lab!

Monday, November 24, 2014

Congrats to PhD student Nate May!

Congratulations to Chemistry Ph.D. student Nate May for passing his candidacy exam!

Saturday, November 15, 2014

New Fall Group Photo!

Front row (left to right):
Zhuoyu Peng (senior, Chemistry & Program in the Environment)
Rachel Kirpes (fall graduate rotation student, Chemistry)
Jennifer Berry (senior, Chemistry & Program in the Environment)
Natalie Cleaveland (fall graduate rotation student, Chemistry)
Olivia Sieggreen (fall graduate rotation student, Chemistry)

Back row (left to right):
Nate May (2nd year Ph.D. student, Chemistry)
Eric Boone (2nd year M.S. student, Chemistry)
Prof. Kerri Pratt
Matt Gunsch (3rd year Ph.D. student, Chemistry)
Stephen McNamara (fall graduate rotation student, Chemistry)
Garrett Welshofer (fall graduate rotation student, Chemistry)
Evan Schwartz (senior, Biochemistry)

Monday, November 3, 2014

Matt attends AAAR 2014 Conference

I (Matt Gunsch) recently attended the 33rd Annual American Association for Aerosol Research Conference in Orlando, Florida to present a poster on my research. The poster focused on results from our July 2014 field campaign to the University of Michigan Biological Station, where I focused on detecting and characterizing single aerosol particles using the ATOFMS. During this field campaign, we were able to characterize the influence of long range transported particles on the remote region where we were stationed. We are currently preparing a manuscript on this research as well.  This was my first national conference attended in graduate school, and it was a great experience to interact with so many other research groups within the field. I also can't complain about the location of the conference, which allowed me to escape to Florida from the cold Fall of Michigan!

I was also a student assistant for the duration of the conference, which allowed me to get a better understanding on what it takes for a conference to run. A benefit of being a student assistant was that we were allowed to attend tutorial sessions for free. It also allowed me to talk with the presenters of the sessions I was helping out with, which was a nice bonus. I'd recommend that when given the chance graduate students offer to be a student assistant so they are more integrated with the conference than they would be otherwise.