2015 Karle Symposium

On Friday, August 7th, the University of Michigan Chemistry Department hosted the Karle Symposium, a student organized research symposium showcasing the work of students in the department. Pratt Lab graduate students Matt Gunsch, Nate May, Garrett Welshofer, Stephen McNamara, myself (Rachel Kirpes) and summer rotation student Ryan Cook all presented posters. It was a wonderful opportunity to interact with faculty, postdocs, and other students from the department and share our research. Each student presentation was evaluated by two judges, and Matt's poster, "Construction and Deployment of an Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer" and my poster, "Atmospheric Particle Mixing States in the Arctic during the Winter-Spring Transition" were both selected to receive travel awards (thank you to Dow for sponsoring!). I am excited to use this award for conference travel to present my research in the future.

Gordon Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry

Yesterday, Prof. Pratt gave an invited talk titled "Halogen Chemistry in the Arctic: Roles of the Snowpack and Atmospheric Aerosols" at the Gordon Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry in Waterville Valley, NH.

Impromptu Lake Michigan Field Study

What do you do when you're sitting in your office at the end of a summer day and you hear there's 7 foot waves projected over Lake Michigan for the next day? If you're interested in the production of particles from wave breaking processes over the Great lakes like we are in the Pratt and Ault Labs, you grab your camping gear and whatever scientific instruments you can carry, and drive to the coast with only a few hours notice. Arriving at Van Buren State Park campground along the Lake Michigan coast a bit before midnight, Ault Lab summer graduate rotation student Isabel Colon-Bernal and I, Pratt Lab member Nate May, quickly set up our tents and aerosol sampling instruments in a protective case by car headlight and laid down for some needed rest. 

Campsite location with aerosol sampling instrument case on the bottom right.

After rains overnight and through the morning dampened our tents (and the mood), the sun shone all day. The sandy beach, dunes, and rolling waves over the lake provided a picturesque location to do science. Using portable battery packs, the aerosol sampling instruments were set up on the beach for the day, only a few meters away from the breaking waves.

High winds and waves were constant on Lake Michigan throughout the day.

Crashing waves on Lake Michigan made it almost seem like the ocean.

The aerosol sampling instrument case had a prime location on the beach during the first day of the study. 

As we packed up the instruments from the beach to bring them back to the campsite to sample overnight the effects of smoke Canadian wildfires were apparent as the sun set with brilliant color.

Sunset over Lake Michigan after a productive day of science on the beach.

Before we packed up the next afternoon to drive back to Ann Arbor, we went back to the lake to test the water quality and collect a water sample. The water sample will be used in the lab to generate aerosols that we will compare to the particles observed during this study. Surprisingly, there were hardly any waves when we sampled, a huge change in less than a day! Although it was a bit sad to leave the beach and head back to the lab, we are excited to start our analysis to see how the differences in wave conditions over Lake Michigan affects the particle composition.

The same location on Lake Michigan the day after the high wave event.

Welcome Ryan!

Welcome Ryan Cook!  Ryan is an incoming Chemistry PhD student who is completing a summer research rotation in the Pratt lab!  Ryan recently graduated from Appalachian State University and was awarded a Rackham Merit Fellowship at the University of Michigan for graduate school.  We are excited to have you in the lab this summer!

Cloud processing paper published in ES&T!

Congratulations to graduate student Eric Boone!  His first-author paper titled "Aqueous Processing of Atmospheric Organic Particles in Cloud Water Collected via Aircraft Sampling" was published in Environmental Science and Technology.  Thank you to co-authors Alex Laskin and Julia Laskin at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for assistance with nano-DESI-MS and ESI-MS analysis.  Thank you also to Chris Wirth, Brian Stirm, and Paul Shepson for aircraft sampling assistance.

Welcome Mark and Alexa!

Welcome Mark Hartwig and Alexa Watson to the Pratt lab for summer research!  Mark is a rising senior undergraduate chemistry major, and Alexa is a rising sophomore undergraduate biochemistry major.  Both were awarded Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships from the University of Michigan Department of Chemistry.  We are excited to have you in the lab!

Congratulations to Jenny & Zhuoyu!

Jenny graduated this week with B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Program in the Environment, and Zhuoyu received a B.S. degree in Chemistry through the Honors Program!  Starting this fall, Jenny will be pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder, and Zhuoyu will be pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Washington!  Good luck Jenny and Zhuoyu!!

Prof. Kerri Pratt & Jennifer Berry