Public Discussion: Policies on Climate and Environment

with Colorado Senator Ray Scott (R - Grand Junction)

* Co-Hosted with the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization . Seating may be limited for this event.

Senator Ray Scott represents Colorado Senate District 7 in Mesa County.

Update on OFR185 Characterization of the Aerodyne Potential Aerosol Mass Chamber by Jake Rowe,
ANYL 1st year student, CU Boulder

"One disadvantage of conventional Oxidation Flow Reactors (OFRs) is the difficulty in achieving controlled, shorter (<1 day) oxidative aging processes that are also relevant to atmospheric SOA formation processes. To investigate this issue, this study characterizes two alternative mercury lamp configurations designed to attenuate 185 and/or 254 nm irradiance relative to standard low-pressure UVC mercury lamps used in the Aerodyne Potential Aerosol Mass (PAM) OFR. In the first configuration, the irradiance at 185 and 254 nm was attenuated by applying segments of Viton heat shrink tubing along standard UVC lamps. In another configuration, the 185 nm lamp output was attenuated relative to the 254 nm output by splicing segments of lamp glass that transmit either 185 and 254 nm or only 254 nm radiation. OH exposures attained by photolysis of O2/O3/H2O with these lamps were calculated from the reactive loss of CO and SO2 input to the reactor and measured under steady-state conditions as a function of photon flux and [H2O]. At a midrange relative humidity ~ 50% and τ ~ 2 min, the attainable lower-range photochemical age decreased from ~4-5 to ~0.3-0.4 days of equivalent atmospheric exposure. Thus, the combined usage of attenuated and standard UVC mercury lamps -- as demonstrated here with the PAM OFR -- significantly extends the range of attainable photochemical aging timescales in OFRs with no additional modification of OFR conditions."

and

Identification and Characterization of a Red Blood Cell Stabilizer by Anna Ziola,
ANYL 1st year student, CU Boulder

"When creating controls for hematology instruments, the volume of red blood cells (RBCs) must be held constant. Each component in control samples must retain its respective volume throughout the shelf life since the size of the cells is one method of blood component characterization in hematology instruments. The plant extract mixture currently used to stabilize the volume of RBCs is losing its effectiveness, requiring hospitals to purchase and replace these controls more often to ensure accurate patient hematology reports. To identify the active ingredient responsible for RBC stabilization in the plant extract, we used high performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis, the Sysmex XN-20 and Sysmex XE-5000 to identify and characterize the active ingredient originally responsible for stabilizing the volume of RBCs."

Public Discussion: Policies on Climate and Environment

with Colorado Senator Steve Fenberg (D - Boulder)

*Co-Hosted with the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization. Seating may be limited for this event.

Senator Steve Fenberg represents Colorado Senate District 18 in Boulder County. Before entering the Senate, Steve served for a decade as the founding Executive Director for New Era Colorado, the largest state-based young voter mobilization organization in the country. Under Steve’s leadership, New Era Colorado registered hundreds of thousands of young people to vote, helping shape Colorado’s current political landscape.

Steve has served on several committees and boards while in the Senate, including the State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee, the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee, the Governor’s Council on Blockchain Technology, and the Bipartisan Election Advisory Committee.
 

Do you ever sit on a hiring committee or have input into hiring decisions? Please join CU Talent Acquisition specialists for a special 90-minute workshop 10/18 at 10a, David Skaggs Research Center, Room GC402.

Today, geosciences are the least diverse of all the STEM disciplines. Get resources and help to improve the diversity of your hires, from the time you draft the job ad through the final offer.

Sessions will be offered at other CIRES locations later in the year. Contact Susan Sullivan (susan.sullivan@colorado.edu) for questions, and see the CU D&I Search and Hire website for more information.

Presenters:
Teresa Hernandez, Diversity Search and Outreach Program Manager
Casey Kipple, Principal Professional Recruiter
David Pacheco, Affirmative Action Officer

Ice Slabs, aquifers, and crevasses that shouldn’t exist: the rapidly-emerging hydrologic regimes of Greenland’s interior ice by Dr. Mike MacFerrin, Post-doctoral Research Associate, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado at Boulder

Increasing summer meltwater in Greenland, punctuated by the extreme melt summers of 2019 and 2012, is fundamentally altering the hydrology of the ice sheet’s high-elevation interior. In just the past 7 years, two previously-unknown meltwater regimes have been identified in Greenland that together are reshaping our understanding of the role that firn and snow plays in an ice sheets’ response to climate change.  Perennial firn aquifers store water year-round in regions of high snow accumulation, while low-permeability ice slabs form largely-impenetrable near-surface layers that inhibit water percolation and significantly enhance runoff in warm summers. These regimes were discovered only this decade, already cover nearly 10% of Greenland’s surface area combined, and are poised to dominate ever-larger regions of Greenland’s interior in a warming Arctic climate. Additionally, the recent appearances of thin crevasses in Greenland’s slow-moving interior ice raise pertinent questions about these meltwater regimes’ interplay with en-glacial and subglacial ice, which may already be affecting ice dynamics. Join Dr. MacFerrin for stories about these discoveries, future projections of them, and discussions about the rapidly-evolving and uncertain hydrologic future of Greenland’s interior ice.

Gas Phase Oxidation of Campholenic Aldehyde and Lactones as an Intermediate to SOA formation by William Dresser,
ANYL 1st year, CU Boulder

"This study investigated the oxidation of campholenic aldehyde(CA) and a series of lactone compounds and their derivatives using flow tube chemical ionization mass spectrometry (FT- CIMS) to try and understand the reaction mechanisms and identify potential intermediates between the gas and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) phase. Oxidation was induced with both hydroxide and chlorine radicals and proton transfer reaction (PTR) detection as well as Iodide detection were used in the spectra analysis. Oxidation pathways were determined for both studies at low pressures and product percentages were found for the major species. In the case of CA, the expected epoxide intermediate was identified at 5-20% abundance, which was the major intermediate of interest. The lactone pathways were used to predict the reactivity of a previously identified intermediate, hydroxymethyl-methyl-α-lactone (HMML), between isoprene and SOA."

and

Determination of the Active Agents in Commercial Pygeum Products Sold for the Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia by Daniel Katz,
ANYL 1st year, CU Boulder

"Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) or enlarged prostate is a common condition in older men and may be a precursor to prostate cancer. Dietary supplements made from the powdered bark of Prunus africana are marketed as pygeum to treat BPH, but they are only loosely regulated by the U.S. FDA. Commercial pygeum products were tested for N-butylbenzenesulfonamide (NBBSA), ferulic acid, atraric acid, atranorin, and β-sitosterol (BSST), components of pygeum that are thought to be effective in treating BPH. Two parallel liquid-solid extractions were conducted for each product. A direct extraction used acetone:hexane to extract NBBSA, atraric acid, and atranorin. The other extraction followed saponification that released ferulic acid and BSST from their natural esters and used dichloromethane solvent. After evaporation and reconstitution, the extracts were analyzed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The amount of ferulic acid, atraric acid, atranorin, and BSST varied widely among the products, but no NBBSA was detected in any product. The levels of each active compound found in the products can be used to evaluate their possible effectiveness for the treatment of BPH."

How Will The Fossil Fuel Era End?

by Antonia Juhasz, Investigative Journalist

Antonia Juhasz is a leading energy analyst, author, and investigative journalist specializing in oil. An award-winning writer, her articles appear in Rolling Stone, Harper’s Magazine, Newsweek, The Atlantic, CNN.com, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, The Advocate, Pacific Standard Magazine, and many more. Antonia is the author of three books: Black Tide (2011), The Tyranny of Oil (2008), and The Bush Agenda (2006).

Antonia is a 2019/2020 Ted Scripps Fellow at the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder where she is writing a book on the end of the fossil fuel era.  She is a 2017 Yale University Poynter Fellow in Journalism and a 2013 Investigative Journalism Fellow of the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University and a Bachelors Degree in Public Policy from Brown University. Antonia founded and runs the (Un)Covering Oil Investigative Reporting Program with fiscal sponsor, the Society of Environmental Journalists.