2017-09-13 Chemistry in indoor air and the role of human occupants
Seminar by Charles Weschler
Date: 13th of September
Time: 10:00 -11:00
Place: room 304, IKDC, Sölvegatan 26, Lund
Chemistry in indoor air and the role of human occupants
Although the same laws of chemistry apply in all environments, the reactions that dominate indoors differ from those that dominate outdoors. The factors impacting this difference include less direct sunlight, no rain, smaller diurnal temperature fluctuations, larger surface-to-volume ratios, and higher concentrations of most organic compounds. Using old and new examples, this talk will review chemical transformations known to occur in indoor air and on indoor surfaces, and the implications of this chemistry for human occupants.
Watch the recorded seminar below.
About Charles J. Weschler
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers University
International Center for Indoor Environment and Energy, Technical University of Denmark
Professor Charles J. Weschler earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago and did Postdoctoral research at Northwestern University before joining Bell Laboratories. After 25 years at Bell Labs and its successor institutions, he accepted positions at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) at Rutgers University and the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Technical University of Denmark. For the past eight years he has also been a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University. His research interests include chemicals present in indoor air, their sources and their fate; human exposure to these pollutants, including via the dermal pathway; chemical reactions among indoor pollutants with an emphasis on ozone-initiated chemistry; and redistribution of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in indoors settings. Prof. Weschler has served on four National Academy of Sciences’ committees and, from 1999-2005, was a member of the US EPA’s Science Advisory Board. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers and has an h-index of 53 (Web of Science). He is an elected member of the International Academy of Indoor Air Sciences and has received the Pettenkofer Award, its highest honor.