Please join us for a Research Seminar with Dr. Harish Phuleria, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, titled "Vehicular air pollution in urban areas in India: Emissions, exposure and toxicity assessment."

Date: Thursday, September 19, 2024

Time: 10:00 am - 11:00 am

Location: Hybrid; CE-CERT RM 105 or Zoom (https://ucr.zoom.us/j/97816409856 Meeting ID: 978 1640 9856 )

Abstract: Exposure to air pollutants and the toxicants therein has been linked with increased risk of cardio- respiratory diseases, metabolic syndrome and neurological diseases, which contributes to immense suffering, healthcare cost and premature deaths. Currently, many urban areas in India are facing high levels of air pollution, primarily emanating from vehicular sources. Residents/commuters in rapidly developing and densely populated countries like India, in particular, traveling long distances and spending several hours in commute likely be at high risk to such exposures. However, there is a general lack of studies quantifying the relevant exposures and estimating health risks in such countries. Through our current research work we are aiming to estimate the exposure to traffic-related air pollutants and the associated risks to commuters and residents living near major roads in Mumbai. A few results from our recent studies in Mumbai examining particulate matter concentrations and chemical and toxicological characteristics near roads, exposures during multi-modal commute, and exhaust emissions from real-world on-road vehicular fleet will be presented along with a discussion on their implications.

Bio: Dr. Harish C. Phuleria is an Associate Professor in Environmental Science and Engineering Department at IIT Bombay where he spends about equal time in teaching and research. Before moving back to IIT Bombay, he worked at Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, and University of Basel, Switzerland. His primary research is directed at quantifying and characterizing the short- and long-term exposures to different environmental stressors such as air pollution and road traffic noise. His specific interest lies in characterizing new exposures e.g. to ultrafine particles, to brown and black carbon and to chemical constituents in aerosols, particularly of traffic origin. Dr. Phuleria has received BSc and MSc in Chemistry from University of Delhi and IIT Delhi, respectively, MTech in Environmental Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay and PhD in Environmental Engineering from USC, Los Angeles, CA.

His recent work in India is to develop emissions factors from residential biomass cookstoves, clay-fired brick kilns, and open-field agricultural biomass burning as well as vehicular exhaust and non-exhaust emissions from real- world traffic fleet in India. Other studies include assessing urban commute exposure in multiple transportation modes, examining dust and diesel exhaust exposures in opencast coal mines, monitoring and modeling air pollution exposure in urban metropolitan cities, assessing oxidative potential of particulate matter in multiple microenvironments and quantifying toxic heavy metals in human tissues. His most recent work involves measuring and modeling the long-term outdoor air pollution exposures in children and examine its association with their lung function growth in multiple cities across India.