Community Air Research Experience (CARE): Engaging Undergraduate Students in Research on Air Pollution in Chicago Communities using PurpleAir Sensors

The Community Air Research Experience (CARE) is a geoscience learning community that engages undergraduate students in research on air pollution in Chicago neighborhoods that differ in socioeconomic demographics and proximity to industrial facilities. It is funded by NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Pathways into the Earth, Ocean, Polar and Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences (IUSE: GEOPAths). Launched in August 2021, CARE is a collaboration between Loyola University Chicago’s School of Environmental Sustainability and Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science. We work closely with two community-based environmental organizations: the Southeast Environmental Task Force and the Edgewater Environmental Coalition. CARE has recruited two cohorts of undergraduates from Loyola University Chicago for a yearlong research experience that includes 10 orientation sessions during the spring semester, a one-month full-time summer research intensive, and results dissemination to scientific and community audiences during the fall semester. Our 2022 and 2023 cohorts include 16 students with a suite of identities that have historically been excluded from the earth and environmental sciences. CARE students collaborate with scientists and the community-based organizations to design and carry out research that addresses community concerns about air pollution using low-cost PurpleAir sensors that measure fine particle pollution. CARE provides students with authentic research experience and helps build local capacity to monitor air pollution by installing 18 PurpleAir sensors in Chicago communities and providing access to the instruments, training materials, and other tools. We describe both benefits and challenges experienced in the CARE project as we have worked to collect and analyze data of sufficient quality to contribute to community discussions about how to reduce air pollution and better protect public health.