Frossard receives NSF CAREER Award

Amanda Frossard, assistant professor in the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of chemistry, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) to study the physical and chemical properties of surfactants in atmospheric aerosol particles.

The five-year, CAREER grants, among the most prestigious awarded by the NSF, support early-career faculty who exhibit promise as both researchers and teachers, and whose work has the potential to advance their field and their institution.

Frossard’s research works to understand how the chemical composition of aerosol particles influences their properties in the atmosphere and their effects on clouds and air quality.

Frossard and her group will do field collections and laboratory experiments using high resolution chemical and physical analyses to assess the influence of surfactant molecular composition and associated properties on the hygroscopic growth of atmospheric particles. Hygroscopic growth can alter particle size and physical properties, both of which are important determinants in the influence of aerosol particles on visibility and cloud properties.

“We will do two field studies at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, a winter and a summer trip, to collect online measurements and samples of particles there,” said Frossard. “We know aerosol particles can grow into cloud droplets, and recent work has shown that surfactants can affect this growth. Our main goal is to figure out what surfactants there are, where those surfactants are coming from and what their properties are. These measurements can be used to better inform models of particle activation into cloud droplets.”

Continue reading...