Title: Air Quality and Environmental Justice in Salt Lake County: lessons learned from researching local pollution through NASA and the University of Utah
Presenter: Piper Christian
Date: June 23, 2023
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Climate Changes Health and Health Equity Lecture: Air Quality and Environmental Justice in Salt Lake County: lessons learned from researching local pollution through NASA and the University of Utah with Piper Christian. The virtual lecture will be held over Zoom on June 23rd at 11am. Piper will be discussing her research on the shrinking Great Salt Lake, dust vulnerability and potential impacts to the surrounding Salt Lake region. She will also share her research on indoor air quality in the west side of Salt Lake City.

Piper Christian (she/her) graduated from the University of Utah in 2022, earning a BS in Environmental and Sustainability Studies with an emphasis in Air, Water, and Health. In 2022, Piper served as the Project Lead for a team of NASA researchers, where she studied how dust from the drying Great Salt Lake would exacerbate existing pollution inequities within Utah. Her research in college focused on how key stakeholders can better support Utah families with asthmatic children who are impacted by air pollution. From 2022-2023, she worked for the SPARC Environmental Justice Lab at the University of Utah, where she served as the liaison between students and community partners for Environmental Justice research relating to air quality. Through these partnerships, she helped provide fifty low-cost air purifiers to community members, helped oversee an air filter exchange program, and conducted air quality lessons at local schools.