The diverse challenges facing air quality in Wisconsin will be explored at a free public lecture at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
David Snyder, assistant professor of chemistry, will present “Acid Rain to Wood Smoke: Air Quality Challenges in Wisconsin” on Thursday, March 14, at 7 p.m. in the Pinery Room of the Portage County Library, 1001 Main Street, Stevens Point. A question and answer segment follows the lecture.
“The use of wood as a primary fuel for residential heating is growing rapidly in the upper Midwest. Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota are currently the fastest growing markets for outdoor wood boilers, and emissions from wood-burning appliances are largely unregulated,” said Snyder. “Because there are significant concerns regarding the potential impacts of wood smoke on public health, there is a great deal of interest regarding these emissions.”
Snyder and his research students recently completed a non-regulatory study of the impact of residential wood smoke on air quality in Grand Rapids. The project, funded by the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, gave four undergraduate student hands-on experience in the field and in the laboratory. Project partners included the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service.
Snyder teaches fundamental chemistry and quantitative analysis courses at UW-Stevens Point and his research has been selected for publication by a number of scientific journals. He earned a doctorate in environmental chemistry and technology at UW-Madison.
This presentation is the sixth of the eight-part College of Letters and Science 2012-13 Community Lecture Series. The entire schedule and previously recorded videos may be viewed at www.uwsp.edu/cols/lectureseries.
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