Expertise

Topics:  Air Quality, Aerosols, Regional Air Quality Modeling, Aerosol Effects on Climate, Atmospheric Particulate Matter, Atmospheric Chemistry

Industries: Chemicals, Public Policy, Education/Learning, Research

Peter Adams is the Thomas Lord Professor of Engineering, Department Head and Professor in the Department of Engineering & Public Policy and Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. His research largely focuses on the development of chemical transport models and their application to decision-making, especially related to PM2.5. Adams also has extensive expertise in the simulation of aerosol microphysical processes, ultrafine particles and the formation of cloud condensation nuclei in global climate models. Areas of research have also included the effects of climate change on air quality, short-lived climate forcers, atmospheric ammonia and particulate matter formation from livestock operations, and the simulation organic particulate matter.

Adams was selected for a Fulbright grant to collaborate with researchers at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate in Bologna, has been a Visiting Senior Research Scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and received the Sheldon K. Friedlander Award for outstanding doctoral thesis from the American Association for Aerosol Research. He has previously served on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee and the Allegheny County Health Department’s Air Toxics New Guidelines Proposal Committee as well as service to the American Association for Aerosol Research. His research is supported primarily by the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense.

Adams received his BS degree in Chemical Engineering, summa cum laude, from Cornell University. He was awarded a Hertz Foundation Applied Science Fellowship for graduate study and received MS and PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. He also holds an associated faculty position in the Chemical Engineering department at Carnegie Mellon.

Media Experience

EPA assembles experts to probe benefits of air rules  — E&E News
In an email, Peter Adams, another member of the newly announced panel, on Monday called BenMAP “the de facto standard for assessing health outcomes from air pollution exposures and also how we value those in economic terms.”

Why Is Ground Level Ozone Bad, But Stratospheric Ozone Is Good?  — 90.5 WESA
Carnegie Mellon University environmental engineering professor Peter Adams said ozone formation is one of the more complicated topics in atmospheric chemistry. “You need something called volatile organic compounds, which you can think of gasoline vapors and other things like that. You need nitrogen oxides which comes from vehicles and power plants,” Adams said. “You need it to be sunny, and generally you need warmer temperatures.”

Dirty Air From Global Trade Kills at Home, Abroad, Study Contends  — VOA
Production is likely to remain concentrated in Asia, however, and it will have to be up to those countries to better regulate their own industrial emissions, said Peter Adams, an engineering professor and air pollution expert at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who wasn't part of the study. "Relying on consumer altruism," he said, won't be enough.

AP analysis: Dozens of deaths likely from VW pollution dodge  — AP News
“Statistically, we can’t point out who died because of this policy, but some people have died or likely died as a result of this,” said Carnegie Mellon environmental engineer professor Peter Adams. He calculates the cost of air pollution with a sophisticated computer model that he and the AP used in its analysis.

Peter Adams Named Head of Carnegie Mellon’s Engineering and Public Policy Department  — CMU Portugal
Peter Adams, a Carnegie Mellon University professor, and researcher has been appointed the head of the Department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP). He has held the title of interim head of EPP since August 1, 2019, and will immediately transition to department head.