Clare Cannon, assistant professor of human ecology and a 2020 Public Scholarship Faculty Fellow, has received a $1.1 million grant from the University of California to address toxic air pollution in disadvantaged communities.

Cannon will partner with Distinguished Professor Tony Wexler, director of the UC Davis Air Quality Research Center. Wexler is developing low-cost monitoring instruments to measure toxic metals and toxic volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere. Other collaborators include Michael Méndez, assistant professor at UC Irvine, and Camila Alvarez, assistant professor at UC Merced.

The project will combine air quality monitoring with collaborative community approaches and educational outreach to solve problems for California’s most disadvantaged communities. The team will partner with community groups, such as Communities for a Better Environment (Los Angeles and San Francisco), to identify hazardous air pollutants in their communities and work with them on advocacy and policy analysis to improve air quality and health.

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The grant is one of the 21 projects funded by $16.4 million from UC’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI). Awarded every two years through a highly competitive application process, the MRPI program leverages the renowned research capabilities of the UC system to develop real world solutions to significant problems facing California and the world.