Brown University and Tougaloo College install air quality monitoring station in Jackson
JANS – In an environmental-focused research project Brown University’s Community Noise Lab (CNL) and Tougaloo College have officially installed a high-tech air quality monitoring station on Tougaloo’s campus. This move marks a critical step in addressing “data deserts” in Greater Jackson, where environmental monitoring has historically been sparse or inaccessible to concerned residents. The installation comes at a pivotal time. Recent reports from the American Lung Association have highlighted worsening ozone levels in the Jackson metro area. Furthermore, CNL has been investigating the cumulative health impacts of environmental emissions on the state’s youth through the Mississippi and Alabama Adolescent Environmental Health Study (MAEHS).
BUILDING ON THREE YEARS OF DATA
For the past three years, the Community Noise Lab (CNL), led by Mississippi native Dr. Erica Walker, has been tracking real-time air and noise quality across Mississippi and Alabama. This latest installation in Jackson scales up that mission, moving beyond temporary sensors to a permanent community fixture. The station at Tougaloo College will measure key air quality parameters including: meteorological conditions, PM 2.5, Ground-level Ozone, VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), and community noise. Data will be collected in minute, hourly, and daily concentrations. Community Noise Lab feels that this location is ideal as it is the center of activity ranging from a data center to highway traffic.
While the technology is cutting-edge, the collaboration is grounded in the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership, established in 1964. By involving Tougaloo students and faculty in the data collection, the project ensures that the scientists analyzing and reporting on Jackson’s air and noise quality are the same people who breathe it.
“We aren’t just dropping sensors and leaving,” says Dr. Walker. “We are establishing ground truth and training the next generation of Mississippi-based scholars to use this data to advocate for better environmental quality in their own communities.”
Tougaloo College students will work on various aspects of the project, including maintaining these real-time sensors, collecting data, analyzing data, and creating and releasing quarterly community reports. In addition to overseeing the long-term measurements, students are actively collecting short-term measurements of air quality, light pollution, and noise pollution at select sites across Greater Jackson. The overall plan is to construct a series of metrics that can be linked to health outcomes in Community Noise Lab’s adolescent health study.
“Becoming a part of the noise lab means more than just having an internship. It means being able to help provide clarity to questions about environmental safety in the community and doing the work to discover the unknown happening right around us,” says Chloe Grizzell, a senior Biology major at Tougaloo College.
From childhood obesity to school performance, we are interested in understanding if, how, and to what extent, our environment impacts Mississippi’s youth,” says Dr. Walker. “This is a critical first step towards that goal.
If you are interested in learning more about Community Noise Lab’s work; are interested in hosting an air quality station in your community; or would like to participate in the Mississippi Adolescent and Environmental Health Study, please email Dr. Walker at erica_walker@brown.edu or Dr. Cristina Nica at cristina_nica@brown.edu.
