Impact

Monitoring air pollution helps to assess the quality of the air we are breathing in. The pollutants in the air can harm the respiratory system, cardiovascular system and the nervous system in humans. Furthermore, it can affect the plant and animal life all around. UMass Amherst is a model system: the inside of the campus has a burgeoning population of students and hence cars posing as a risk to the air quality, whereas the outside of the campus is richly populated with trees. This study can not only give us a sense of whether the student lives are being affected by air pollution on campus, but also helps us create a protocol that could be replicated elsewhere to assess the air quality in a simpler way.