American Association for Aerosol Research - Abstract Submission

AAAR 38th Annual Conference
October 5 - October 9, 2020

Virtual Conference

Abstract View


Kanan Patel, PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin, Seeking Internship Opportunity at National Lab/Air Quality Consultancy/Regulatory Agency

KANAN PATEL, University of Texas at Austin

     Abstract Number: 592
     Working Group: Meet the Job Seekers

Abstract
My name is Kanan Patel and I am a third year PhD student in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. My research focuses on understanding factors influencing ambient particulate matter concentration and composition by taking ambient measurements using mass spectrometers and integrating the data with a suite of modelling tools including source apportionment models such as Positive Matrix Factorization, thermodynamic models such as E-AIM and back trajectory analysis using HYSPLIT to understand the influence of sources vs meteorology on ambient PM composition and concentration. I have participated in several field campaigns – indoors and outdoors, in different parts of the world – including Austin, TX and Delhi, India. I am going to lead a field campaign in the coming academic year in Eagle Ford Shale, TX, to investigate the effects of oil and gas activities on ambient air quality in the region.

My expertise in terms of instrumentation include – operation/calibration of aerosol chemical speciation monitor, scanning electrical mobility spectrometer and chemical ionization mass spectrometer. I am also adept in tools such as positive matrix factorization, principal component and advanced statistical analysis and software such as Igor Pro, matlab, R and Python. I have published my findings from the field campaign in Austin (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.0c00016) and I am working on the manuscript on my work in Delhi. In addition, I have co-authored several other papers. Further details about my research can be found on my website (https://sites.google.com/view/kanan-patel).

Prior to joining graduate school, I worked with Royal Dutch Shell in India and Singapore, in the oil movements and product quality domain, leading small to medium scale brown field projects in the division.

I am looking for internship opportunities with an air quality consultancy/national lab/regulatory agency which I believe would help be combine my expertise in the field of air quality with my experience in the industry.