Air Quality Expert New Addition to Faculty

Air Quality Expert New Addition to Faculty

BY DAVID KAPLAN
Rice News Staff
Sept. 3, 1998

Early this summer, Matt Fraser, a newly appointed Rice professor, received
his doctoral diploma during graduation ceremonies at Cal Tech. It was a big
day in his life, but the previous day, June 11, was also memorable. He was a
guest on "Night-line." He fielded Ted Koppel’s questions about the
stifling Texas haze caused by fires in Mexico and Central America.

The interview went well, Fraser says, but it was a somewhat strange experience.
Inside the ABC-affiliate studio in Los Angeles, he sat in a dark room, facing
a camera. Fraser couldn’t see Koppel, only hear him out of an earplug.

For the next few days, Fraser received calls from old college friends he hadn’t
talked to in years and, he says, they were all sufficiently impressed.

Since his arrival at Rice in January, he has also been impressing his colleagues.
Fraser, an assistant professor of environmental science and engineering, is
Rice’s first air quality researcher.

"He is an absolutely superb addition to the department in that he brings
a whole new area of study–air pollution and air quality–into a program that
has traditionally been water and water quality," says Phil Bedient, professor
and chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering. Bedient
notes that in a very short period of time, Fraser has become engaged in monitoring
programs for the state, taking part in symposiums, and working with Mayor Lee
Brown on air quality issues.

Fraser says he studies air pollution because "it’s a very interesting
problem." When studying the May-June haze over Houston, for example, he
says the challenge was determining what part of the air pollution was transported
wood smoke and what was local emission. Fraser and his research team relied
on filters that sifted out atmospheric particles, which they then could analyze.

Fraser believes his research on the haze can be applied to broader environmental
issues. There are ongoing debates on whether Houston emissions affect Texas
cities such as Austin and Dallas. After this incident, it’s pretty evident that
they do," he says. This Mexican haze was transported hundreds and hundreds
of miles."

The California native is new to Houston but is already involved in several
regional air quality projects. Fraser is one of the researchers in a statewide
collaborative research effort sponsored by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission, the state agency that regulates air and water pollution.

Rice, he says, has been very supportive of his efforts to get involved with
state and local agencies. Colleagues put him in touch with former Rice professor
of sociology and current Houston mayor Lee Brown, who, in late June, convened
a regional air quality summit. Environmental Protection Agency head Carol Browner
gave the keynote address at the conference, and Fraser gave a well-attended
talk on smog formation.

He is also a member of two local air quality committees.

Fraser also co-authored the cover story in the April 15 issue of Environmental
Science & Technology, titled "Detection of Excess Ammonia Emissions
from In-Use Motor Vehicles and the Implications for Fine Particle Control."

Fraser is the first recipient of the Roy Campbell Faculty Development Award
from the George R. Brown School of Engineering. The award supports the development
of young engineering faculty in their research and teaching.