Armin Sorooshian

Professor, Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Armin's research focuses on the effect of aerosol particles on the environment, clouds and rainfall, climate, and public health/welfare. Of all environmental threats, aerosol pollution is linked to the top cause of death globally. Furthermore, particles impact air quality, climate, and the hydrological cycle. In fact, modeling and predicting the complex interactions between aerosols and clouds is still one of the largest, if not the largest, uncertainty in simulating climate. As one of the most pressing issues we are facing on this planet, climate change is important for all regions of the world, especially coastal areas where sea level rising can lead to displacement of large populations. To improve our quantification of how future climate will change due to man-made emissions, understanding aerosol-cloud interactions is critical. A suite of synergistic methods are used for this research, including laboratory experiments, ground and airborne field measurements, modeling, and remote sensing observations. Since 2004, he has participated in 16 airborne field projects, including six as a mission PI with the CIRPAS Twin Otter (sponsored by the Office of Naval Research). Currently, Armin is involved with a multi-year NASA project called CAMP2EX (Cloud and Aerosol Monsoonal Processes-Philippines Experiment; https://espo.nasa.gov/camp2ex/content/CAMP2Ex) and is serving as the PI of a NASA Earth Venture Suborbital-3 (EVS-3) mission called ACTIVATE (Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment; https://activate.larc.nasa.gov/).