News
2026
Mar. Congratulations to PhD student Esther Ozuruoha for winning a poster presentation award at the 2026 Graduate Engineering Annual Research & Recruitment Symposium (GEARRS).
Jan. Congratulations to PhD student Esther Ozuruoha for winning a travel award for the 4th Miami Workshop on Aerosol Science and Technology - Summer School in Winter at University of Miami.
2025
Dec. The New York Times featured an article about our wildfire research as part of their Lost Science series:
Nov. Congratulations to MS student Surya Goda for receiving the Outstanding MS Mechanical Engineering Student Award!
Oct. PhD candidate Sofie Schwink, PhD student Rileigh Robertson, and Prof. Vance won Outstanding Mentor Awards from the Ҵýƽ College of Engineering for their role in mentoring undergraduate SPUR student Will Sutherland. Thank you, Will, for the kind nomination!
Oct. Congratulations to PhD student Rileigh Robertson for being selected as a Social Media Ambassador for the 43rd American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) Annual Conference.
Sep. Prof. Vance received the Ҵýƽ Provost's Faculty Achievement Award for tenured faculty. This award recognizes and celebrates the research, scholarship, and creative work of Ҵýƽ's faculty members. Prof. Vance received it for her body of research on the formation, transport, and fate of airborne contaminants known as aerosols, using methods such as controlled laboratory experiments and field studies in real environments.
Sep. Prof. Vance was quoted in a Denver7 news article:
Aug. Prof. Vance was recognized as the first during a home football game.
Aug. Welcome to our new undergraduate researcher Dhruv Singh.
May. Welcome to our new undergraduate researchers: Darrah Boyle and William Sutherland.
May. Our CLEAN Home study was featured in Denver7 news:
May. Our Undergraduate Researcher Henrik Helmig was recognized with a College of Engineering Research Award. Congratulations, Henrik!
April. We helped plan the AQ Buffs research symposium, a student-led Air Quality meeting this spring.
January. Welcome to our new group member: Surya Goda, professional MS student in Mechanical Engineering.
2024
November. Our was featured in this nice article from NIST: .
October. Prof. Vance became a fellow of the Ҵýƽ Office of Faculty Affair's Faculty Leadership Institute.
August. Welcome to our new group members:
- Smit Ajmera, professional MS student
- Henrik Helmig, DLA student
- Ethan Richter, DLA student
July. Prof. Vance became the Director for Graduate Education for the Environmental Engineering Program at Ҵýƽ.
June. Prof. Vance was interviewed for Expert Reviews on
May. Welcome to our new PhD student Rileigh Robertson!
January.
2023
November. Congratulations to Drew Martin on his Master's Thesis defense. The title of his thesis was: "Transport and Implications of Point-Source PM2.5 Emissions in a Multi-Story House."
October. Congratulations to PhD student Sofie Schwink for winning a student poster competition award at the the 41st American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) annual conference!
August. Congratulations to Austin Hayes on defending his PhD dissertation! Austin was co-advised by Prof. Greg Whiting. The title of his dissertation was: "Additive Manufacturing for Wind Turbine Generators: How Safety, Hybrid Approaches, and Advanced Cooling Come Together to Create High-Power Density Generators."
August. Prof. Vance has earned tenure at Ҵýƽ!
June.Vance wins Fulbright Scholar Award to do year-long research project in Indonesia
April. Congratulations to Brittany Nixon on her Master's Thesis defense. The title of her thesis was: "Modeling photovoltaic soiling with co-located ambient particulate matter data."
2022
June. Congratulations to Sumit (Sam) Sankhyan on defending his PhD dissertation! The title of his dissertation was: "Aerosol Science and Engineering Research for Indoor Air Quality Improvement and Mitigating Exposure."
May. Prof. Vance was interviewed by the podcast "Environmental Conversations" with Lilia Abron, president of , and Joel Ducoste, president of .
January. Our research was featured in: What the Marshall Fire can teach us as we prepare for future climate catastrophes- Ҵýƽ Today
2021
December. Our work on indoor air pollutant emissions from cooking was featured in: In 2022, consider taking these 5 climate actions
September. Our mask filtration research was featured in:
- - EcoWatch
- Don’t throw that cloth mask away yet—it still works - Ҵýƽ Today
Our new WildPM project was featured in multiple articles:
- - The Daily Camera
- Amid wildfires and a pandemic, here’s how to keep your indoor air clean - CUBoulder Today
- - EPA Region 8 News Release
August. Simple safety measures reduce musical COVID-19 transmission - Ҵýƽ Today
August. Prof. Vance was interviewed for the local news: - Channel 4 CBS Denver
August. Prof. Vance was interviewed by the Smithsonian Magazine:
June.Congratulations to Sarah Toth on defending her PhD! She was co-advised by prof. Mike Hannigan. The title of her dissertation was: “Ambient Particular Matter and Photovoltaic Soiling Loss”.
June. Prof. Vance was interviewed by Healthline:
May. News article about Prof. Vance's new NSF CAREER Award: Vance to study changes in particles as they move between indoor, outdoor environments
April. Prof Vance and colleagues Delphine Farmer and Alex Huffmann wrote an opinion piece for the Colorado Sun: ""
April. PhD student Sarah Toth's research was featured on NREL's website:
2020
Prof. Vance was interviewed by Healthline:
Prof. Vance was interviewed by Scientific American:
Prof. Vance was interviewed by GQMagazine:
2019
Prof. Vance was interviewed by The Washington Times:
Prof. Vance co-edited a journal special issue on . Several papers from this special issue have made to the
Prof. Vance was named aMcLagan Family Faculty Fellow by the College of Engineering at Ҵýƽ.
- Science News for Students
Prof. Vance and other colleagues from the HOMEChem study were interviewed by the New Yorker Magazine:
- UN Environment
- Forbes Magazine
- AAAS News
- CBS Local
- Health News Office
- The Times
- The Telegraph
- The Telegraph
Your home is a hidden source of air pollution - Ҵýƽ Today
Earthly Exploration - CU Engineering
2018
- The Triangle
Dr. Vance was elected vice-chair of the Indoor Aerosols and Aerosol Exposure Working Group for AAAR, the . This is a 2-year position that starts as vice-chairs and then moves on to chair. Duties include selecting abstracts for oral and poster presentations at the AAAR conferences, proposing plenary speakers, tutorial sessions, and special symposia.
Dr. Vance was interviewed by the Helium Podcast about life in academia as a tenure-track professor. Check out the podcast .
- Education in Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry)
-Home Performance on Youtube
-Home Performance on Youtube.
-Chemistry World
- National Press Foundation. Featuring a news story and exploring the HOMEChem study.
- EurekAlert.
- Boulder Daily Camera (news related to a Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Project)
Rain Game brings science learning to children in the hospital- Mechanical Engineering Blog(news related to a Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Project)
Designing a UAV system that can outsmart a thunderstorm- Mechanical Engineering Blog(news related to a Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Project)
-Chemical & Engineering News
2017
Vance earns $1.25 million Sloan Foundation air quality grant- EurekAlert
-EurekAlert
2016
-Environmental Science: Nano Blog
- VTSuN Blog
2015
- VTSuN Blog
-Environmental Science: Nano Blog
-Virginia TechOffice of the Vice President for Research
-Environmental Science: Nano Blog
2014
Pulse of the Planet- radio interviews:
-What's the connection between Notre Dame Cathedral and the cutting edge world of nanotechnology?
-One of the defining characteristics of nano materials is that they have new properties, compared to larger versions of the same materials.
-Gold nanoparticles can be used in the treatment of cancer.
-The Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory is an onlinecompendium of products which contain nanomaterials.
-Radio Health Journalradio interview.
- Science et Avenir- An articleexplaining how hail cannons work mentioned our research on the environmental and health risks of silver nanoparticles.
-Chicago Tribune
. - The article mentions our work on the.
2013
-CBC Canada
-Buzzfeedarticle based on the
-Phys.Org
I lead a team effort at VTSuN to partner with the Wilson Center to perform a large upgrade to the:
-Virginia Tech News
-The Wilson Center
-Chemical & Engineering News
-Prevention Magazine
-CEINT
-Nanowerk
2011
-Chemical Watch
-New Haven Independent
-ICTAS Connection