OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: AIR

Sustainability Spotlight: Alumni

BEATING THE CITY HEAT

Cassie O’Lenick 16G, Project Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research

When summer heat indexes soar into triple digits in the fourth-most populous US city, alumna Cassie O’Lenick’s mission is clear: Help the most vulnerable. O’Lenick, a project scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), has examined the health impacts of extreme heat and air pollution on the elderly population in Houston since late 2016. 

NCAR research uncovered that although air conditioner access is widespread in Houston, certain populations either don’t have air conditioning or don’t have the resources to use it consistently and at a comfortable temperature. The project study, called Heat and Ozone in Metropolitan Environments: Assessing Indoor Risks (HOME-AIR), also looks closely at climatic variability, the built environment, and health effects. “I was brought onto the HOME-AIR study as an environmental epidemiologist, and our work on indoor heat and health is currently under peer review,” O’Lenick says. 

Nevertheless, she’s encouraged that her findings can make life-saving differences in Houston and other urban areas.

At NCAR, O’Lenick also coordinates a research initiative called the Early Career Faculty Innovator program where she works closely with university professors and their students to guide new research opportunities with NCAR scientists. Entering its second year, the program had been gearing up to host nine university faculty members and their graduate students at NCAR for three months this summer, but that’s been put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Even though we will not be together this summer, we are collaborating remotely, preparing grant proposals, and making impressive progress on their research,” O’Lenick says.

—Brian Hudgins