The Willis Lab is starting at CSU!

Our research program will focus on understanding the changing composition of our atmosphere and its impacts on climate and air quality. We will develop and apply analytical tools in both field and lab-based online mass spectrometry to build our understanding of atmospheric chemistry, with a particular focus on the coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Research topics will include sources and sinks of volatile organic compounds in the surface ocean; ocean-atmosphere exchange; aerosol formation and growth; aerosol surface and multiphase chemistry; and chemistry-climate interactions.

About Megan:

Megan is an environmental analytical chemist interested in using fundamental laboratory studies and field observations to understand aerosol chemistry and its impact on climate. She became fascinated by the chemistry of our environment during her undergrad at Vancouver Island University. She did her PhD at the University of Toronto, in the Abbatt group, where she used airborne aerosol mass spectrometry to understand the influence of increasing open water area and long-range pollution transport on Arctic aerosol chemistry and chemistry-climate interactions. Megan is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, working with Kevin Wilson, where she has developed single droplet mass spectrometry techniques coupled to levitated microdroplets. She is applying these analytical approaches to study chemistry at the air-water interface. Starting at CSU in January 2021, Megan’s research program will leverage her past experience in fundamental laboratory studies and field experiments to address gaps in our knowledge of aerosol formation and ocean-atmosphere exchange of reactive carbon, sulfur and nitrogen. Outside of chemistry, Megan enjoys being outdoors, cycling, hiking, climbing and reading fiction.

Google Scholar