The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) is thrilled to introduce you to our newest staff member - Julie Stouffer, who will serve as our full-time field technician.
Julie attended Whittier College in California, where she earned her undergraduate degrees in environmental science and environmental studies.
Stouffer previously worked as a chemistry stockroom technician and research assistant at her college alma mater.
She comes to GASP after having served as a CDC John R. Lewis Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health, where she conducted a research project regarding the impacts of industrial pollution on pediatric asthma.
It was - and is - a subject near and dear to Stouffer’s heart. While she grew up around two hours away in Franklin, Pennsylvania, she spent summers at her grandparents’ house in Clairton.
“I spent the summer smelling the mill,” she said.
And as she grew up she became increasingly aware of how those odors - how industrial emissions - impacted the health of her grandparents and her community.
She is excited to get to work on GASP’s EPA-funded air quality network project alongside community partners like Allegheny County Clean Air Now (ACCAN), Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab, Protect Elizabeth Township, and Valley Clean Air Now.
Stouffer will work to install dozens of low-cost air monitors to measure concentrations of pollutants like particulate matter and volatile organic compounds.
She will also be instrumental in taking and analyzing air samples during “smell events” reported by the SmellPGH app to determine what pollutants residents were exposed to during these episodes of poor air quality.
“People are smelling these smells, but what is actually behind it?” Stouffer said, adding that she looked forward to helping to answer that question.
Executive Director Patrick Campbell said Stouffer’s hiring represents another step forward for both GASP and the EPA project, which will help fill air quality monitoring gaps in some of Allegheny County’s most under-served communities.
“We have a tremendous group of professionals working on this monitoring project, and Julie was the missing piece,” he said. “We’re so glad to have her on our team.”