Welcome to CREATE AQI

We are delighted to be one of 19 winners of the 2023 NSF CIVIC Innovation Challenge. Our team’s mission is to protect children from air quality hazards, particularly during outdoor activities, by placing an outdoor air quality sensor at every high school in Utah, developing automated location-specific air quality forecasts, providing air quality alerts to individuals making decisions about outdoor activities, and providing indoor air quality sensors to childcare facilities across Utah. The outdoor sensor nodes will measure particulate matter that can be present at high concentrations during winter inversion, high wind events, and wildfires. The indoor sensor nodes will measure particulate matter and carbon dioxide, and these will help us understand the impacts of poor outdoor air quality on indoor air quality. Researchers from the University of Utah are working with key civic partners, including Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services, Utah’s Asthma Program, the Utah Athletic Trainers Association, Utah High School Activities Association, the Utah Board of Education, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to use this new information to protect children’s health.

This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Civic Innovation Challenge, Stage 2: Community Resilience through Engaging, Actionable, Timely, High-Resolution Air Quality Information (CREATE-AQI) (2322009)