This lectureship was founded in 2013 by Steve and Sylvia Burges. The purpose of the endowment is to support an annual public lecture by distinguished practitioners in the field of Civil and Environmental Engineering to broaden the horizons of engineering students and professionals beyond the purely technical challenges of our times.
Speakers include faculty members in the department as well as experts identified by faculty as possessing perspectives, expertise and/or experience of particular importance and interest to the field of civil and environmental engineering.
About the donors
Sylvia and Steve Burges have been associated with the University of Washington since September 1970, when Steve joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering. Shortly thereafter, Sylvia earned two University of Washington master’s degrees: a Master of Education (Educational Psychology Counseling) in 1973 and a Master of Science (Civil Engineering Department) in 1976. During her career, Sylvia conducted water quality and environmental studies for consulting engineering firms. She joined Region 10 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1988, where she spent the rest of her professional career as a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act enforcement officer. Steve spent his career as a University of Washington faculty member attaining the rank of Professor in 1979. He became a registered Professional Engineer in 1980, a Professional hydrologist in 1990 and a Diplomat Water Resources Engineer in 2005. Steve retired from the university in 2010 with the title of Professor Emeritus.
Burges Lecture 2023
Anti-racist air-quality modeling?
Thursday, November 16, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Kane Hall, Room 110
Reception with light food and drinks in Kane Hall, Walker Ames-Room, Room 225, following the lecture
Featuring Dr. Julian Marshall
Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Abstract
Ambient air quality in the US has improved over time, thanks to steps such as the 1970 Clean Air Act. However, in part because of where pollution sources are located, people of color in the US are still, on average, more exposed to air pollution than are white Americans. Today, society’s goals for air quality include not only improving conditions overall, but also addressing systemic disparities. Models and measurements are needed to focus attention on how to achieve that goal; research is needed to help propose and test possible solutions.
This talk will discuss existing exposure-disparities and how researchers and practitioners can use data and models to better understand how to eliminate these disparities.
About the speaker
Julian Marshall is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Washington. He holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Global Health. His research is on human exposure to air pollution; specific areas of focus include impacts from transportation and electricity generation; clean cookstove interventions in rural India; and, addressing disparities in air pollution exposure in the U.S.
Dr. Marshall has published more than 170 peer-reviewed articles, including in top journals such as Science, PNAS, and Nature Sustainability. Grants he has contributed to during his career total >$35m, including recently being dual-PI of the $10m EPA-funded Center for Air, Climate, and Energy Solutions (CACES). In addition to teaching classes in air quality engineering and in justice aspects of engineering, Marshall runs the Grand Challenges Impact Lab, a 10-week UW study-abroad program in Bengaluru, India, on engineering and social entrepreneurship.
Marshall earned a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Princeton, and an MS and PhD in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley.