Aerobiology: A Breath of Fresh Air in QBE

While gas phase pollutants and suspended particulate matter in our atmosphere have received much attention, aerobiology has somehow been less explored by the engineering community. Certainly, this is not consistent with the engineers’ charter to protect public health, nor our modern infrastructure engineering practices concerning water supply and wastewater treatment. While generally considered oligotrophic, both indoor and outdoor atmospheres carry the cellular hallmarks of life in primary and weathered forms. The era of global warming, widespread asthma and pandemic brings renewed attention to bioaerosols, which we now define as a generic class of airborne particulate matter including any macromolecular compounds of biological origin.

Dr. Alina Handorean is a Teaching Prof. in EDNS and EE at Mines. She earned her B.S. & M.S in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Univ. of Bucharest, Romania & her M.A. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Washington Univ. in St. Louis before completing a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer biology at the CSU's Health Sciences campus. Handorean was also a Research Faculty/Lecturer in the Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Depart. at CU. Her research interests are Engineering Education, Environmental Engineering (Air Quality, Bioaerosols, & Drinking Water), Chemistry, & Cancer Biology. She is passionate about teaching user– center design in the Cornerstone & Capstone design classes, Cell Biology & Biochemistry and Air Pollution.