Engineering student wins award
Utah State University environmental engineering student Kori Moore was awarded first prize for research on temperature inversions.
Moore received the award at the annual Air and Waste Management Association Poster and Paper contest held this past June.
The contest, held in Indianapolis, Ind., included entrants from both an undergraduate and graduate level, with universities from all over the world competing.
Moore worked closely with Randall Martin, an associate professor of environmental engineering at USU, in developing the research study which examined the temperature inversions above Cache Valley and how they affect the air pollution levels.
“Our air pollution is a winter-time problem, and part of that problem is associated with the frequent inversions that we have,” Martin said. “We know what the definition of an inversion is, and we know in broad terms why we have inversions here in the valley, but we don’t know at what level inversions typically seal off the valley, and how long they last and how strong they are.”
Martin said he and Moore have been collecting data for the research study for almost a year and a half.
To collect the data, he said they placed temperature sensors throughout Logan and up the ridge in the canyon, calibrated them, and once every other month, hiked up to the ridge to record the data.
“We had to climb that ridge once every other month through rain, snow, heat and mud,” Martin said. “We had 10 sensors, which were collecting data every hour. That’s 8,700 data points per sampler for one year,” Martin said, “that’s a lot of numbers to crunch and analyze.”
Moore said for the contest he was required to submit an abstract idea in March 2004, followed by a 10-page paper in May 2004. In June 2004 he traveled to Indianapolis for the convention, where he presented his paper along with a poster outlining his research.
Martin said he also had to answer the questions of the attendees and the judges of the contest.
As the first-prize recipient, Moore said he received a certificate, a $500 cash reward and public notification in professional society journals.
“I learned a lot during this project about meteorology, air pollution, instruments, and how to interpret data. Dr. Martin played a huge role in my success,” Moore said
In reference to the research study, Martin said, “Not many people anywhere have done this type of work. They’ve measured inversion levels, but not with this type of technique, so we are some of the first to really do this, and Kori did a fantastic job. Kori was the right student for the job.”
-amberem@cc.usu.edu