American, Pakistani scientific studies address air quality

Islamabad : Forty alumni of US Government-funded exchange programmes who work in environmental sciences participated in a three-day master class on ‘Regional Approaches to Air Quality and Environment.’

The US Mission in Pakistan and the Pakistan-US Alumni Network (PUAN) collaborated with the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) Professional Development Centre to host the class, which took place June 7-9, 2021.

Presenters included NASA researcher Dr. James H. Crawford, among other American experts. The class employed a range of teaching techniques and academic resources to examine air quality and atmospheric calculations, and the health impacts of smog, examining the Punjab Government’s efforts to tackle these issues as a case study.

Ray Castillo, Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy in Islamabad, joined the closing ceremony and lauded the critical role of PUAN in strengthening people-to-people ties between the United States and Pakistan.

He urged the participants to apply the lessons from the class into direct actions for a cleaner and better future.

Dr. Rizwan Riaz, pro-rector of Research Innovation and Commercialisation at NUST, stressed the importance of clean air not only on our health, but also on our cognitive abilities.