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Project Challenge

�Heat stress and unhealthy air are important environmental justice concerns. Poverty is a multi-dimensional problem in which vulnerabilities compound one another and increase cumulative risk burdens. Extreme temperature conditions, poor outdoor air quality, poor indoor air quality, and threats due to airborne infectious diseases represent a compounded assault on vulnerable urban seniors. Existing solutions are piecemeal and have not worked well.

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Smart Kids and Cool Seniors

Elizabeth, NJ

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NSF Award ID: 2228530

PI: Clinton Andrews, Rutgers University

2022 Civic Innovation Challenge

Pilot Vision

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  • This project seeks to empower communities to make better choices about the multi-dimensional challenge of protecting vulnerable elderly people during life-threatening summer heatwaves, while taking into account poor outdoor and indoor air quality.
  • It also seeks to support community efforts for kids by providing STEM education opportunities in which young people measure temperature, humidity, and air quality in locations that affect seniors, as a safe and well-guided after-school and summer program.

Civic Partners:

  • Groundwork Elizabeth
  • Housing Authority of the City of Elizabeth

Research Partners:

  • Rutgers University

Research Questions

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  • How do people behave when local heat & air quality info is shared, while in a context where they have limited agency?
  • Can citizen science measurements collected by kids support fine-grained predictions of air quality and thermal conditions?
  • Can a digital twin help a community adapt to compound risks?

Stakeholder meeting, HACE, 12/14/22

Digital Twin simulation of local air movement, HACE site A

Sensor network schematic

Backpacks with sensors

Pollutant concentrations based

on backpack sensors