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Caroline Frischmon came to CU Boulder to get out of the lab. After studying bioproducts engineering, interning with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and writing for a science communications lab, PhD candidate Frischmon sought to combine her engineering and science communication background through Boulder’s Hannigan Air Quality and Technology Research Lab (HAQLab), which is known for its community-engaged research.����

How does community-engaged research fit into your goals?����

I think all air monitoring research should be with the goal of helping people breathe cleaner air. Some of that must happen in the lab. And there’s lots of work to be done to get the lab developments into communities.��

I really like bringing technology into communities because it’s powerful to give people access. Industry groups and the government have had access for a long time, and the air quality narrative has centered around what data those entities collect. When only one group has access, it’s a very lopsided story. Now, communities can learn and tell their own stories using data. Data talks both ways, and there’s not one truth when collecting data. I’m interested in exploring what communities can do with the data they collect. I want to support their advocacy. It’s really motivating.����

Even now, when funding is questionable, I have seen how expertise can go a long way by answering questions and supporting communities with their concerns. ��

How did you get involved in research in Mississippi?����

The American Geophysical Union has a program called Thriving Earth Exchange, and it pairs residents with researchers. I was paired with Katharine Duderstadt from the University of New Hampshire to assist a neighborhood group in Cherokee Concerned Citizens wanted assistance looking at pre-collected data about their Cherokee Forest neighborhood, which has 110 homes. We all worked together for about a year before I applied for a Tier 2 grant from the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) to continue the work.�� ��

What was the scope of the work you completed with the PACES grant?����

We set up air monitors (HAQ pods from the HAQLab) in the Cherokee neighborhood and across town for comparison and measured air quality from February 2024 to April 2024. We found frequent and intense episodes of pollution coming on the wind from the industrial area, which includes a Chevron Refinery, a ship building yard, superfund sites, a gas processing plant, and more.����

During the same period, seven Cherokee Forest households, recruited by Cherokee Concerned Citizens, recorded symptoms and odors. One particularly intense night, multiple households reported vomiting and nausea at the same time as when pollution spiked in the neighborhood. That pollution wasn’t recorded across town in the other neighborhood further from the industries.����

When my colleague and I were there setting up the monitoring equipment, I experienced odors and itchy skin, and she also had irritated eyes.����

Most of the involved residents are toward retirement age or older, but there are some young families, and kids were involved in the heavy metal sampling.����

In addition, a small group of people maintained the air monitors and downloaded data.����

Once we completed our data analysis, Katharine and I returned to share initial findings and get input from the broader community. This happened over a couple of dinners with 15 or so people. Members of Cherokee Concerned Citizens hosted at their homes and guided the discussions. Thoughts from these community discussions were included in the , which was co-authored by Katharine, three community residents, and me.����

What’s the status of the project now?����

This community has been organizing for a decade-plus, but the pilot study was one of the first times when everything they’ve reported and been feeling was directly linked to pollution data. This was powerful in validating them, and it showed that all the previous times they had been told they were wrong, that they were probably right.����

I received an EPA grant that set us up to continue with a multi-year study, but this spring the grant was canceled, with a reason given of “administrative priorities have changed.”����

The cancellation is heartbreaking all around. Our initial study did a great job of highlighting air pollution in Cherokee Forest, but it was only pilot scale and didn’t give details about pollution concentrations. So, the EPA study would have allowed for deeper detail, as well as expanded the work in Louisiana.����

It’s hard to leave behind these communities who don’t have many allies right now. And this study was going to be my post-doc work. I’m not sure now what I’ll do after December.����

I’m doing my best to keep the relationships and support where I can. For example, I’m helping Cherokee Concerned Citizens interpret data collected by the state. But there’s only so much that Katharine and I can do without funding for the citizen science aspect and for equipment.��

I would love to highlight how much CU Boulder made this project possible. The PACES grant funded the pilot study. The Department of Information Science's Community-based Design course helped me write the proposal for the PACES grant. The Graduate Fellowship in Community-Based Research supported me as I conducted the study. There are a lot of amazing resources to support grad students with community-based research.����

What did you learn about research using a community-engaged model?����

This was my first time working closely with a community to design and conduct research. It was fun to learn how to collaborate. There were all good intentions but also really different approaches.����

The relationships we built started a year before the pilot study. That foundation helped when we ran into technical difficulties, communication challenges and red tape. The trust was there. Community members commented about how different it was working with our team because of our commitment and time given. In the past, other researchers hadn’t taken the time to build relationships or stick around. I’m still meeting with them every other week or so to see how I can continue to provide support. The pilot study also sparked interest from more Cherokee Forest households.����

An article in led to another community group reaching out to me for help. I hope to help however I can.����

People can specifically describe their experiences, but they don't always have the data or scientific language to communicate with state regulators. Lots of communities are facing these issues, and researchers can help make that difference.��