UCLA Fielding’s Dr. Yifang Zhu honored for her work on aerosols and air quality research

A UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor has been recognized by the leading U.S. professional organization in her field for her work, including research into air quality in southern California, both generally and in the aftermath of the 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires.

“Aerosol science, to me, is a public health science. Whether the particles come from a vehicle, an e-cigarette or a wildfire, measuring them precisely is the first step toward protecting the people who breathe them,” said Dr. Yifang Zhu, professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. “That has been the focus of my work, and it is a great honor to have it recognized by my peers.”

Zhu received the American Association for Aerosol Research’s (AAAR) Susanne V. Hering Award Oct. 29, at the Association’s annual conference in Pasadena. The Hering Award is named after Dr. Hering, a former UCLA scholar who was named to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering for advances and commercialization in aerosol measurements and instrumentation, officials said.

“This award is given by AAAR and recognizes outstanding contributions to aerosol science that have an impact on public health, the built environment, or the global ecosystem,” said Dr. Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz, chair of the AAAR Awards Committee and a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. “Awardees are selected by a committee of the nominees’ peers, who recognized the impacts and high quality of Dr. Zhu's research as one of two recipients this year.”

Zhu’s co-honoree, Dr. Barbara J. Turpin, is a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Zhu, who earned her Ph.D. at UCLA Fielding in 2003, has taught at the school since 2010; her recent research includes:

• A leadership role on the Los Angeles Fire Human Exposure and Long-Term Health Study (L.A. Fire HEALTH Study), a 10-year-long initiative to study the health impact of the 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles County;
• Measuring what Angelenos were breathing inside and outside their homes during and after the 2025 Los Angeles fires, including peer-reviewed work showing that even after the fires were extinguished, residents who returned home remained at risk of exposure to known carcinogens because of smoke damage;
• Installation of an air quality monitoring network (CAP AIR) in West Los Angeles that provides free, 24/7, air quality measurements to the public;
• Examining how wildfire smoke reaches people indoors across the United States, including peer-reviewed research showing that inequities in wildfire smoke exposure are amplified once smoke moves indoors;
• Studying the air quality impacts of the transition to electric vehicles, including a peer-reviewed study that found pollutant concentrations were significantly higher near fast charging stations than elsewhere in urban areas, and work published in Nature Communications showing that California’s zero-emission vehicle adoption has delivered air quality benefits even as equity gaps persist; and
• Long-running research on electronic cigarette aerosols, from measuring secondhand exposure in vape shops and neighboring businesses to linking aerosol characteristics to lung toxicity, including development of a ventilated, three-dimensional artificial lung system for inhalation studies.

That level of scientific rigor and service is exactly why Zhu is so highly regarded by her peers, said Dr. Rachael Jones, chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA Fielding.

“Yifang has dedicated her career to applying her deep knowledge of aerosol science to improving measurement and advancing public health, and shared this commitment with her many mentees,” Jones said. “This is an extremely well-deserved recognition by the AAAR.”