Top: Twyla (canine), Jenna Ditto, Brad Isenor, Ian Kunka, Vera Zaherddine, Armaghan and Amirashkan Askari, Rui Zeng, Xing Wang
Bottom: Michael Tawadrous, Molly (canine), Arthur Chan, Donut (canine), Orchid Jo
Principal Investigator
Dr. Arthur Chan (arthurwh.chan [~a~t~] utoronto dot ca) obtained his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Caltech and was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley from 2010 to 2013. He is excited about overseeing all the research projects in the group. He is also a proud dod dad of Molly and Maple.
Postdoctoral and Visiting Scholars
Hongru Shen (hr.shen [~a~t~] mail dot utoronto dot ca) obtained her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Fudan University (China) in 2023. Her research focused on the chemistry of highly oxygenated organic molecules in the atmosphere with a collaboration with Juelich Forschungszentrum (Germany). She joined Abbatt and Chan groups as a joint postdoctoral fellow in September 2023, studying the gas and particle emissions from plastic burning using online mass spectrometry techniques.
Lin Kong (lin.kong [~a~t~] mail dot utoronto dot ca) is a PhD candidate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In September 2023, she joined Chan’s research group under an international joint supervision scheme for PhD students. Her current research focuses on studying the OH-initiated heterogeneous oxidation of nanoplastics in the atmosphere, employing techniques such as flow reactors and online mass spectrometry.
Graduate Students
Michael Tawadrous (michael.tawadrous [~a~t~] mail dot utoronto dot ca) is an PhD candidate. He is studying nanoplastics atmospheric transport and characterization using cTOF-AMS and SMPS. He worked at the Royal Military College of Canada as a research assistant in screening chemical protective fabrics for resistance to aerosol penetration. He obtained his MASc in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University, where his previous research focused on the bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons and the minimization of GHG emissions from oil sands tailings ponds.
Xing Wang (starxing.wang [~a~t~] mail dot utoronto dot ca) is a PhD candidate from China. She obtained her B.S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from University of Toronto. She is currently developing new methods to measure tire wear particles in the atmosphere, using pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry. She has also studied emissions from food cooking, such as particles from an air fryer.
Bradley Isenor (b.isenor [~a~t~] mail dot utoronto dot ca) is a PhD student from Nova Scotia. He received his HBSc from Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick in 2022. Brad is interested in the health effects of different aerosol with his current research focusing on the oxidative potential of biomass burning aerosol.
Alumni and current positions
Mohammad Asif Iqbal (MASc, 2014-2015): Graduate student, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Kevin Goodman Rendall (MASc, 2014-2016): Field service engineer, Bruker Corporation
Mi Tian (Visiting postdoctoral scholar, 2016): Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Jianhuai (Jackie) Ye (PhD, 2013-2017): Postdoctoral scholar, Harvard University
Gang (Ian) Chen (MASc, 2016-2018): PhD Student, ETH Zurich, Paul Scherrer Institute
Lukas Kohl (Postdoc, 2017-2018): Postdoctoral scholar, University of Helsinki
Meng (Carol) Meng (MASc, 2016-2018)
Farhana Islam (MASc, 2017-2019)
Rui Zeng (MASc, 2017-2019): Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks
Yue (Alan) Shi (MASc, 2018-2020)
Justin Dingle (Postdoc, 2018-2020): California Air Resources Board, USA
Yunchun Li (Visiting professor, 2019-2020): Sichuan Agricultural University, China
Marcia Pedroza (MASc, 2019-2021): Senior Analyst, Sustainability Reporting, Canadian Tire
Manpreet Takhar (PhD, 2015-2021): Quantitative Analyst, Morningstar
Jenna Ditto (Postdoc, 2020-2022): Assistant Professor, Washington University at St. Louis
Orchid Jo (MEng, 2021-2023): WSP
Vera Zaherddine (MASc, 2021-2023)
Amirashkan Askari (PhD, 2019-2024): Postdoctoral scholar, University of Toronto
Summer undergraduate students: Farhana Hoque (2013); Ruby Zhuang, Cullen Adam, Madhushan Perera (2014); Delin Mu, Anjelica Portelli, Catherine Gordon, Jamie Mark (2015); Ali Emam, Legeng Yu (2016); Morgan Cooze, Cynthia Jing (2017); Anthony Tuccitto, Alicia Hill-Turner (2018); Yinrui Xu, Jinmyung Jang, Loay Nasser Salim Al Rashdi (2019); Nadiha Khan (2020); Eleanor Vaz, Urvi Verkhedkar (2021); Ian Kunka, John Vo (2022); Jessica Coats, Liam Krestow (2023); Gabriele Varnaite, Jenn Xu (2024)