Deb Niemeier

University of Maryland, College Park | UMD, UMCP, University of Maryland College Park · A. James Clark School of Engineering

While human mobility plays a crucial role in determining air pollution exposures and health risks, research to-date has assessed risks based solely on residential location. Here we leveraged a database of ~ 130 million workers in the US and published PM2.5 data between 2011-2018 to explore how incorporating information on both workplace and residen...

Power outages are a common outcome of hurricanes in the USA with potentially serious implications for community wellbeing. Understanding how power outage recovery is influenced by factors such as the magnitude of the outage, storm characteristics, and community demographics is key to building community resilience. Outage data are a valuable tool th...

The transit bus environment is considered one of the primary sources of transmission of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Modeling disease transmission in public buses remains a challenge, especially with uncertainties in passenger boarding, alighting, and onboard movements. Although there are initial findings on the effectiveness of some of the mit...

Power outages are a common outcome of hurricanes in the United States with potentially serious implications for community wellbeing. Understanding how power outage recovery is influenced by factors such as the magnitude of the outage, storm characteristics, and community demographics is key to building community resilience. Outage data is a valuabl...

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a global pandemic starting in 2019 with nearly 500 million confirmed cases as of April 2022. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 is accompanied by shedding of virus in stool, and its presence in wastewater samples has been documented globally. Therefore, monitoring of SARS-CoV-2...

With the inexorable march of climate change, increased flooding is inevitable. Understanding the feedback between federal flood mitigation policies and the ways in which local governments build flood resilience is a significant gap in the literature. In particular, the effect that federal flood mitigation grants have on the intensity of local flood...

Economic growth over the last few decades along with increasing household consumption have led to a rapid expansion of the warehousing industry. Research has shown that warehouse facilities tend to be disproportionately sited in low-income minority communities. Warehouses can generate significant environmental externalities making the siting of war...

High COVID-19 mortality among Black communities heightened the pandemic’s devastation. In the state of Louisiana, the racial disparity associated with COVID-19 mortality was significant; Black Americans accounted for 50% of known COVID-19–related deaths while representing only 32% of the state’s population. In this paper, we argue that structural r...

Farmers in Nepal face many of the same global challenges associated with initiating and scaling poultry husbandry as many other developing countries. These include, access to innovative approaches in finance, credit, coop design, marketing and sales. As with most low-income countries, Nepalese poultry farmers also lack adequate training in poultry...

Extreme wildfire events are fires that move too fast or erratically for adequate evacuation or notification. Modeling evacuations from these wildfires is markedly different than modeling disasters with slower or more predictable movements. There is a gap in our knowledge of human evacuation behavior under these conditions. In this paper, we develop...

Global demand for poultry and associated feed are projected to double over the next 30 years. Insect meal is a sustainable alternative to traditional feeds when produced on low-value high-volume agricultural byproducts. Black soldier fly (BSF) larvae ( Hermetia illucens L.) are high in protein and contain methionine, an essential amino acid that is...

In this study, 14 virus concentration protocols based on centrifugation, filtration, polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation and ultrafiltration were tested for their efficacy for the quantification of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater samples. These protocols were paired with four RNA extraction procedures resulting in a combination of 50 unique approaches...

In this paper we examine the effects of localized air pollution measurements on the housing prices in Oakland, CA. With high-resolution air pollution measurements for NO, NO2, and BC, we can assess the ambient air quality on a parcel-by-parcel basis within the study domain. We combine a spatial lag model with an instrumental variable method to cons...

No-notice wildfires pose a serious threat to the safety of residents, where the notification time and departure time may all be within a matter of minutes. Here, we examine the factors associated with the initial wildfire awareness time, the evacuation preparation time, and finally the departure time. We use unique interview and survey data gathere...

Effective solutions require integration of improved data, technology innovations, community engagement, and environmental justice.

In this paper, we calculate exposure concentrations of traffic-related air pollutants for different travel modes in the urban environment. Using recent high-resolution mobile sensor measured air pollution concentration data, we simulate bicycle, transit, and vehicle trips within Oakland, California and calculate exposure concentrations for nitric o...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of states, counties and cities in the United States issued mandatory stay-at-home orders as part of their efforts to slow down the spread of the virus. We argue that the consequences of this one-size-fits-all order will be differentially distributed among economic groups. In this paper, we exam...

Many US metropolitan areas have undergone dramatic shifts in socioeconomic organization.. As urban areas gentrify, many low-income residents and communities of color have transitioned towards the exurban periphery. These suburban neighborhoods tend to have fewer employment opportunities and are fairly disconnected from public transportation network...

Fast-moving wildfires pose difficult modeling challenges, including accounting for heterogeneity in individual evacuee behavior and capturing a complex changing system across time dimensions. Here, we employ a NetLogo agent-based model that enables the development of behavioral models for nearest shelter evacuations using origin information. We use...

Bicycle paths or even bicycle lanes have not emerged as key priorities in traditional pavement systems analysis. Most cities rely on route preferences (e.g., common school routes) or visual checks to prioritize pavement conditions on bicycle facilities. We used 31 bike path sections with a representative range of pavement surface conditions to coll...

Even with expected changes in fuel, transportation will produce significant greenhouse gas emissions long into the future. We conduct the first evaluation of the performance of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in planning and implementing strategies for emission reduction. By coding regional transportation plans in three U.S. states, we f...

Bicycle paths or even bicycle lanes have not emerged as key priorities in traditional pavement systems analysis. Most cities rely on route preferences (e.g., common school routes) or visual checks to prioritize pavement conditions on bicycle facilities. We used 31 bike path sections with a representative range of pavement surface conditions to coll...

Dockless bikeshare systems show potential for replacing traditional dock-based systems, primarily by offering greater flexibility for bike returns. However, many cities in the US currently regulate the maximum number of bikes a dockless system can deploy due to bicycle management issues. Despite inventory management challenges, dockless systems off...

Increases in global human population are leading to increasing demands for food production and waste management. Insect biomass is a sustainable alternative to traditional animal feeds when insects are produced on lignocellulosic by-products. Resources high in lignocellulose have high carbon to nitrogen ratios and require nitrogen supplementation t...

California’s building energy codes (Title 24, Part 6), updated triennially since 1978, are the most stringent in the nation. The aim of California contemporary energy policy in general, and the state’s building codes and standards in particular, is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The state has identified residential designs that “bring v...

Bikeshare programs are increasingly popular in the United States and they offer an important alternative mode choice for many types of last-mile trips. Bikeshare systems have not captured high levels of ridership from disadvantaged populations, but there is some evidence that current bikeshare systems have specifically targeted certain populations...

Exposure to high air pollutant concentrations results in significant health risks. Many communities of color and low-income communities face disproportionately higher levels of air pollution exposure. Environmental justice (EJ) screening tools play a critical role in focusing early attention on areas with a high likelihood of disparate health impac...

Table S1. pH of hulls before and after incubation.

We measure the effect of San Francisco’s technology firm commuter shuttles on rents utilizing a kernel density estimation approach. To model the effects of job accessibility improvements that the shuttles provide, we capture the influence of each shuttle stop in terms of the number of jobs that shuttle connects to in Silicon Valley and the capital...

As commercial free-range and pastured poultry production has gained increased popularity in the United States in recent years, there is a greater need to understand basic husbandry practices including feeding and lighting practices. Because husbandry practices vary greatly between individual commercial pastured poultry and free-range operations, ga...

Air pollution emissions from marine port truck activity can pose significant health risks to communities living near ports. One approach to reducing these risks is requiring the use of low-emission trucks at port facilities. This analysis evaluates the predicted air quality impacts of the recent revision (rollback) of a Clean Truck Program at the P...

BACKGROUND The increasing production of almonds worldwide has resulted in significant generation of by‐product streams that require end uses. One potential use for by‐products is for cultivation of additional food sources including insects. Studies were performed to determine if black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens L.) could be cultivated on...

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Low-income households face affordability issues and are often forced to live in areas with limited job access and inadequate transportation. Local communities exacerbate these problems through exclusionary zoning. We study the impact of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) change in allocation for...

California spent over a billion dollars supporting the construction of subsidized affordable housing in rail-adjacent neighborhoods through its transit-oriented development program. We test whether placing affordable housing close to rail or in jobs-rich communities increases development costs on a per-unit basis. We constructed budget and land-use...

The primary challenge of addressing climate change lies in it requiring a rethinking and even re-organization of fundamental societal institutions that define much of contemporary life. In this paper, we examine an innovative effort to address climate change through regional land-use and transportation policy. We focus on the activities of a Metrop...

As pastured poultry production has gained increased popularity in the United States in recent years, there is a growing need for research and outreach efforts aimed at this sector of poultry production. In order to get familiarized with American pastured poultry producers, we conducted an online questionnaire aimed primarily at evaluating what oper...

This study investigates the development and performance of an innovative approach to the management of transportation, land use, air quality, housing and a variety of other regional development issues, called “blueprinting.” Blueprinting refers to a process that brings together planning experts, local political leaders, and ordinary citizens, arms...

While pasture-raised poultry comprises a small portion of the commercial poultry industry in North America, these alternative rearing systems have become increasingly popular. As such, it is critical to improve our understanding of husbandry practices and prevalence of zoonotic and epizoonotic diseases in these systems. This research reviews the re...

This study investigates the development and performance of an innovative approach to the management of transportation, land use, air quality, housing and a variety of other regional development issues, called " blueprinting. " Blueprinting refers to a process that brings together planning experts, local political leaders, and ordinary citizens, arm...

It has been shown that the location of schools near heavily trafficked roads can have detrimental effects on the health of children attending those schools. It is therefore desirable to screen both existing school locations and potential new school sites to assess either the need for remedial measures or suitability for the intended use. Current sc...

Shrinking gas tax purchasing power has resulted in a growing dependence on sales taxes dedicated to local transportation to fund California roadway and transit projects. However, these new funding strategies stray from the traditional user-pays principle embodied in the gas tux and long espoused by FHWA as the fairest way to finance highway project...

More of the world’s population has access to cell phones than to basic sanitation facilities, a gap that can only be closed if the engineering and international aid communities adopt new approaches to design for scarcity and scalability.

Studies examining the social cost of driving usually ignore the opportunity cost of having roads in place: the associated land rents. Especially for geographic regions where land is valuable, including the rent costs may even lead governments to close some roads. By using the London congestion charging zone case, a more general long-run social c...

Interest in estimating the air pollutant emissions that occur during highway project construction is increasing. This paper describes a construction emissions modeling framework with companion calculation methodologies. On the basis of bid data and field data collected from a range of highway construction projects, the modeling framework builds lin...

To better understand the greenhouse gas (GHG) implications of land use planning decisions, regional planning organizations have developed tools to forecast the emissions from project-level residential and commercial development. This paper reviews the state of GHG emissions forecasting methods for project-level development. We argue that when forec...

A microfabricated electrostatic precipitator successfully demonstrated its airborne liquid phase particles precipitation functionality. The particles used in the experiments were polydispersed liquid phase oleic acid particles with sizes ranging from 30 nm to 300 nm. Two configurations with electrode gaps of 1.8 mm and 2.0 mm were tested at 2.2 kV...

We have successfully demonstrated a micro corona-based air filter that operates by charging air particles and electrostatically steering them to the exhaust outlet. The filter consists of a corona ionizer, a pair of steering electrodes and a flow divider. Analytical calculations indicated that as the steering voltage increases, the number of partic...

The transportation system in the Southwest comprises a number of major freeways, more than 514,000 lane-miles of rural roads, and more than 350,000 lane-miles of urban roads (FHWA 2011). Rail corridors of national importance and major port and border-crossing facilities also serve the region. Recent national statistics show about 484,000 million ve...

This chapter provides an integrated overview of solutions and choices for responding to climate change in ways that reduce risks and support sustainable development in the Southwest. The goal is to illustrate the range of choices for responding to climate change, along with some of the relevant trade-offs and opportunities, to inform policy options...

It is well known that a standard application of the ITE trip rates for an area with many smart growth characteristics will result in an over-estimation of the number of trips generated. No commonly agreed on methodology in the United States for estimating trip generation takes into account the smart growth characteristics of a land use development...

Transit funding is often reduced, sometimes severely, during periods of economic downturn. Very little is known about how transit agencies modify operations when funds become scarce, particularly when they are being asked to carry a larger share of travelers. In this paper, we examine the performance of transit agencies since 1991, including during...

In light of the increasing reliance on compact growth as a fundamental strategy for reducing vehicle emissions, it is important to better understand how land use-transportation interactions influence the production of mobile source emissions. To date, research findings have produced mixed conclusions as to whether compact development as a strategy...

The majority of recent private facilities are rural highways (outside city boundaries), but privatization of other types of roads could be more beneficial to society. Increasing congestion problems and the existence of transportation modes other than private cars suggest the privatization of urban roads. This study examines the effects of privatiza...

Estimates of fuel use and air pollutant emissions from freight rail currently rely highly on aggregate methods and largely obsolete data which offer little insight into contemporary air quality problems. Because the freight industry is for the most part privately held and data are closely guarded for competitive reasons, the challenge is to produce...

With vehicle miles of travel increasing at a faster pace than population, one strategy being actively pursued by both state and local governments is compact development. California recently passed legislation that aggressively promotes sustainability by endorsing and rewarding compact development. Likewise, the California Air Resources Board has se...

Correctly interpreting the fuel consumption implications of improvements in vehicle fuel economy is important for the optimal selection of policies to achieve greenhouse gas reductions and energy independence. The findings of two surveys of transportation professionals are reported. It was found that transportation professionals-those individuals c...

This study used a new emissions modeling tool, CT-EMFAC, to assess the sensitivity of mobile source air toxic (MSAT) emissions to changes in traffic volumes, speeds, and fleet composition. In addition, the choice of the speed calculation method, which is usually part of a postprocessing technique, was analyzed. The investigation employed a hypothet...

Setting sustainability targets and evaluating systems progress are of great importance nowadays due to threats to the human society, to economic development and to ecosystems, posed by unsustainable human activities. This research establishes a probabilistic theoretical approach based on market expectations reflected in prices of publicly traded se...

Despite increasing regulatory attention and literature linking roadside air pollution to health outcomes, studies on near roadway air quality have not yet been well synthesized. We employ data collected from 1978 as reported in 41 roadside monitoring studies, encompassing more than 700 air pollutant concentration measurements, published as of June...

Future air pollution emissions in the year 2030 were estimated for the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) in central California using a combined system of land use, mobile, off-road, stationary, area, and biogenic emissions models. Four scenarios were developed that use different assumptions about the density of development and level of investment in transpo...

In 1994, the Cuban government permitted the reopening of farmers' markets where surplus production was sold at market prices. This "experiment" was undertaken as a necessity in the "Special Period in Peacetime." Yet, today the agromercados are thriving, which indicates that this is not merely a temporary measure. Small private farmers supply a majo...

In 1994, the Cuban government permitted the reopening of farmers' markets where surplus production was sold at market prices. This "experiment" was undertaken as a necessity in the "Special Period in Peacetime." Yet, today the agromercados are thriving, which indicates that this is not merely a temporary measure. Small private farmers supply a majo...

Future air pollution emissions in the year 2030 were estimated for the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) in central California using a combined system of land use, mobile, off-road, stationary, area, and biogenic emissions models. Four scenarios were developed that use different assumptions about the density of development and level of investment in transpo...

Diesel-electric locomotives used by U.S. freight railroads are relatively low emitters of criteria air pollutants and greenhouse gases when compared to competing modes; however, the continuous growth in goods movement is cause for concern as locomotive emissions may grow. Railroads only account for a small fraction of all mobile source emissions, b...

Scientific evidence has increasingly shown an association between particulate matter (PM) and adverse human health impacts. Accurately predicting near-road PM 2.5 concentrations is therefore important for project-level transportation conformity and health risk analysis. This study assessed the capability and performance of three dispersion models-C...

This paper describes a series of sequentially implemented policies to mitigate local diesel truck impacts resulting from goods movement activity at two port facilities and simultaneously to improve traffic operations in the communities of Barrio Logan in San Diego, California, and Old Town in National City, California, both low-income communities o...

By several measures, older people travel less than younger people do. Riding in cars as passengers (ridesharing) is the second most common mode of transportation for those older than 65 (driving being first), and it is a prime coping strategy for mobility loss. Yet little is known about the factors that influence ridesharing. The decision by senior...

In this article, we outline the important role that environmental justice organizations played in the development of AB 32, California's landmark climate change legislation (AB 32) in ensuring that a wide range of environmental justice ideas were incorporated into policy. We distinguish between the formal elements contained in the legislation and t...