Dr. Douglas R. WorsnopDr. Douglas R. Worsnop

Research scientist Dr. Douglas R. Worsnop, a 1974 Hope College graduate who is a vice president with Aerodyne Research Inc., will focus on the effect of aerosol emissions on climate and health through two lectures that he will present while at Hope on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 24-25, through the James and Jeanette Neckers Lectureship in Chemistry.

The public is invited to both talks.  Admission is free.

He will present “Air Quality and Climate Change: the Role of Suspended Atmospheric Aerosol” on Thursday, Jan. 24, at 8 p.m. in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall.  Intended for a general audience, the address will consider how a reduction in aerosol emissions will improve both air quality and general health, and the contrast between decreasing emissions in the U.S. and Europe, and increasing emissions in Asia.

He will next present “The Role of Atmospheric Aerosol in Climate and Air Quality” on Friday, Jan. 25, at 4 p.m., also in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall.  The technically oriented talk will discuss recent research on atmospheric aerosols and the impact of the results.

Worsnop is a leading expert in the chemistry and heterogeneous reactions of atmospheric aerosols. He has pioneered the development of laboratory and field measurement techniques for investigating chemical interactions between atmospheric trace gases and aerosols, including water droplets. His expertise extends to the mechanisms of the formation of polar stratospheric clouds, and to measurements of the chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols.

Among other honors, he has received the 2004 Benjamin Y. H. Liu Award (American Association for Aerosol Research) for his achievements in atmospheric composition measurement with the Aerodyne mass spectrometer system, and the 2010 Yoram Kaufman Award for Unselfish Cooperation in Research (American Geophysical Union Atmospheric Sciences), and is a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science and AGU.  He holds a doctorate in physical chemistry from Harvard University.

The James and Jeanette Neckers Lectureship and Student Assistance Fund through which Worsnop is speaking was established in 1984 by Dr. James W. and Jeanette Hoffman Neckers, members of the college’s Class of 1923, to support annual lectureships in chemistry. Through additional gifts from Dr. Neckers, the fund was expanded to include student summer research stipends and student scholarships.

James Neckers was chairman of the Department of Chemistry at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale for 37 of his 40 years at the university. Under his leadership, the department grew from a three-year offering in chemistry to granting the doctorate, and the faculty grew from three to 23. Jeanette Neckers died on June 10, 1992, and James Neckers died on May 8, 2004.

Graves Hall is located at 263 College Ave., between 10th and 12th streets.