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| Jennifer Burney |
The award provides financial support to the research efforts of scientists who are in their early careers. Burney is a University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego and is an affiliate of Stanford University's Program on Food Security and the Environment. At Scripps, she is part of a team headed by professor of climate and atmospheric science Veerabhadran Ramanathan studying the effects of replacing homemade cookstoves in rural India with cleaner-burning alternatives in an effort called Project Surya.
"I love the puzzle of figuring out how to measure something be it with
data or instrumentation and Surya by its nature is just a giant web of
measurement problems. It's a really great synergy," said Burney, who
received her doctorate in physics from Stanford University in 2007.
Among Burney's objectives is to study the links between energy poverty
and food and nutrition security and the environmental impacts of food
production and consumption. In the case of Project Surya, this will mean
helping Ramanathan assess what happens when emissions of soot and other
black carbon are substantially reduced in a given area. Ramanathan
expects that the experiment will show immediate reduction in the
contribution of greenhouse agents from that area. On a large scale, the
reduction of such pollution created by use of wood and dung as cooking
fuel could have a major mitigative impact on climate change. It could
also improve the respiratory health of local residents, who frequently
must inhale the smoke from their stoves as they cook in poorly
ventilated kitchens.
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| Burney will take part in future phases of Project Surya, an effort to replace crude wood- or dung-burning stoves with clean-burning cookstoves in rural Indian homes and measure the atmospheric effects of the switch. |
The Project Surya team is hoping to launch a phase later this year in
which cookers are replaced with cleaner stoves in a 10-square-kilometer
(four-square-mile) area in India. They will then measure emissions of
black carbon via satellite and at ground level with help from local
residents.
Burney will separately study the agricultural effects associated with
temperature and precipitation changes that could be triggered by the
cookstove switch.
"I am really delighted, but not surprised, that Jen got this well
deserved honor," said Ramanathan. "She brings lots of talent and
experience to the Surya research. She is an asset."
Burney said that the award will also support another project she is
conducting in West Africa in which she is assessing the feasibility of
using solar power to improve irrigation capabilities there.
The Emerging Explorers each receive a $10,000 award to assist with
research and to aid further exploration. Burney and the other new
Emerging Explorers are introduced in the June 2011 issue of National
Geographic magazine, and comprehensive profiles can be found here.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,400, and annual expenditures of approximately $170 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates robotic networks, and one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. Birch Aquarium at Scripps serves as the interpretive center of the institution and showcases Scripps research and a diverse array of marine life through exhibits and programming for more than 415,000 visitors each year. Learn more at scripps.ucsd.edu.
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