A PurpleAir monitor is installed outside Smith Laboratory on Ohio State’s campus. Credit: Neha Shahid | Lantern Reporter

Ohio State students will soon be able to track the air quality on campus in real time through a map that uses data from PurpleAir monitors.

ECOspace, a student organization, plans to place additional monitors across campus to track PM2.5, which are microscopic, airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter that are invisible to the human eye, allowing students to easily compare readings with EPA standards.

PM2.5 is made of droplets and microscopic particles from industrial smokestacks and diesel engine exhaust, and when they build up in the air on stagnant windless days, they can pose a health risk for those with chronic breathing conditions, including asthma, per the Environmental Protection Agency.

The particles are so small that they can enter people’s bloodstreams through the lungs, which is known to trigger heart attacks.

The small, circular, white monitors are installed outside of Smith Laboratory and Gerlach Hall.

Nathan Mark, a graduate student and former ECOspace project lead, said the installation aims to fill a gap in available air quality data.?

“Being in a city, a developing city, with lots of people, it’s important to have that knowledge,” Mark said. “Especially if you want to advocate for your health and to make change.”

Although there were already PurpleAir monitors operating around Columbus, Mark said there were none on Ohio State’s campus until now.

Mark said a lack of campus-specific data can make students unaware of the air they are breathing and elevated PM2.5 levels.

Andy May, a professor in Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, said monitoring air quality matters deeply.

“If we breathe them in, they can penetrate into our lungs and potentially cause health effects,” May said.

Another goal of the project was to establish baseline readings so students can recognize when air quality has risen above normal conditions, according to May.

This can be particularly important for students who are sensitive to poor air quality, including children, the elderly and those with preexisting health conditions, like asthmatics, May said.

“It’s good that we have a baseline reading in case anything were to happen that we can show, ‘It was like this, why did it change?’” Calista France, ECOspace president and a third-year in environmental engineering, said.?

According to France, ECOspace plans to launch a real-time map displaying data collected by the monitors to make the readings more accessible. The map will also be made available on the Ohio State app, to make the readings more accessible.?

The readings can also reassure students worried about pollution.

“There’s a lot of worry out there about climate change and climate problems and there can be a lot of pessimism around everything that’s happening,” France said. “Seeing the air quality isn’t terrible here, it can give students a little bit of hope.”

Mark said continued monitoring is vital so that if an issue presents itself, it can be addressed promptly.

“You can’t change what you can’t measure,” Mark said.