Project Description: My master’s thesis is related to characterizing (i.e. studying) respirable dust found in underground mines. While modern mines are a lot safer than they used to be, a sometimes overlooked danger in the mine is the dust that the workers are breathing in! By knowing what dust is in each mine, we can compare different geographical regions to each other and try to draw conclusions about the differences in dust occurrence and the corresponding differences in disease occurrence. While my research is directly related to the mining industry, there is dust everywhere that can be studied. In the research project with EnvironMentors, students will first learn about different types of dust and what characteristics of dust we may want to study. Later, students will work in the lab and go out in the field to collect and characterize dust samples. Fieldwork is subject to time constraints and availability, but it is my hope we will be able to incorporate several trips and get outside of a lab environment.