Maria Papiez wins $15,000 Guinn Fellowship

While most people don’t think of trees, plants and landscaping as contributors to smog, they do play a role. And, understanding that role is important to a state growing as fast as Nevada. A study by Desert Research Institute scientists may soon help urban planners and developers make land-cover choices friendlier to air quality.

DRI Graduate Research Assistant Maria Papiez, who is part of the research team, has been awarded the annual $15,000 Governor Kenny Guinn Environmental Fellowship. Underwritten by the DRI Research Foundation, the scholarship was established by DRI in 2001 to acknowledge Governor Guinn’s Millennium Scholarship Program.

Papiez is pursuing a Master of Science degree in environmental chemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno, in the Environmental Science and Health Graduate program.

At DRI, she is studying how biological substances affect air quality. These substances include natural components in trees and plants similar to pine oil, menthol and camphor. When these natural organic compounds are mixed with sunlight and human-caused emissions like nitrogen oxide from motor vehicles, the reactions create smog, also known as ground-level ozone air pollution.