Overview: Air pollution is one of the most urgent environmental threats. Northeastern’s iSUPER project turns the campus into a living lab for monitoring and reducing human exposure to pollution. By combining dense sensor networks, computing, and AI, the team is creating innovative tools to understand air quality levels.
How it Works: Students and faculty deploy real-time sensors across the Boston campus to measure pollutants like PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide, and VOCs. Unlike government monitors, these hyper local sensors reveal fine-scale variations in air quality. Data is processed through edge computing and AI, generating insights that inform building ventilation and exposure reduction strategies. The campus itself becomes a test site for experimenting with data-driven environmental health solutions.
Expected Outcomes
- Deliver hyperlocal, real-time air quality data for campus and surrounding neighborhoods.
- Provide guidance to reduce exposure through building design and operations.
- Generate research that informs healthier communities and scalable city planning models.
Campus & Global Impact: On campus, iSUPER improves the health and safety for students, faculty, and staff. Globally, the project shows how universities can take on community-focused monitoring systems that democratize air quality data and support environmental justice. Northeastern’s living lab approach ensures solutions are both scientifically rigorous and directly applicable to urban communities worldwide. .
Contacts : Dr. Yang Zhang – ya.zhang@northeastern.edu, Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Dr. Amy Mueller – a.mueller@northeastern.edu, Assistant Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering / Marine & Environmental Sciences
Related Sustainable Development Goals:
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