Rob Stoll, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah, has received a five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation.  This $492,091 grant is for a project titled, “A multiscale study of heavy particle transport in sparse canopies.”

“I am really excited about this award, which involves studying how particles move through plant canopies and the lower atmosphere,” says Stoll.  “This is a new research direction I have started since moving to the University of Utah.  The grant will help transition this from a new topic that started with a University of Utah SEED grant, into a long term focus of my research group.  I’m looking forward to the new field and lab experiments we will be doing as part of this project.”

With the NSF CAREER grant, Stoll will explore how particles in the atmosphere move through and above plant canopies.  These studies will shed light on how ecosystems function and how to manage any positive or negative effects of the different particles (e.g., fungal spores, pollens, bacteria, pollutants).