HAQAST Madison

The Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (HAQAST)  works to connect NASA satellite data and products with public and private sector organizations for air quality, environmental health, and emissions applications. Our team of 14 PIs and 70+ total collaborating investigators has grown to support and serve hundreds of organizations across the U.S. and around the world. Our public meetings are opportunities to grow these two-way dialogues in which stakeholders share their research needs and priorities, and scientists share their resources, insights, and new discoveries.

This meeting was  held May 13-14, 2026 at the Pyle Center in Madison, Wisconsin and virtually. For the first time, HAQAST collaborated with the Outrider Foundation Science Media Forum to connect leading journalists with NASA capabilities.

Session 2A: Tracking air pollution under smoke and dust with satellite data

Moderator: Amber Soja (NASA Langley, HAQAST Member)

Support PM2.5 Exceptional Events Demonstration in Smoke and Dust Plumes using Aerosol Optical Centroid Height (AOCH) Observations

Xi Chen (Univ. Iowa, HAQAST Member)

Effects of the Elk Fire on Sheridan, WY

Leif Paulson (Wyoming DEQ)

Tracking and Analyzing Smoke Plumes Using Satellite Data

Amanda Fritz (Connecticut DEEP)

Improving Smoke and Dust PM2.5 Analysis using Lidar Observations

Travis Toth (NASA Langley, HAQAST Member)

Session 3A: Managing urban heat and health responses

Moderator: Jeff Pierce (Colorado State University, HAQAST Member)

Short-Term Effects of Heat and Air Pollutants on Ten Acute Events: Evidence from a Multi-Exposure Case-Crossover Study in Wisconsin

Chris Uejio (Florida State Univ., HAQAST Member)

Urban Heat, Green Space, Air Pollution, and Alzheimer’s Disease & Related Dementias (ADRD) in Texas

Yun Hang (University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston)

Wisconsin Department of Health Services: Heat and Health Projects

Megan Christenson and Kate Beardmore (Wisconsin DHS)

Managing Urban Heat Through Data, Policy Innovation, and Community Resilience

Robert Phocas (Southeast Sustainability Directors Network)

Session 4A: Integrating low-cost sensors and satellite data in air quality decision-making

Moderator: Pawan Gupta (NASA Goddard, HAQAST Member)

Combining Low-cost Sensors and Satellite Data to Understand Smoke and Dust Exposure in Rural Regions

Jeff Pierce (Colorado State Univ., HAQAST Member)

Air Quality Nowcasting and Forecasting in Alaska Using Low-Cost Sensors and Satellites

Jingqiu Mao (Univ. of Alaska, HAQAST Member)

Driving Pollution Salience with Powered Forecasts & Social Media

Vishal Joseph (Univ. of Chicago)

Measures from Space, Solutions on the Ground

Leticia Nogueira (American Cancer Society)

Session 5A: Using satellite data for operational air quality decisions

Moderator: Jingqiu Mao (Univ. of Alaska, HAQAST Member)

Satellite Data in Air Quality Operations – New Capabilities, Challenges, & Opportunities

Carl Malings (Morgan State Univ., HAQAST Member)

Satellite Data for Operational Air Quality Decisions

Samuel Kay (District of Columbia, Department of Energy & Environment)

Bridging the Gap: Complementing Satellite-Derived Air Quality Data with Open-Source Ground Data

Minh Nghiem (OpenAQ)

HAQAST Public Meeting Using Satellite Data for Operational Air Quality Decisions

Nico Schulte (South Coast AQMD)

Session 6A: How are machine learning and AI changing the work of satellite-data in decision-making on air quality and environmental health?

Moderator: Xi Chen (Univ. Iowa, HAQAST Member)

The Promise of Closing the Spatial Gap in O3 Monitoring with Machine Learning and Satellite Observations

Bryan Duncan (NASA Goddard, HAQAST Co-I)

Building an Observation-to-Observation Regional Air Quality Model

Elise Penn (ZeusAI)

AI/ML in Air Quality and Environmental Health

Nathan Pavlovic (Spheros Environmental)

Air Quality Data & Application Development – AI/ML Approach

Pawan Gupta (NASA Goddard, HAQAST Member)

Science and Media Resources for Journalists, Featuring Two Interactive NASA Tools

Hazem Mahmoud (NASA ASDC ADNET)

Legacies Revisited: Updates on Historic Environmental Successes

Tracey Holloway (UW-Madison)

Michael Hawthorne (Chicago Tribune)

Sarah Benish (UW-Madison)

Brad Pierce (UW-Madison)

Kristen Okorn (NASA Ames Research Center)

Ozone Where We Live (OWWL): A community science project addressing ozone issues in the San Joaquin Valley

Tyler Ranieri & Miecio Smith (Lewis University)

Remote Sensing Measurements of Nitrogen Dioxide and Formaldehyde with the NASA TEMPO on Industrial Developments

Chandler Wells (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Evaluating County-Level PM₂.₅ Monitor Placement in the U.S.

Daniel Bellamy (University of Alaska Fairbanks)

Mineral dust emission and dispersion over population centers in southcentral Alaska

Daniel Friedland (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Satellite Thermal Imaging for Solar Infrastructure Assessment

Jennifer McGinnis (Colorado State University)

Estimating PMcoarse over the US using Machine Learning

Jessie (Huanxin) Zhang (University of Iowa)

Jin Yu (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Developing a United States Air Quality Assessments System Based on GEOS-Chem High Performance (GCHP) to Support NASA Earth Science to Action (ES2A) for Air Quality

Kane Samuel (District of Columbia, Department of Energy & Environment)

Lulu Chen (George Washington University)

Living Next to Warehouses: Daily NO2 Pollution Patterns around Warehouses Revealed by Satellite

Mashiat Hossain (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Wildfire Smoke Redefines PM2.5 Compliance: Local and Transboundary Sources Driving PM2.5 Exceedances under the Revised Annual NAAQS

Sujan Neupane (UMBC GESTAR II, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Summer Acker (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Satellite-Derived vs. Ground Truth: How Environmental Conditions Modify Their Agreement Across the Western United States