Undergraduate Research and Thesis
The research I am preforming within the Respiratory Technologies Lab is involving the formation and emissions of aerosols from electronic cigarettes. The data collected from my undergraduate research is being used to validate some internal flow CFD models of a selected device as the first steps to develop a first principals model to predict aerosol emissions. The goal of this work is to develop a robust method of predicting the aerosol emissions of any given device based on first principal physics.
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Participated in the undergraduate mentored research program during the fall of 2019.
Accepted in to the dual degree program while on co-op in the spring of 2020.
Used the research and relationships formed during the undergraduate research program as a stepping stone to write a thesis.
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Expected Thesis Defense: July 30, 2022
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About the Respiratory Technology Lab
The RTL lab at RIT is ran by Dr. Risa Robinson and focuses mainly on tobacco and tobacco related products, namely ENDS . Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), also referred to as electronic cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or e-cigs, are devices that are designed to aerosolize a liquid (primarily consisting of propylene glycol, glycerin, and nicotine) also known as e-liquid, as an alternative to burning tobacco seen in conventional cigarette smoking. As the use of these devices started becoming widespread, the adverse health effects caused by them started to become apparent. This sparked regulatory legislation to prevent the negative health outcomes associated with these devices. The level of toxicity these devices produce is not yet fully understood which makes it a key area of research for institutions around the world. The image below characterizes the key areas the lab is focused on and how they relate to one another.
