Dr. Don Collins
| Title | Associate Professor |
| Research Interests | Atmospheric aerosols; radiative forcing and climate change; urban and regional air pollution; indoor / outdoor exchange of air pollutants. |
| Education | Ph. D., California Institute of Technology |
| Office Location | Room 1005B, O&M Bldg |
| Office Phone | 979-862-4401 |
| Fax | 979-862-4466 |
| dcollins@tamu.edu | |
| Mailing Address |
Department of Atmospheric Sciences Texas A&M University 3150 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3150 |
Research Interests
My research focuses on the properties and effects of atmospheric aerosols. On a regional to global scale, the efforts of our research group are concentrated on investigating radiative forcing by tropospheric aerosols, while on a local to regional scale, similar analytical tools are used to improve our understanding of air pollution.
Atmospheric aerosols impact climate i) directly by scattering some fraction of the incident sunlight back into space and absorbing an additional fraction, and ii) indirectly by altering the properties of clouds. Together, these two effects are thought to cool the Earth by an amount comparable to the warming caused by greenhouse gases. Therefore, it is essential that the effects of aerosols are included in any prediction of future climate. Understanding the climatic impact of aerosols requires detailed aerosol data from locations around the world over extended periods of time. A number of intensive field campaigns have been undertaken in recent years to provide these data. Although our research group is also involved in theoretical and laboratory studies, we spend most of our time developing new instruments that can provide essential data during such campaigns, and ultimately employing them in the field.
Selected Publications
Osborn, R. J., Taylor N. F., Spencer, C., and Collins, D. R. "Isolation of ambient particles of known critical supersaturation: The Differential Activation Separator (DAS)," accepted for publication in Aerosol Science and Technology.
Tomlinson, J. M., Li, R., and Collins, D. R., 2007. "Physical and chemical properties of the aerosol within the southeastern Pacific marine boundary layer," Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 112 art No. D12211.
Lee, Y. S., Collins, D. R., Li, R., Bowman, K. P., and Feingold, G., 2006. "Expected impact of an aged biomass burning aerosol on cloud condensation nuclei and cloud droplet concentrations," Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 111, art. No. D22204.
Gasparini, R., Collins, D. R., Andrews, E., Sheridan, P. J., Ogren, J. A., and Hudson, J. G., 2006. "Coupling aerosol size distributions and size-resolved hygroscopicity to predict humidity-dependent optical properties and CCN spectra," Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 111, art. No. D05S13.
Gasparini, R., Li, R., Collins, D. R., and Ferrare, R. A., 2006. "Application of aerosol hygroscopicity measured at the ARM Southern Great Plains site to examine composition and evolution," Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 111, art. No. D05S12.
Santarpia, J. L., Gasparini, R., Li, R., and Collins, D. R., 2005. "Diurnal Variations in the Hygroscopic Growth Cycles of Ambient Aerosol," Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 110, art. No. D03206.
Collins, D. R., Cocker, D. R., Flagan, R. C., and Seinfeld, J. H., 2004. "The scanning DMA transfer function," Aerosol Science and Technology, 38, pp 833-850.
Santarpia, J. L. , Li, R., and Collins, D. R., 2004. "Direct measurement of the hydration state of ambient aerosol populations," Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 109, art. No D18209.
This site maintained by Webmaster.