Biography:
Dr. Sheesley joined the Baylor faculty in the spring of 2010.

Dr. Sheesley enjoys any time spent with her husband and twin daughters.

Awards and Honors:
Dr. Sheesley was a recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship while at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Sheesley is also a member of the American Geophysical Society, the European Geosciences Union and the American Association for Aerosol Research.

Academic Interests and Research:
Carbonaceous aerosols in the atmosphere are a continually changing complex mixture that interacts with the biosphere, impacts climate change and can have negative effects on human health. In order to understand the impacts of carbonaceous aerosols, the chemical composition needs to be investigated; to effectively mitigate the impact, sources of the aerosols need to be defined. This thesis has been the basis of Dr. Sheesley's previous carbonaceous aerosol studies. She has focused her efforts on refining methods for the analysis of organic tracers, the application of source apportionment models and have begun to incorporate carbon isotope methodologies. Dr. Sheesley is also interested in using these methods to assess the global impacts of primary and secondary carbonaceous aerosols on climate change and human health. The integration of organic tracer and isotope analysis into larger biosphere and human health impact research projects provides distinct advantages for statistical analysis and a source-oriented perspective.

Published Works and Proceedings:

Sheesley, R. J., E. Kirillova, A. Andersson, M. Kruså, P. S. Praveen, K. Budhavant, P. D. Safai, P. S. P. Rao and O. Gustafsson . "Year-round radiocarbon-based source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols at two background sites in South Asia." Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 2012 117(D10): D10202.

Sheesley, R.J., Andersson, A., Gustafsson, O. Source characterization of organic aerosols using Monte Carlo source apportionment of PAHs at two South Asian receptor sites. Atmospheric Environment, 2011 45(23): 3874-3881. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.01.031

Andersson, A., Sheesley, R.J., Kruså, M., Johansson, C., Gustafsson, O. 14C-Based source assessment of soot aerosols in Stockholm and the Swedish EMEP-Aspvreten regional background site. Atmospheric Environment, 2011 45 215-222.

Sheesley R.J., Deminter J. T., Meiritz M., Snyder D.C. and Schauer J.J., Temporal Trends in Motor Vehicle and Secondary Organic Tracers Using in Situ Methylation Thermal Desorption GCMS. Environmental Science & Technology 2010 44, 9398-9404

Kirillova, E.N., Sheesley, R.J., Andersson, A., Gustafsson O. Natural abundance 13C and 14C analysis of water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) in atmospheric aerosols, Analytical Chemistry, 2010 82, 7973-7978.

Sheesley, R.J., Schauer, J.J., Orf, M.L. Assessing the impact of industrial source emissions on atmospheric carbonaceous aerosol concentrations using data and particulate matter samples from routine monitoring networks. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, 2010 60 (2) 149-155.

Spira-Cohen, A, Chen, L.C., Kendall, M., Sheesley, R.J., Thurston, G.D. Personal exposures to traffic-related particle pollution among children with asthma in the South Bronx, NY, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, advanced on-line publication: 28 October 2009 doi:10.1038/jes.2009.34.

Zhang, Y, ,Sheesley, R.J., Schauer, J.J., Lewandowski, M., Jaoui, M., Offenberg, J.H., Kleindienst, T.E., Edney, E.O. Source Apportionment of Primary and Secondary Organic Aerosols Using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) of Molecular Markers, Atmospheric Environment, 2009 43(34) 5567-5574.

Gustafsson, O., Kruså, M., Zencak, Z., Sheesley, R.J., Granat, L., Engstr"m, E., Praveen, P.S., Rao, P.S.P., Leck, C., Rodhe, H. Brown Clouds over South Asia: biomass or fossil fuel combustion? Science, 2009 323 (5913) 495 - 498

Sheesley, R.J., Kruså, M., Krecl, P., Johansson, C., Gustafsson, O. Source apportionment of elevated wintertime PAHs by compound specific radiocarbon analysis. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2009 9 3347-3356.

Current field campaigns:

Barrow Black Carbon Source and Impact Study: In order to assess source contributions and impacts of BC on surface albedo in the Arctic, a combination of air monitoring, snow collection and the use of radiative measurements are planned for the DOE ARM site at Barrow, AK (http://www.arm.gov/campaigns/nsa2012barrowblack). For the air monitoring at Barrow, Drs. Sheesley and Usenko have set up two atmospheric particulate matter samplers (PM2.5 and PM10) and a seven channel aethalometer. The two atmospheric particulate matter samplers will run for 1 year (July 2012-June 2013) and collect samples to be analyzed for carbon components and organic tracers. The results from the chemical and optical analysis of the collected particulate matter will be used in source apportionment modeling to determine the major source contributions for carbonaceous aerosol at Barrow. Dr. Usenko will also be adding organic contaminant measurements for snow and particulate matter. http://www.baylor.edu/environmentalscience/index.php?id=56295