James Meagher
retired
Office of the Director
Affiliation
NOAA
In addition to his duties as the Deputy Director of the Chemical Sciences Division of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, Jim also serves as Program Manager for NOAA's Air Quality Matrix Program. As Air Quality Program Manager he is responsible for leading the planning and integration of NOAA's diverse portfolio of research and operational activities related to air quality. Jim is co-chair of the Air Quality Research Subcommittee (AQRS) of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR), which fosters coordination and collaboration across the U.S. federal air quality research enterprise.
Education
Ph. D. - Physical Chemistry, The Catholic University of America
B. Sc. - Chemistry, St. Francis Xavier University
Research
Atmospheric chemistry, primarily as it relates to an improved understanding of the chemical process responsible for the formation and transformation of gaseous and aerosol pollutants that contribute to adverse public health impacts, ecosystem damage, visibility impairment and materials damage. Past and current interests include: laboratory kinetics, airborne field studies, smog chamber studies, and model simulations.
Current Topics
Linkages between air quality and climate understanding - Climate change and air quality are two of the most pressing environmental issues of the day and they have a lot in common. Many of the sources (power plants, automobiles, etc.) that emit climate forcing agents or their precursors (CO2, CH4, aerosols, etc.) are the same ones that are responsible for degraded air quality throughout the U.S. In addition, many of the atmospheric processes that are responsible for the formation and distribution of air pollution also influence atmospheric abundances of atmospheric forcing agents. Research at CSD seeks to inform policy development and emission management strategies that will allow an integrated approach to dealing with these environmental issues.
last modified: June 01, 2012