The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Informal Education Institution (IEI) Collaborative: Exploring the Intersections Among COVID-19, Particulate Matter 2.5, Vulnerable Populations, and the Urban Heat Island Effect (UHIE) Across Five U.S. Cities.

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic is having disparate impacts upon Black/African American and people of color populations in the United States, especially in large urban areas (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/05/us/coronavirus-latinos-african-americans-cdc-data.html). Current research results indicate that elevated temperatures in cities are exacerbating the negative impacts of the coronavirus upon vulnerable populations (https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2020/07/15/one-two-punch-of-heat-and-covid-19-hit-people-of-color-hardest/) . Preliminary results from a Harvard University study evince that there is a positive relationship between increases in particulate matter (PM 2.5) air pollution and COVID-19 mortality rates (https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/covid-pm). Given that much is still unknown about the spatial behavior patterns of the virus within human populations, there is a great need to create “community level models” that will enable urban health departments to develop policies and strategies to most effectively protect their citizens, especially those who are at greatest risk.

The overall goal of this project is to use geospatial technology to develop a community level model to support community-level COVID-19 intervention/mitigation/education for vulnerable populations.

The pilot study areas are Atlanta, Georgia; Detroit, Michigan; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A secondary goal of this project is to support citizen science and community based participatory research (CBPR) via the NASA-funded Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program (https://www.globe.gov/fr/home) in collaboration with Informal Education Institutions (IEIs) and Historically Black College and University (HBCU) institutions. The partner institutions involved in this effort comprise the "GLOBE HBCU Informal Education Institutions (IEI) Collaborative," including:

Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN (Dr. David A. Padgett); The Legacy Bridges STEM Academy, Philadelphia, PA (Ms. Joi Spraggins); Xavier University, New Orleans, LA (Dr. Morewell Gasseller); The West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Atlanta, GA (Mr. Darryl Haddock); and The Green Door Initiative, Detroit, MI (Ms. Donele Wilkins)

The primary objectives of the project include:

• Identify "community-level" COVID-19 hotspots in each city. Hotspot maps are obtained from the “COVID-19 dashboards” for each city (example: Nashville, Tennessee https://www.wkrn.com/community/health/coronavirus/heatmaps-show-new-cluster-of-covid-19-cases-in-downtown-nashville/) .
• Place Purple Air Sensors at/near COVID-19 hotspots in each city. The GLOBE HBCU IEI Collaborative is working under the advisement of atmospheric scientists at NASA Langley to develop the community-based Purple Air Sensor placement and analysis methodology. The air sensor portion of the project is being piloted in the five study area cities.
• Engage citizen scientists, k-12 teachers, and college students in gaining awareness of the Urban Heat Island Effect (UHIE) in their communities through participating in the GLOBE Surface Temperature Protocol. Citizen scientists will compare their findings with UHIE data visualizations (https://arcg.is/0mjK4v ).

Explore the following research questions:

In each of the five cities....

• is there a significant spatial relationship between COVID-19 hotspots and "vulnerable populations?"
• is there a significant spatial relationship between COVID-19 hotspots and high PM 2.5 concentrations?
• is there a significant spatial relationship between COVID-19 hotspots and UHIE hotspots?
• are there significant positive relationships among the above variables across the five cities?

A pertinent goal of this project is to broaden the participation of HBCU students in STEM research and careers. The GLOBE HBCU IEI Collaborative has been created in order to increase HBCU and IEI participation in GLOBE. The overarching goal is to close the racial STEM achievement gap, in part by using GLOBE as a conduit to increase the numbers of Black HBCU Education Majors choosing to pursue careers as science educators. This project supports the active involvement of citizen scientists using CBPR to improve the quality of life (QOL) in their cities and communities.