How’s The Air in Your Classroom or Office?
Students’ air quality sensor wins Janetos prize
By Bailey Scott
The buildings that make up Boston University’s campuses are a mix of old architecture and brand-new construction. This means that the air quality in these buildings can vary significantly. Some structures, like the more recently built Boston University Photonics Center, have exceptional air quality, while others have room for improvement.
For the last two years, a team of BU students has been designing and testing indoor air quality monitors in order to better understand—and ultimately improve—ventilation in different buildings across the Charles River Campus. Healthier air has been shown to boost academic performance, so raising standards across campus could potentially help students with concentration and test results.
Now, in recognition of their work, the students have won the 2025 Janetos Climate Action Prize, an annual award given to a student project that received funding from BU’s Campus Climate Lab (CCL). It’s awarded to the team whose work can most significantly advance BU’s Climate Action Plan.
Because air quality is so important—but often not visible to the naked eye—it’s important to “create tools such as ours to help assess and detect these deficiencies,” said Celine Chen (ENG’25), during the group’s presentation. “We hope to share our results with the overall BU community, and continue to develop, refine, and use the tools that we’ve created,” she said.
The student researchers showcased their work at the annual Campus Climate Lab spring symposium. At the event, 10 CCL project teams shared overviews of their research with short lectures and poster presentations. The Janetos Prize was announced at the conclusion of the symposium. The winning team was represented by Chen and Primah Muwanga (CGS’24, CDS’27). Ellen Zheng (ENG’27) was studying abroad at the time of the symposium, but worked on the project remotely.
With funding from CCL, Chen, Muwanga, and Zheng—along with former students Marybel Boujaoude (ENG’24) and Yangyang Zhang (ENG’24)—designed and built 29 air quality sensors, which they used to gather approximately 30 million readings from classrooms this spring. The students deployed 21 of the sensors in two Charles River Campus buildings: an older building that houses the Engineering Product Innovation Center, and a relatively new one, the Photonics Center.
Read the full story at BU’s The Brink.
Banner photo by Dillon Kydd on Unsplash