John G. Watson

Research Professor

Division of Atmospheric Sciences

Email: John.Watson@dri.edu

Full Resume

Dr. John Watson, Research Professor in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at the Desert Research Institute (DRI), has over 35 years of experience in the environmental sciences, including the conduct and management of more than 100 air quality studies designed to evaluate and solve specific pollution problems.  He is well-known for the organization and planning of large-scale multi-year air quality studies in the U.S., with government, state, and local agencies, academies, consulting firms, and instrument manufacturers.  Dr. Watson has nearly 300 peer-reviewed publications (including an estimated 100 book chapters), more than 500 presentations, and ~ 225 reports in the fields of physics, source/receptor modeling, and air quality measurement and analysis.  He is the lead author of the EPA’s Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) receptor modeling software that is used in the U.S. for State Implementation Plan (SIP) development.  Before entering the environmental sciences field, Dr. Watson was a physics instructor as a member of the U.S. Peace Corps at the college level at the Escuela Normal de Mujeres Sagrado Corrazon de Jesus, a teachers’ college in Chicalyo, Peru.

His research includes the development and evaluation of measurement processes, receptor models for source apportionment, causes and amelioration of urban and regional haze, fugitive dust and motor vehicle emissions, and the effects of measurement and modeling uncertainty on pollution control decisions. He has prepared other critical reviews of receptor-oriented source apportionment methods, fugitive dust emissions, and aerosol measurement methods.  Dr. Watson has been involved in numerous national and international atmospheric studies.

Dr. Watson is a member of the Editorial Review Board for Aerosol and Air Quality Research, was Air & Waste Management Association Associate Editor from 2004 to 2007, and was a Member and Chair of the National Academy of Engineering’s U.S. Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United States from January 2005 to December 2006. He was invited to prepare and present the 2002 Critical Review of “Visibility: Science and Regulation” for the Air and Waste Management Association.

Dr. Watson was a Senior Environmental Scientist at Environmental Research and Technology, Inc. (ERT) (now ENSR Consulting and Engineering), where he played a major role in the Electric Power Research Institute's Eastern Regional Air Quality Studies (ERAQS), the Sulfate Regional Experiment (SURE), the 1978 Denver Winter Haze Study, and the interpretation of data from EPA's Inhalable Particulate Network.  He also organized and conducted the Quail Roost I Receptor Model Workshop, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Dr. Watson has been principal investigator or a major collaborator in numerous other atmospheric studies including:

• California Regional PM2.5/PM10 Air Quality Study (CRPAQS)
• California’s Fresno Supersite
• National Academy of Engineering’s U.S. Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United States
• South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) studies
• Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program Diesel study
• TEEM – Source Characterization of Oil Sands in Canada

RESEARCH AREAS:

• Source Apportionment, Visibility, Particle Sampling and Analysis, Field Study Design and Management, Motor Vehicle and Fugitive Dust Emissions.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Ho, S.S.H; J.Z. Yu; J.C. Chow; B. Zielinska; J.G. Watson; E.H.L. Sit; and J.J. Schauer (2008).

Evaluation of an In-Injection Port Thermal Desorption-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry Method for Analysis of Non-Polar Organic Compounds in Ambient Aerosol Samples. Journal of Chromatography A, 1200(2):217-227.

Ho, S.S.H.; J.C. Chow; J.G. Watson; J.Z. Yu; and E.H.L. Sit (2008).

Further Validation: Accuracy and Precision of In-Injection Port Thermal Desorption Method in Analysis of Aerosol Samples. AAQR, in preparation.

Watson, J.G.; L.-W.A. Chen; J.C. Chow; D.H. Lowenthal; and P. Doraiswamy (2008).

Source apportionment: Findings from the U.S. Supersite Program. J. Air Waste Manage. Assoc., 58(2):265-288.

Watson, J.G.; J.C. Chow; D.H. Lowenthal; and K.L. Magliano (2008).

Estimating aerosol light scattering at the Fresno Supersite. Atmos. Environ., 42(6):1186-1196.

Watson, J.G. and J.C. Chow (2007).

Receptor models for source apportionment of suspended particles. In Introduction to Environmental Forensics, 2nd Edition, 2 ed., B. Murphy and R. Morrison, Eds. Academic Press, New York, NY, pp. 279-316.

Watson, J.G.; J.C. Chow; K. Park; and D.H. Lowenthal (2006).

Nanoparticle and ultrafine particle events at the Fresno Supersite. JAWMA, 56(4)417-430.

Watson, J.G.; J.C. Chow; D.H. Lowenthal; N.M. Kreisberg; S.V. Hering; and M.R. Stolzenburg (2006).

Variations of Nanoparticle Concentrations at the Fresno Supersite. Sci. Total Environ., 358(1-3):178-187.

Watson, J.G.; J.C. Chow; and L.W.A. Chen (2005).

Summary of Organic and Elemental Carbon/Black Carbon Analysis Methods and Intercomparisons. AAQR, 5(1):65-102.

Watson, J.G. and J.C. Chow (2004).

Receptor Models for Air Quality Management. EM, 9(Oct.):27-36.

Watson, J.G. (2002).

Visibility: Science and Regulation – A Summary of the 2002 Critical Review. EM, June:36-43.

Watson, J.G. and J.C. Chow (2002).

A Wintertime PM2.5 Episode at the Fresno, CA, Supersite. Atmos. Environ., 36(3):465-475.

Watson, J.G.; T. Zhu; J.C. Chow; J. Engelbrecht; E.M. Fujita; and W.E. Wilson (2002).

Receptor Modeling Application Framework for Particle Source Apportionment. Chemosphere, 49(9):1093-1136.

Watson, J.G. and J.C. Chow (2001).

Ambient Air Sampling. In Aerosol Measurement: Principles, Techniques and Applications, K. Willeke and P. Baron, Eds., John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 821-844.

Watson, J.G.; J.C. Chow; and E.M. Fujita (2001).

Review of Volatile Organic Compound Source Apportionment by Chemical Mass Balance. Atmos. Environ., 35(9):1567-1584.

Watson, J.G.; J.C. Chow; J.L. Bowen; D.H. Lowenthal; S. Hering; P. Ouchida; and W. Oslund (2000).

Air Quality Measurements from the Fresno Supersite. JAWMA, 50(8):1321-1334.

Watson, J.G. (1984).

Overview of Receptor Model Principles. JAPCA, 34(6):619-623.

Watson, J.G.; J.A. Cooper; and J.J. Huntzicker (1984).

The Effective Variance Weighting for Least Squares Calculations Applied to the Mass Balance Receptor Model. Atmos. Environ., 18(7):1347-1355.